Eat and drink · Banbury
The Coach and Horses, Banbury
A Hook Norton real-ale pub on Butcher's Row, just off Banbury's Market Place, in the Good Beer Guide from 2022 to 2025, with a courtyard garden, Sunday roasts and booked afternoon teas.
Car-free
The town-centre pub for a well-kept pint: Hook Norton on the bar, Good Beer Guide entries four years running and the brewery's own cellar award. Food is limited to Sunday roasts and afternoon teas you book a week ahead, so eat elsewhere on other days. Closed on Mondays.
- Good: Hook Norton cask ales, Cask Marque five stars for seven years
- Good: Good Beer Guide 2022 to 2025, and Hook Norton's Best Kept Cellar 2024
- Good: Courtyard and beer garden with shelters and blankets
- Good: Open until 1am on Fridays and Saturdays
- Worth knowing: Food only on Sundays, plus afternoon teas booked a week ahead
- Worth knowing: Closed on Mondays; opens at 6pm on Tuesdays
About
The Coach and Horses is on Butcher's Row, the narrow lane off the Market Place in the middle of Banbury. It is a Hook Norton house, and its beer is the reason to go: it has been in CAMRA's Good Beer Guide every year from 2022 to 2025, won the brewery's Best Kept Cellar award in 2024, and has held Cask Marque's five stars for seven years.
Hooky's ales are on the bar with a few premium lagers, and in autumn there are two cocktails for £10 from 4pm. Behind the pub are a refurbished courtyard garden and a beer garden with shelters and blankets for cooler nights. Food is narrow on purpose. There is a Sunday roast from noon to 4pm, and afternoon tea or a bottomless high tea from Thursday to Saturday if you book a week ahead.
The pub runs events through the year, such as Drag Brunch Bingo at £25 a ticket, and stays open to 1am on Fridays and Saturdays, so it is livelier late in the week. For a quieter old pub nearby, Ye Olde Reine Deer Inn is nearby on Parsons Street.
Opening hours and season
Food served
| Monday | Closed |
|---|---|
| Tuesday | Closed |
| Wednesday | Closed |
| Thursday | Closed |
| Friday | Closed |
| Saturday | Closed |
| Sunday | 12:00 to 16:00 |
Sunday roasts. Afternoon teas from Thursday to Saturday by booking a week ahead.
Tuesday 6pm to 11pm; Wed and Thu noon until late; Fri and Sat noon to 1am; Sun noon to 8pm; closed Mon. The pub's own hours; other listings differ, so ring to check midweek.
The details
- Food
- Pub classics
- Serving
- Sunday lunch · Afternoon tea
- Features
- Bar · Real ale · Garden or terrace
- Awards
- Good Beer Guide 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025
- Hook Norton Brewery Best Kept Cellar 2024
- Cask Marque five stars, seven years to 2025-2026
Photos
The bar 
A window seat 
The pub from Butchers Row in 2021 Photo: Jonathan Thacker, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons 
Butchers Row at dusk Photo: Philip Jeffrey, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Location
Places to stay nearby
-
Whately Hall Hotel, Banbury
Hotel · Banbury
A Grade II listed 17th-century inn, now a 71-room hotel on Horse Fair in the middle of Banbury, with gardens, an oak-panelled restaurant and six EV chargers.
Dog-friendly · Family-friendly · Wedding venues
Verified Nov 2026
-
The Three Pigeons, Banbury
Pubs · Banbury
A Grade II listed 17th-century inn, partly thatched, on Southam Road, Banbury, with real ales and ciders, a courtyard, Smash Cow street food from Thursday to Saturday and three en-suite rooms.
Dog-friendly · Car-free
Verified Nov 2026
-
Banbury Cross Bed and Breakfast
B&B · Banbury
A family-run Victorian B&B on Broughton Road, Banbury, with seven bedrooms, about 370m from Banbury Cross, with free off-road parking, cooked breakfasts and rates from £77. No under-18s.
Car-free
Verified Nov 2026
Nearby walks, places and things to do
- The Apothecary Tap, Banbury 0.0 km away
- Good Game, Banbury 0.1 km away
- Ye Olde Reine Deer Inn, Banbury 0.2 km away
- The Old Auctioneer, Banbury 0.2 km away
Sights nearby
-
Banbury Market Place
Sight · Historic building · Banbury
The square at the centre of Banbury, where a Thursday market has run since before 1155. The charter market is on every Thursday and Saturday, 9am to 4pm (Cherwell District Council, 2026), among timber-framed houses of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
-
St Mary's Church, Banbury
Sight · Church · Banbury
A round-towered classical church on Horse Fair in Banbury, built after the medieval church was brought down, in part with gunpowder. Grade I, by S. P. Cockerell. Open most mornings.
-
Oxford Canal, Banbury
Sight · River · Banbury
The Oxford Canal through the middle of Banbury, from the lock and Tooley's Boatyard, a scheduled monument, past the museum to Spiceball Park, with a towpath north to Cropredy. Free, open always, and a few minutes from the station.
-
Fine Lady statue, Banbury
Sight · Monument · Banbury
A bronze of the rhyme's fine lady on her white horse, on a Hornton stone plinth where South Bar meets West Bar in Banbury. The people of the town paid for it, and the Princess Royal unveiled it in 2005. Free to see at any time.