Pub in old post office needs name (From Oxford Mail)
Get involved: send your photos, videos, news & views by texting OXFORD NEWS to 80360 or email us
Pub in Abingdon's old post office needs name
5:00pm Tuesday 17th July 2012 in News
By Ben Wilkinson, Crime Reporter. Call me on (01865) 425427
Camra members, from left, Steven Green, David Cogdell, Jonathan Price and Johanne Greenby the old Post Office in Abingdon High Street
PUB chain JD Wetherspoon is now considering names for its Abingdon bar after securing permission to develop the old post office.
The chain has been trying to open a pub in the town for about 10 years.
It was refused permission for the former Congregational Church in Pulpit House in 2003.
But it has now been allowed to turn the 19th century post office at 25 High Street into a pub after Vale of White Horse District Council approved the bid.
And the firm has researched local history to come up with potential names that are fitting with the town’s past.
Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin said: “We are pleased to have been granted planning permission and are as keen as ever to open a pub in Abingdon.”
The firm said it had not yet exchanged on the site and still had to apply for a licence, so did not have an opening date.
Last night the Oxford branch of the Campaign for Real Ale welcomed the approval of their bid.
Johanne Green said: “It will give more variety of beers and Wetherspoon is a very good supporter of local breweries.”
She said the move would probably bring more drinkers into the town rather than sapping trade from other bars.
“It will help get more footfall into town and I don’t think anybody stays a whole night in a Wetherspoon – people will move on, I’m sure.”
Steve Hipgrave, landlord at the King Heads & Bell in East St Helen Street, felt it would be good for the town’s pub trade.
He said: “It’s good to shake us up and make us competitive.
“It will also attract more people which is good after the closure of Strattons (nightclub).”
Danielle Coleman, bar manager of The Blue Boar in Bath Street, said it could go one of two ways for the town centre pubs.
“It might bring people into town but it might drive them out of other pubs,” she said.
The possible pub names are:
- The Narrows Inn
- The Lonesome Tree
- The Sun and Unicorn
- The Edward Morland
- The Old Number One
- The Golden Cross
- The Edmund Rich
The post office moved to the Co-op supermarket in West St Helen Street in January 2009.
Wetherspoon opened the Penny Black in Bicester’s old post office in 1997, the Swan & Castle in the Oxford Castle complex in 2009 and the Company of Weavers in Witney last year.
Comments(14)
Hazz
says...
1:05am Wed 18 Jul 12
Sid Hunt
says...
7:53am Wed 18 Jul 12
Colin_wood
says...
8:07am Wed 18 Jul 12
hatofthecat
says...
12:18pm Wed 18 Jul 12
or
The Handy for the Bookies
TonyH
says...
12:52pm Wed 18 Jul 12
davidofabingdon
says...
1:23pm Wed 18 Jul 12
The penny black
The tuppenny blue
the old post office
Andyrooo
says...
1:32pm Wed 18 Jul 12
TonyH wrote:Most pubs in Abingdon you can walk straight out into the road. The Grapes, The Nags (when it reopens), The Spread Eagle, Broad Face, White Horse to name but a few.
Wonderful. You could start a raffle on how long it takes for someone to stagger out of it, late at night, flop into the road, and get run over. (For those who don't know, it's right on the one-way system).
Same old negative comments about positive actions in Abingdon.
On a lighter note the name has been confirmed as 'The narrows' pending completion of transactions.
They based it on the information below.
Number 25 High Street was Abingdon's main Post Office for more than a century, until its closure in January 2009. The present-day High Street extends east-west, from the Market Place to The Square. The stretch by the Post Office (next to The Square) was long known as 'The Narrows'. In 1883, most of the buildings in 'The Narrows' were destroyed by fire. The street was then widened.
The Post Office was one of the new buildings erected in the early 1890s, with James Smith as the Postmaster. The stone shop front was added in 1954.
Possible name: The Narrows.
Sid Hunt
says...
2:58pm Wed 18 Jul 12
davidofabingdon wrote:DoA; My suggestion did draw on the building's previous use. Too subtle?
Not very imaginative, I know, but what about a name that draws on the past use of the building?
The penny black
The tuppenny blue
the old post office
davyboy
says...
4:37pm Wed 18 Jul 12
andyhyde
says...
4:56pm Wed 18 Jul 12
abfab123
says...
5:22pm Thu 19 Jul 12
davyboy wrote:I am not opposed to a Wetherspoons - I have only been to one and it was fine as a pub. I certainly wouldn't call it good food though, cheap maybe....
i don't particularly care what it is called, as long as they stick with traditional wetherspoons ideas of cheaper drinks, and good food. other pubs will have to pull their socks up now.
timfro
says...
11:53am Mon 23 Jul 12
shipscat
says...
7:10pm Mon 30 Jul 12
Andyrooo wrote:The Whitehorse has a garden and a carpark between it an the roads.
TonyH wrote:Most pubs in Abingdon you can walk straight out into the road. The Grapes, The Nags (when it reopens), The Spread Eagle, Broad Face, White Horse to name but a few.
Wonderful. You could start a raffle on how long it takes for someone to stagger out of it, late at night, flop into the road, and get run over. (For those who don't know, it's right on the one-way system).
Same old negative comments about positive actions in Abingdon.
On a lighter note the name has been confirmed as 'The narrows' pending completion of transactions.
They based it on the information below.
Number 25 High Street was Abingdon's main Post Office for more than a century, until its closure in January 2009. The present-day High Street extends east-west, from the Market Place to The Square. The stretch by the Post Office (next to The Square) was long known as 'The Narrows'. In 1883, most of the buildings in 'The Narrows' were destroyed by fire. The street was then widened.
The Post Office was one of the new buildings erected in the early 1890s, with James Smith as the Postmaster. The stone shop front was added in 1954.
Possible name: The Narrows.
icecreamlady says...
7:44pm Tue 17 Jul 12
after the late Iron Age defensive enclosure buried beneath the town.