Sandwiches at Bicester Village, however fancy they may be,  don’t come cheap as KATHERINE MACALISTER  discovered

It’s a funny business running a restaurant in Bicester Village, because although there are the huge plus points – such as being enormously profitable and having a captive audience, it’s still an almost entirely transitory clientele, rendering the eateries as soulless as an airport terminal.

That’s not to say they aren’t charming, tasteful or indeed tasty, but while they smile and scrape and bow, and then charge you through the roof for the privilege, do they care and why should they? Because no one will be coming back. With clientele all over the UK and world, and a packed interior every day, why should the locals bother them really? Haven’t they got somewhere better to go?

But these eateries remain a viable proposition for us because you can rely on them, and I defy anyone to find a better people watching arena. In fact our necks were so craned when we sat down in the Villandry window seats, we had to swap places half way to give our neck muscles a break – priceless. By the end we were just marking people out of 10 and one thing’s for sure, money doesn’t buy you taste.

And yes the waiters at Villandry were nice and smiley and looked after us, and the newly-expanded interior now contains a deli and a cafe and a sandwich bar, and the ceilings are high and the buzz continuous, but when you remove all of the above, it was still £15 for a sandwich, not that anyone else seemed to notice or care, because if you’ve just spent £2,000 on a coat, what’s £13.45 for a chicken BLT?

Of course it wasn’t called that, it was a grilled chicken sandwich with pancetta, lettuce, salsa and frites, but still! I had the roasted baby beetroot & goat’s cheese salad with watercress, fresh orange, pine nuts with orange & mustard dressing, and the fascinating sounding Aspen chips – which turned out to be as dressed up as the sales assistants – the reality being cheesy chips.

But it’s all about marketing and Bicester Village has managed to make a muti-million pound business out of selling stuff people didn’t fancy first time around on the high street, so if the word Aspen means you can sell chips for £4.90 then so be it.

It was only when rifling through my pockets a week later and coming across my receipt that I realised how expensive the whole experience had been. Because compared to lunch at say St Aldate’s Tavern (£19 for two last time I went) it came to a staggering £42.60 for one course each, non-alcoholic drinks and coffee at Villandry.

Villandry’s the name and Villandry’s the game, but then if you can afford to come to Bicester Village you can afford to cough up, and who are we mere mortals to judge?

Villandry is at 26b-c Pingle Drive, Bicester. Call 01869 355070.