Steve Daniels, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Eat and drink · Bicester
The Penny Black, Bicester
The Wetherspoon pub in Bicester's old post office of 1914 on Sheep Street, open from 8am every day until midnight, or 1am Thursday to Saturday, with a licensed outside area, step-free access and baby changing.
Family-friendly
The dependable stop on Sheep Street: open from 8am every day, with a chain menu and chain prices, in a building with a story. Read the history panels on the walls, and come in the morning or at lunch if you want it quiet, since it stays open until 1am at the end of the week.
- Good: Opens at 8am every day
- Good: A purpose-built post office of 1914, with history panels inside
- Good: Step-free access and baby changing
- Good: Licensed outside area
- Worth knowing: Open until 1am Thursday to Saturday: a late-night pub as well as a café stop
- Worth knowing: No prices on the web page; Wetherspoon puts them in its app
About
The Penny Black is the Wetherspoon pub on Sheep Street, the main shopping street of Bicester. The building opened in 1914 as the town's purpose-built post office, designed by Henry Collins of HM Office of Works, and the pub takes its name from the world's first adhesive postage stamp, issued in Britain on 1 May 1840.
Inside, Wetherspoon's history panels tell the story of the postal reforms of Rowland Hill and Anthony Trollope's pillar box, and of Flora Thompson, who worked in a village post office as a girl. The pub's own text says her Candleford was a mix of Banbury, Bicester and Buckingham and her Lark Rise was Juniper Hill. There are old photographs of Bicester from about 1910 and of the Market Square from about 1930.
It is open from 8am every day, until midnight Sunday to Wednesday and 1am Thursday to Saturday, with Wi-Fi, TV screens, a licensed outside area, step-free access and baby changing. The menu is Wetherspoon's own, with a Christmas menu from 12 November to 31 December, and prices are shown in the chain's app rather than on the web page.
Opening hours and season
| Monday | 08:00 to 00:00 |
|---|---|
| Tuesday | 08:00 to 00:00 |
| Wednesday | 08:00 to 00:00 |
| Thursday | 08:00 to 01:00 |
| Friday | 08:00 to 01:00 |
| Saturday | 08:00 to 01:00 |
| Sunday | 08:00 to 00:00 |
Wetherspoon's hours for the pub: 8am to midnight Sunday to Wednesday, 8am to 1am Thursday to Saturday. Kitchen hours are not printed.
The details
- Food
- Pub classics
- Booking a table
- Walk-ins only
- Features
- Bar · Garden or terrace · Wi-Fi
Photos
The front and ramp 
Sheep Street on a market day, 2012 Photo: PAUL FARMER, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons 
From Sheep Street, 2010 Photo: Julian Osley, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Location
Accessibility
- Step-free access
Wetherspoon lists step-free access and baby changing for the pub.
Places to stay nearby
-
Travelodge Bicester
Hotel · Bicester
A budget chain hotel on Pioneer Square in the middle of Bicester, under half a mile from Bicester North station and within walking distance of Bicester Village, with family, accessible and pet-friendly rooms but no car park of its own.
Dog-friendly · Car-free
Verified Nov 2026
-
The Littlebury Hotel, Bicester
Hotel · Bicester
A family-run hotel on Kings End in Bicester since 1959, with 35 en-suite rooms, breakfast included, a lounge bar, gardens and a large car park, within walking distance of the town centre and Bicester Village.
Family-friendly · Wedding venues
Verified Nov 2026
-
Premier Inn Bicester
Hotel · Bicester
A Premier Inn on Oxford Road, on the A41 at the southern edge of Bicester, half a mile from Bicester Village by the chain's measure, with family, accessible and Premier Plus rooms, a restaurant and a paid car park.
Family-friendly
Verified Nov 2026
Nearby walks, places and things to do
- Travelodge Bicester 0.1 km away
- Broadribb Cycles, Bicester 0.1 km away
- Mizu Japanese Izakaya, Bicester 0.1 km away
- Vue Bicester 0.1 km away
Sights nearby
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Bicester Market Square
Sight · Historic building · Bicester
The old market place at the centre of Bicester, where the town's market was granted in 1239, lined with listed houses such as No. 47 of 1698 with its oval-windowed tower. The Friday market is on Sheep Street beside it, and the square is due to be remade.
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St Edburg's Church, Bicester
Sight · Church · Bicester
Bicester's Grade I parish church, grown from a Norman church with a central tower into the big Perpendicular church of today. Inside are brasses from about 1500, Georgian monuments by Scheemakers, Wilton and Westmacott, and a Morris & Co. window of 1866.
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Garth Park, Bicester
Sight · Common or park · Bicester
Bicester's town park: about 9 acres of lawns, specimen trees and formal beds round Garth House, a Victorian hunting lodge given to the town in 1946. It has the 1732 bell of the old Town Hall, a bandstand, a café and play areas, a few minutes from Market Square.
-
Bicester Village
Sight · Historic building · Bicester
An open-air designer outlet on the south side of Bicester, with more than 150 boutiques on pedestrian streets, open seven days a week since 1995. It has its own station, with trains from London Marylebone and Oxford, and the old town is a short walk away.