I was wondering why I’d heard of Banbury Cross, but then I realised that it was from an historic nursery rhyme. This main event is the “Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross, to see a fine lady upon a white horse.” but no-one knows for sure who the fine lady was meant to be, which is terribly British, to celebrate someone anonymously for centuries. Theories range from Queen Elizabeth I to Lady Godiva, to some entirely fictional woman who had the good sense to sit on a horse while everyone else was walking. Anyway, the cross in the nursery rhyme was pulled down in 1600.
This ornate little number dates from 1859 when it was erected to mark the wedding of the Princess Royal (1840-1901), the daughter of Queen Victoria, to Prince Frederick of Prussia (1831-1888) in the previous year. She was a little unlucky, as she was Empress of Prussia for just 99 days after her husband died soon after becoming Emperor in March 1888.
In 1914, the statues of Queen Victoria, King Edward VII and King George V were added, with the cross being restored in 2012. Its major fault as far as I’m concerned is that it’s inaccessible, or without risking life and limb, as it’s stuck in the middle of a roundabout. It does take away a little from the excitement when it can only be seen from behind barriers. There’s a photo on the Francis Frith website at https://www.francisfrith.com/banbury/banbury-cross-1921_70582 from 1921 which shows that it was once rather more accessible.
The first pub stop en route to Cardiff was The Exchange pub in Banbury, operated by JD Wetherspoon. Using the chain’s text to explain the pub name and history:
“For almost 50 years, countless letters and parcels were brought in and out of this building. Banbury’s former head post office was built in 1936, on the site of an earlier 1877 post office. The new building, and the telephone exchange giving this building its name, was designed by Henry Seccombe of HM Office of Works. It was opened on 15 December 1936, by Colonel A Heenage, MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Postmaster-General.”
As usual, I have to applaud the chain’s efforts to explain the history of the local area, there are tens of these boards across the pub. There’s a photo of when this venue was a telephone exchange at https://telephone-exchanges.org.uk/exchanges/banbury-exchanges/.
My now obligatory photo of the unique carpet.
The entrance and lower area of the pub, the main bar is on the raised area to the right.
And another photo looking towards the bar. There were around six real ales available, all at the usual low prices. For anyone staying late and wanting to go to a club at the weekend, the nightclub Fever is located literally behind the venue.
The pub is on the chain’s lowest price band, so this meal and drink were a grand total of £7. The steak pudding is OK, it’s not packed with the finest quality steak, but that Hazy Jane is a pint bottle and so that seems like excellent value to me. Ross went for the Christmas wrap as he loves this time of year and Liam I think went for the all day brunch or similar. The drinks and food all arrived promptly and were at the appropriate temperature, so everyone was happy.
This leads me seamlessly onto my having a look at the online reviews of the venue, which are about average for the chain.
“The “chef” kept coming out to the eating area in her grubby uniform and dancing all over the place.”
I’m with the customer, there’s no need for frivolity, it’s bad for the soul.
“My daughter, 18 today, tried to enter this establishment 30 minutes ago, with her approved photographic I.d. And was turned away for being underage, because she had to be 18 years old and one day, this is in contravention of the current licensing laws.”
That does seem a bit harsh, the excitement of turning 18 and being told that you should wait another day. Although it isn’t a contravention of the current licensing laws.
However, this is back in the day when venues were allowed to respond and they did.
“Your daughters ID showed her as turning 18 on 10/08/2019, so until 00:00:01 on 10/08/2019, she would not have been able to enter the premises. We are open until 01:00 on Fridays and Saturdays, which technically is the next day, so if she had come in between midnight and 01:00 she would have been allowed entry.”
A rather different story and I like that they would have let her in for one hour after midnight, that’s quite a classy response.
“Very disappointing experience where the rude staff member wouldn’t even consider looking at my son’s valid electronic Australian drivers licence as ID. We had already been served once? I was rudely told when the staff member was talking over me that it was company policy to see a physical document. We had no issue is Bristol. I guess Banbury isn’t used to seeing many international visitors”
As it stands, despite the Government planning a change to this, a pub can’t accept a digital ID. So that’s a 1 star review as the venue refused to break the law to serve someone…..
“Very disappointed,got to be the worst Wetherspoons I’ve ever been in.No fish and the Wiltshire ham was almost see-through with chips I could almost count on two hands. Usually I would have made a big fuss for being ripped off but it was my birthday and my wife talked me down. Safe to say I’ll never frequent this branch again OR RECOMMEND IT.”
Complaining should be allowed on your birthday…..
“Dreadfull , ordered a starter , main all arrived at once starter was cold and clearly not cooked , main pizza arrived 2 small pizzas as they had run out of large bases , just poor service , nasty nasty”
That feels sub-optimal, sending two pizzas to make up for not having a larger base. However, I felt the need to think about this and JD Wetherspoon offers 8 inch and 11 inch pizzas. I went to https://www.omnicalculator.com/food/pizza-comparison and it seems that the customer got a better deal here in terms of the area of pizza…. I think I should probably get out more….
“I think your staff need to brush up on the laws of photography within a public place.”
Goodness knows what the back story is here but the interior of a pub is not a public place. If the chain wants they could be as ridiculous as Sam Smiths and ban all photos.
“Widely regarded as being one of the worst in the chain.”
Not judging by Google Reviews.
Anyway, I digress and I rather liked this venue. In an ideal world they might have been clearing tables a little faster, but it was clean, comfortable and seemed to be decent value for money. The team members were friendly, the prices were cheap and that’s another outlet in the chain visited.
