What a transformation! Opening tomorrow (Friday Sept 5), The Slow & Steady pub on Oxford’s Abingdon Road has had a four month refurbishment, turning it into Dodo Pubs’ ninth hostelry, in the local company’s inimitable style. BREAKING NEWS: New pub The Slow & Steady named by Dodo (formerly Tap Social’s The White House) plus revamp, Sept opening and pizza/burger menu!
Expect the trademark pizza and burger menu and a real community, which Dodo’s Sarah Evans hopes will entice the locals in in droves.
“We had a locals night this week just to show them around and 250 people turned up. The feedback has already been really good so we can’t wait to open properly,” she said.
From the neon signs, and enticing tables, to the extensive colourful outdoor area and the vast “library” room upstairs which aims to be a function, community and event space, the stage is set for a welcome addition to West Oxford.
The Slow & Steady even has a games arcade complete with a football table and arcade machines!
Formerly Tap Social’s White House EXCLUSIVE: Tap Social’s White House is taken over by Oxford’s Dodo Pubs for Sept re-opening, full refurb and name change, Dodo aims to keep working with Tap and will sell several of their beers.
“Tap is concentrating more of their brewery side of the business so it was a great opportunity for us because it ticked all the boxes.
So why West Oxford? “We look for opportunities where the neighbourhood is lacking a good local pub, somewhere that is family and dog friendly that can be all things to all people and can be embedded into the community,” Sarah explains.
“Food-wise, our menu is tried and tested across the board in all of our pubs (in Oxfordshire this includes The Rusty Bicycle in East Oxford, Up In Arms in Marston, Rickety Press in Jericho REVIEW: The Rickety Press in Jericho is as vibrant, busy and fun as when it first opened 13 years ago and the food is still banging! and The Part & Parcel in Witney) and we aim to make it the food offering as affordable as possible,” Sarah adds.
“Lots of people find it too expensive to eat out anymore, so we want to be as competitive as possible while ensuring our food is the best it can possibly be,” she says.
“And while you can’t get fish and chips or a pie here, we know how to make pizzas and burgers really well and we will stick to our guns on that.”
Decor wise, Sarah said Dodo’s trademark look is funky and chilled, something that will appeal to everyone of all ages.
And with The Slow and Steady being the second pub Dodo has opened this year (the first is in Cheltenham) Sarah says that “of course it’s always a risk opening a new venue but we really believe in it or we wouldn’t do it otherwise. We really hope everyone will come to love it here and that The Slow & Steady will grow on people.”
So will there be more Dodo pubs opening in Oxfordshire in the near future? “We want to keep Dodo’s independent nature without growing too big, but if a good opportunity comes up who knows,” Sarah laughs.
“But at the moment we have a square of pubs on the outskirts of Oxford, which we like, and we plan to run some events between all four in the future, but for now we are just concentrating on getting ready for the opening.”
For more info go to https://dodopubs.com/the-slow-and-steady/
