The Oxford

21/04/2026

We had something pretty decent land on the doormat this week.

An invitation’s arrived, to Buckingham Palace, for a garden party, for “services to charity” by command of The King.

And I’ll be honest — that feels a bit grand for what it actually is.

Because none of this has ever been down to one person. It’s been built on years & years of people turning up, supporting us and getting behind all sorts of slightly daft ideas we’ve cooked up to help others in our community.

It’s almost fifteen years of us all trying to be better. To do more. To make the place we live a tiny bit better for us being in it.

This invite really belongs to all of you who’ve supported us along the way. Without the so many astonishing people helping me every step of the way over the years I’d just be a man with a dream.

I haven’t got enough hours in the day to thank everyone I should but I hope you know just how important you all are to us here.

Incredibly grateful to be part of what we’ve grown here together. And we could not be prouder of us or this little corner of the world today.

All my love. Always.

Tom x

19/04/2026

Terrible day to be any other roast dinner.

05/04/2026

Dreamy little write up by Adam at the MEN about an award we were shortlisted for, nothing here that people don’t already know, how much we adore what we do & how over the years the community we’ve built around this place has grown arms & legs, making the work we do, the charities we help & the warmth we can spread all the better for everyone’s involvement.

It’s a privilege to make a shortlist but when we open the doors every day to people coming back over & over or to people who are only just finding us for the first time. We know deep down we’ve already won everything we need.

Happy Easter darlings.

Team McNeeney

'In the world of pubs, there's one thing that might mean more than everything else'

23/03/2026

Starting the week with an incredible bit of news here.

In a pretty humbling move we’ve made the shortlist for the British Institute of Innkeeping’s Licensee of the Year 2026. It’s a ridiculously prestigious award that puts us shoulder to shoulder with some of the very best Landlords & Landladies nationwide and of all the things we’ve ever been put forward for this one takes the biscuit.

The award recognises the art of running a fantastic pub, celebrates what we do for the community & charities around us alongside the incredible team here at The Oxford and how we’ve become a positive ambassador of the industry we love on every platform possible.

To be picked out by the BII as some of the very best Licensees in the country wasn’t on our bingo cards for the year but just like everything else that comes our way we know we couldn’t do it without you guys. Were all unbelievably proud to be recognised for the job we do keeping this pub & the community we’ve built around it thriving & welcoming more & more new people through the doors every day single day. It’s a trade that’s never felt tougher but we’re living proof that pressure makes diamonds out of us.

Cheers for now.

22/02/2026

So over the years with learn a few things about a few things and one of them is how to do the perfect Sunday.

It’s all about starting with the right intentions; you’ve got to get up & start the day off strong with something wholesome, you know the kind of thing we mean. A car boot sale. An antique shop. Watching your kid fail miserably some sport. Are the old classic, a big Sunday walk.

After devoting a very short time to any of these activities, one of you will announce that that’s more than enough of this kind of thing; usually when you realise you don’t need any of someone else’s tat or that you don’t have the right shoes for hiking & it’s obviously, that it’s raining.

It is around this time that someone will look around and suggest hopefully…”pub?” and everyone involved will be very happy about this decision.

You should head to the pub, either one where everyone knows you or one you’ve never been to before but have heard a lot of good things about. Brownie points if it has a fireplace. Somewhere cosy, with wooden beams, real ales & a good crowd already assembled at the bar. The perfect Sunday at this point demands a pint.

Seeing as you’re already at the pub, surrounded by people enjoying themselves, you should also decide that you can’t be arsed cooking this evening & stay for a roast. Now we are obviously we are pretty biased but the roast should probably include beef that’s still pink, gravy made from bovril & potatoes cooked in pork fat. It’s also imperative that the Sunday roast weigh around the same as a small child, you should also at this point probably have a second pint.

When your roast arrives & is proudly presented in front of you, you should make a little complementary noise, order yourself a red wine & absolutely demolish it. You should announce to everyone that you are too full, that you’ve got eyes bigger than your belly & you couldn’t possibly eat another thing. Then when someone approaches the table & asks if you want to see a desert menu, you will say “oh, we’ll have a look”.

At this point you should make your way home, full, warm & happy. Promptly bin off the rest of the responsibilities for your day. No making lunch for tomorrow, no ironing work stuff. You should probably leave it all for the morning. Fall asleep in front of the tv watching any crap.

Drifting off there in the armchair, full of gravy and sticky toffee pudding having spent an afternoon with people you love in a place that is very very grateful for you visiting, you can doze off knowing full well you’ve done your Sunday really really well.

This has been a public service announcement from the Team McNeeney press office on behalf of overindulging, of rarely denying yourself a treat & generally living the good life.

Happy Sunday Rochdale.

19/02/2026

Few hefty winter warmers on the specials board this week seeing as the weather still doesn’t want to play ball.

Tomato soup with cheese toasties & serious slabs of chicken pie are here to save us from another wet weekend’s boring dinners. Red curry & coconut noodle soup and some baked Stilton topped creamy garlic mushrooms alongside the usual combination of pies, winter warmers & Oxford favourites. What’s not to love?

15/02/2026

Only one thing for weather this grim…

If you need us we’ll be in the back, chain eating pork fat roasties & bovril gravy until the snow’s gone.

Happy Sunday Rochdale

10/02/2026

Celebrating our birthday this week with our favourite child.

Famous the world over, this legendary slab of pastry art has become the most iconic dish of our time here at The Oxford. Beloved by first timers & those having one for the hundredth time she’s still our best seller every week after all these years. No potato filler here, no liquid cheese centres, just tonnes of extra mature cheddar, lots of onion & a few eggs all served in that famous Oxford brick of pie.

Just got back of holiday? Has to be a cheese pie. Visiting family back home? You know what’s for lunch. Good parents evening? We know how you’re celebrating. Tens of thousands of these beautiful things we’ve sold over the years with countless memories connected to them, and if you’ve still never had one, well we think it’s about time.

Only question is; baked beans or mush peas?

06/01/2026

Back open tomorrow from 12
See you soon
Teammcneeney

28/12/2025

You all know the script by now, after tonight we’re closing up shop for a few days to give our incredible team a few days off after another ridiculous festive period.

We’ve a thousand things to say about this year & we’re sure there’ll be some big post about all of that at some point soon but for now we just wanted to say thank you all for your amazing support in 2025. You’ve all been amazing & we’re so very grateful to have had you all by our sides through one hell of a year.

We’re back on January 2nd till the 4th then closed the 5th & 6th so give the old place a little TLC then back to our usual 7 days a week for the year.

However you spend your New Year, enjoy it darlings,
Team McNeeney