Where to eat and drink in Bicester

Bicester eats in two places: the old town round Sheep Street, and the restaurants among the shops at Bicester Village, about half a mile south. If you have one meal in the town, book Mizu, an independent Japanese izakaya on Sheep Street, for plates to share and dinner until 10pm, or 11pm on Friday and Saturday.

In the old town

The Penny Black at 58 Sheep Street is the Wetherspoon, in the town's purpose-built post office of 1914, with history panels on the walls. It opens from 8am every day, which makes it the dependable breakfast on a Friday market morning, and it takes walk-ins. Expect the chain's menu and the chain's prices; come in the morning or at lunch if you want it quiet, since it stays open late at the end of the week.

Mizu, at 73 Sheep Street, cooks izakaya style: dishes made to share, sushi among them, with staff to suggest a drink for each, and a seasonal card beside the main menu. It opens for lunch and dinner from Tuesday to Sunday and is closed on Mondays. Book online for up to six, keep to your slot, and ring if you are late, since a table is held for 15 minutes and a no-show is charged.

Noughts & Nibbles, in the old bank where Sheep Street meets the Market Square, is a board game café that opened in March 2026: hundreds of games, staff to pick one, and barista coffee, toasties and cake. Play is charged by the hour a head, under-5s free, and coffee and cake alone cost nothing extra for the table. It is the answer to a wet afternoon with children, and it is closed on Mondays.

At Bicester Village

Three of the Village's restaurants are worth booking, and all three are priced for a day out. Ottolenghi is the proper sit-down meal between shops, with Southern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cooking, more vegetables than most menus, a deli counter and a terrace; the set menu is the sensible order at lunch, and a discretionary 12.5% service charge is added. Cecconi's is Northern Italian, with fresh pasta and wood-fired pizza. Book it for breakfast or dinner, since lunch is walk-in only, and note that its own page says it closes at 7pm. The Double Red Duke, the Village outpost of the inn at Clanfield, is the plainest British plate there: breakfast from 9am, then pies, steaks and Sunday roasts, with a fire in winter and a 13.5% service charge.

The Village has other restaurants and cafés among its boutiques that we have not listed; their menus and hours are on its own site. Halal chicken is marked on Ottolenghi's menu and halal dishes on the Double Red Duke's, and the Village says Cecconi's has halal options. Dogs on a short lead are welcome in the Village, but each restaurant decides for itself.

What is missing

The better pub meals are in the villages, and the Village's restaurants keep to shopping hours, so check closing times before a late dinner. For a Sunday roast in Bicester, the Littlebury Hotel on Kings End has one and its own car park. For a better meal, drive 10 or 15 minutes out, to the Horse and Groom at Caulcott, where booking is essential, or the Fox at Souldern. Our guide to where to eat in Bicester has the village pubs, and the ones that have closed.

All six go without a car. Bicester Village has its own station, and a walking planner puts it 9 minutes from the Market Square, so you can shop at the Village and eat on Sheep Street. Getting to Bicester has the trains, and parking in Bicester the car parks if you drive.