Starting Up with Helen Hazelwood @ The General Eliott

When I first moved to South Hinksey with my husband, two dogs and four children, I just fell in love with the place – especially the community.

My husband was even asked to play for the South Hinksey team shortly after moving in!

Daily I walked the dogs past the old dilapidated pub, but somehow, although grey, sad and neglected it called to me like a child’s storybook character with eyes for windows and the door a mouth with a downturned moustache.

Every single day I looked at The General Eliott and thought: “I want that to be a pub again, I want it looking happy and cared for with children playing in the garden, swinging on a rope swing, tired workmen or country gentleman relaxing with tankards of beer and ale in their hands and a sheep dog or lab lying by their feet, either in a sunny beautiful garden where the Oxford Spires can be seen clearly beyond or snuggling up by the roaring fire and hearth.”

What had we taken on? It’s taken a whole year to open because the pub had been terribly vandalised, with all the electrics and copper piping ripped out and it was no longer even a part of the mains to the village, so everything had to be reconnected.

The kitchen was in such an inhabitable state with damp and rot, it had to be closed off entirely and a new kitchen reopened in an outbuilding to the side of the property.

Thankfully, my husband took on all works to renovate this charming country pub, working tirelessly to obtain the necessary consents and requirements needed to gain all permissions, and has done it with love, attention to detail and a lot of sweat and baited breath. But to his credit, and with unmitigated support from the village, we did it.

The car park took a mass of scalpings and is made pretty by wild vegetation and a mass of horseradish leaves – now used for our Sunday roasts.

You could actually drive into the car park and think the pub was closed as most of our trade are walkers and cyclists doing the famous Oxford Trust Walk no 4 (Hinksey-Grandpont-Osney Mead-Devil’s Backbone). Even the horses arrive with their riders thirsty for a glass of wine or beer!

So to the kitchen, which has worked beautifully in its new location but more importantly has got the seal of approval from my new and experienced head chef Paul Dixon. Paul has a wealth of experience, in all areas of catering from contract to hotels, pubs and restaurants,and spent four years in France to enhance his skills. He’s very old school and doesn’t believe in short cuts (his gravy is to die for).

You will find his nose in some of the oldest recipe books, his favourite a 1970s Good Housekeeping book or Larousse Gastronomique.

I’m very excited to have him on board, and more importantly he’s really enjoying it and we are getting a lot of praise for his down to earth cooking.

Paul and I want to produce classy, modern food but also traditional pub grub.

We really want to use the finest, freshest, locally sourced produce when and where we can, serving some really exciting and inspirational dishes. Of course we will not forget the old traditional favourites either that the great British love, these will always take pride of place.

We have also taken as much advice from breweries and wineries as possible but am always open to any suggestions.

This is all part and parcel of my aim to make this a pub you would be proud to call your own and I have to say I am really enjoying, loving even, everything about The General Eliott.

TRY IT
The General Eliott, Manor Road, South Hinksey, Oxford 
01865 608567

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