Hotel · Banbury
Whately Hall 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 · EV charging · Car-free
The hotel to choose if you want to walk everywhere in Banbury: on Horse Fair, about six minutes from the station, with old stone passages in the main house and gardens behind. The ghost and tunnel stories are good fun, but they are stories. The main house and Garden Wing are different stays, so read the room names before booking.
- Good: In the town centre, on Horse Fair near Banbury Cross
- Good: Six 22kW electric car chargers in the hotel car park
- Good: Afternoon tea from noon to 5pm, £25 a person
- Good: Family rooms and two dog-friendly rooms
- Worth knowing: Dogs are £15 per dog per night, and there are only two rooms for them
- Worth knowing: The site gives no access details: ring before booking
About
Whately Hall stands on Horse Fair in the middle of Banbury, near Banbury Cross and St Mary's Church. The Grade II listing calls it 17th century, with a date of 1652 on the rear, a 17th-century open-well staircase with 18th-century twisted balusters, and a 20th-century front. The hotel says it began as the Three Tuns Inn, built by the innkeeper Charles Stokes, that its licence is on record from 1677 and that James II stayed on 2 September 1687. It points to stone passages and priests' holes in the main house. A wing was added about 1955, the hotel says, and a larger one was begun in the late 1960s and finished in 1974.
Its stories are told more freely than its records. The hotel says Jonathan Swift stayed while writing Gulliver's Travels, tells of a ghost called Father Bernard and a robed figure seen in room 52, and repeats a rumour of tunnels to the church, the cross and even Broughton Castle. We have seen no independent source for any of them.
There are 71 rooms, from singles and doubles in the main house and cosy doubles in the Garden Wing to family rooms and suites. Meals are at the art deco Berkeley Bar and Restaurant, with an oak-panelled dining room over the gardens and an all-day menu dated May 2026. The Hornton Sports Bar is the separate place for a match.
The hotel holds weddings and conferences in the gardens and old rooms, and Christmas events are on sale for 2026, so expect functions at busy times. It can be a good base for a car-free stay, as the station is close.
Opening hours and season
Breakfast
| Monday | 07:00 to 09:30 |
|---|---|
| Tuesday | 07:00 to 09:30 |
| Wednesday | 07:00 to 09:30 |
| Thursday | 07:00 to 09:30 |
| Friday | 07:00 to 09:30 |
| Saturday | 08:00 to 10:00 |
| Sunday | 08:00 to 10:00 |
Weekend hours also apply on bank holidays.
Restaurant
| Monday | 10:00 to 20:30 |
|---|---|
| Tuesday | 10:00 to 20:30 |
| Wednesday | 10:00 to 20:30 |
| Thursday | 10:00 to 20:30 |
| Friday | 10:00 to 20:30 |
| Saturday | 10:00 to 20:30 |
| Sunday | 10:00 to 19:00 |
Lunch and dinner at Berkeley Bar and Restaurant.
The details
- Serving
- Breakfast · Lunch · Afternoon tea · Dinner · Sunday lunch
- Dietary
- Children's menu
- Rooms
- 71
- Check-in
- From 3pm
- Check-out
- By 11am
- Features
- Garden or terrace · Restaurant · Bar · Family rooms · Dogs in rooms · Parking · Wi-Fi · Events and meetings
- History
- The Three Tuns Inn, licensed by 1677, the hotel says
- Parking
- A hotel car park with six 22kW EV chargers. The site gives no cost, so ask when you book.
- Without a car
- About six minutes from Banbury station, the hotel says, with London Marylebone about an hour by train.
Photos
The terrace 
A bedroom 
The panelled room 
A dish from the restaurant
Location
Nearby walks, places and things to do
- The Church House, Banbury 0.1 km away
- The Old Auctioneer, Banbury 0.2 km away
- Ye Olde Reine Deer Inn, Banbury 0.2 km away
- Good Game, Banbury 0.2 km away
Sights nearby
-
Banbury Cross
Sight · Monument · Banbury
The cross of the nursery rhyme stands at the top of Banbury High Street, but it is a Victorian monument of 1858 to 1859, put up about 250 years after the town's medieval crosses were pulled down. Grade II*, free and seen from the street at any time.
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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.
-
People's Park, Banbury
Sight · Common or park · Banbury
Banbury's town centre park, opened in 1919 to mark the peace, with an aviary of budgies and cockatiels, a walled garden, rose garden, bowling green, tennis, a play area and a café. Free, and run by the town council.
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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.