A plan to create a boutique hotel at the Eagle and Child pub in Oxford has been dropped - at least for the time being.
The pub in St Giles, owned by St John's College, closed with all others on the first Covid lockdown in March 2020 and has never reopened.
The poor state of the building at that time led to fears that it may never reopen as a pub or as a pub/boutique hotel as the college had planned.
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But last year the college insisted that it did want the pub to reopen and would re-advertise it in the hope that new management would take it over.
Savills is marketing the property but the boutique hotel scheme is no longer being highlighted.
Dave Richardson, of the Oxford branch of real ale campaign group CAMRA, said: "The Eagle and Child is now being marketed again to prospective tenants, but only the ground floor and cellar so St John's College is not proceeding with the boutique hotel idea at present, as it previously said it was considering."
He added: "It’s good news that the college is not proceeding with the boutique hotel plan at present, as it could be refurbished as a pub at a considerably lower cost which makes it more likely someone will take it on.
“We would prefer to see it taken on by an independent company rather than a pub group, and the success of the Lamb & Flag since reopening suggests that a pub serving good ale will always do well in this city.
"We hope that whoever takes it on will give due regard to its heritage, and not try to impose any kind of corporate feel.”
St John’s principal bursar Zoe Hancock said last year there was “definitely a possibility” that the Eagle and Child could reopen as a refurbished pub rather than the more ambitious scheme of converting the rooms above it into a small hotel.
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St John's College also owns the Lamb & Flag on the other side of St Giles.
It closed during lockdown at the start of 2021 and reopened in October last year, after it was taken over by a community group called the Inklings.
Dylan Dudbridge-Hay and his wife Alice are now managing the historic pub on behalf of the Inklings group.
The Lamb & Flag is one of Oxford's oldest pubs and there was shock around the globe when it closed.
The Eagle and Child is equally well known, as it was once a meeting place for fantasy writers JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis.
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This story was written by Andy Ffrench, he joined the team more than 20 years ago and now covers community news across Oxfordshire.
Get in touch with him by emailing: Andy.ffrench@newsquest.co.uk
Follow him on Twitter @OxMailAndyF
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