The best pubs near Banbury

The best pubs near Banbury are the Falkland Arms at Great Tew for its setting and rooms, the Sun at Hook Norton, in the brewery's own village, and the Duke of Cumberland's Head at Clifton for its food. In a different mood, try the Bell at Adderbury for music and morris, or the Reine Deer in Banbury itself for its Globe Room.

How we chose: these are pubs with an entry in our own listings, picked for their building, setting and what they serve, using what each pub's own website said when we read it in November 2026, and CAMRA's records where a pub's own site was silent. We have not ranked them by food or beer, since we have not yet eaten and drunk our way round them, and we will say so when we have. Nothing here is paid for. Country pubs keep short hours, so check before you drive out.

The Hook Norton Brewery pubs

The local pint is Hook Norton, brewed in a Victorian tower about 9 miles from Banbury. The brewery's pubs near Banbury include the Bell at Adderbury, the Reine Deer in town, the Roebuck at Drayton and the Chequers at Steeple Aston. A pub day here can be built round them.

The Bell, Adderbury. A Hook Norton pub on the High Street since the seventeenth century, with a winter fire and a courtyard. It is more village local than dining pub, with food on set nights (curry on Tuesdays, pizza on Fridays, Yorkshires on Sundays), quizzes, live music, Aunt Sally and beer festivals, and it is the home of one of Adderbury's morris sides. It opens only from 5pm from Monday to Thursday, so a weekday lunch needs another plan.

The Roebuck, Drayton. Built in 1602, once called the Buck, on the A422 a couple of miles from Banbury. It has a modern British menu cooked from fresh, and a Thursday steak night. Dogs are welcome everywhere, but mention them when you book. It closes on Mondays and Tuesdays, and at 6pm on Sundays.

The Chequers, Steeple Aston is the village's Hook Norton pub, on a site that has been a pub since 1765. It was renamed the Red Lion in 1830 and reopened in July 2026 under its first name, with new proprietors. It serves food, has a terrace looking across the valley, and is closed on Tuesdays; its published hours differ on Wednesdays, so ring first. Some directories still use the old name.

Great Tew and the village inns

For a single stop on a first visit, go to the Falkland Arms at Great Tew. It has the setting people picture, and the villages around Banbury have several more that are older than they look. Book at weekends, because the good ones are small, and they are the first to fill in summer.

The Falkland Arms, Great Tew. A sixteenth-century Wadworth inn on the green at Great Tew, with Wadworth and Folly Road ales, seven rooms and dogs welcome everywhere, bedrooms included. Food is served at lunch and in the evening every day. Great Tew draws a crowd on fine weekends, so come early, or on a weekday.

The Sun Inn, Hook Norton. On the High Street at Hook Norton, run by Freespirit Pubs, with Hook Norton ales, seven rooms and a welcome for dog walkers. It serves food every day, including brunch from Friday to Sunday. Pair it with a tour of the brewery.

The Bell, Shenington. A pub that dates itself to 1700, built of local ironstone on the green, with a log fire, flagstones and beams. It opens from Wednesday evening to Sunday, and is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Its site gives no year, so ring first. See its listing before you go.

The Griffin, Chipping Warden. A Marston's local in West Northamptonshire with cask ales, a sunny beer garden, live sport and dogs welcome. Its site says little about food, so ask before you plan a meal. See the Griffin's listing.

Pubs near Banbury for food

For a proper meal, start with the Duke of Cumberland's Head at Clifton, then look at the Sun at Hook Norton and the Roebuck at Drayton. Sunday lunch is the main event in most of them, and booking is sensible. Few of these serve food all day, so aim for between midday and 2pm.

The Duke of Cumberland's Head, Clifton. A thatched pub recorded in the village since 1774, reopened under new owners, with a modern British menu built on seasonal ingredients and three rooms. On paper it is the most ambitious kitchen here. It closes on Mondays and Tuesdays, and it stops at 6pm on Sundays. CAMRA's page and some directories still show it as closed, which is out of date. It is near Deddington.

The Red Lion, Adderbury. A Grade II listed Greene King pub on the green at Adderbury, which it dates to the seventeenth century, with a beer garden, rooms, dogs welcome and a pub-classics menu, plus a Sunday roast from about £14 in 2026. It opens from breakfast every day. It is the easiest option here for a family.

The Plough, Bodicote. A Wadworth pub on the High Street, about 2 miles south of Banbury centre, run by John and Jen, with real ales, a patio garden, locally sourced pub food and Sunday roasts. It closes on Mondays, and its site gives no year, so ring first. Of the pubs here, the Plough is the closest to the town for a Sunday lunch without much of a drive.

The Unicorn, Deddington. A seventeenth-century inn on the Market Place, with a garden and pub meals. It has seven rooms, four of them for dogs. Its kitchen is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, and it serves only in the evening midweek. See the Unicorn's listing for the times.

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Pubs in Banbury town

The pub to find in Banbury itself is the Reine Deer on Parsons Street, with the Globe Room, and the Three Pigeons on the Southam Road, a thatched coaching inn. The town centre has plenty of other bars and chain pubs around the Market Place and Butchers Row, which are for a drink and not a destination.

Ye Olde Reine Deer Inn, Parsons Street. A Hook Norton pub in the middle of the town that dates itself to 1570 and calls itself Banbury's oldest, serving food every day from midday to 9pm. The building is listed Grade II*, and its panelled Globe Room is dated 1637. CAMRA says Cromwell's soldiers are believed to have planned the siege of Banbury Castle there, which is a story rather than a record. The Victoria County History records that the panelling was sold to a London firm in 1912 and bought back for the town in 1964. One booking site lists the pub as closed, but its own site and CAMRA's survey of February 2026 show otherwise.

The Three Pigeons, Southam Road. A seventeenth-century thatched coaching inn, a short walk north of the Cross, with real ales, traditional ciders, a courtyard, three rooms and dogs welcome. It opens at 3pm on weekdays. CAMRA's entry, updated in October 2026, lists food from Thursday to Sunday evenings and visiting street food vendors at weekends, rather than a daily kitchen; its own site gives no 2026 date, so ring first. The Three Pigeons is the place for a pint on the walk from the People's Park.

Pubs near Banbury with rooms, and with dogs

The pubs with rooms are the Falkland Arms, the Sun and the Unicorn (seven each), the Three Pigeons and the Duke of Cumberland's Head (three each), and the Red Lion at Adderbury. Most take dogs in the bar, the Falkland Arms takes them in every bedroom, and the Sun lets well-behaved dogs sleep in its rooms for £10 a night. For the inns and their rooms side by side, see pubs with rooms near Banbury.

Dogs are specifically welcome at the Falkland Arms, the Sun, the Bell at Adderbury, the Red Lion at Adderbury, the Roebuck, the Three Pigeons and the Griffin. At the Unicorn, only four of the seven rooms take dogs. Ring before you book a room, as these rules change.

Three pub days from Banbury

Three short routes join these pubs into a day: Hook Norton and Great Tew to the south-west, the A4260 villages to the south, and the Edge to the north-west. Each is a short drive in total, though you will need a driver who stays on the soft drinks, because few of these villages have a bus that fits a pub lunch.

South-west, take the brewery tour at Hook Norton in the morning, have lunch at the Sun, then drive to Great Tew for a walk and an early evening at the Falkland Arms. The Falkland's seven rooms mean you could stop there, if you book early.

South, begin at the Plough in Bodicote for lunch or a Sunday roast, walk the council's village trail at Adderbury, and have a pint at the Bell or the Red Lion. Go on to the Deddington Market Place, with the castle banks behind it, and finish with dinner at the Duke of Cumberland's Head at Clifton, booked ahead. It closes early on Sundays, so do this one on a Friday or Saturday. The S4 bus covers Bodicote, Adderbury and Deddington, roughly hourly on weekdays, if nobody wants to drive.

North-west, the Roebuck at Drayton is on the A422 on the way to Upton House and the Castle at Edgehill. The Bell at Shenington is a short drive south of the same road, on its green. Lunch at one of them makes a good break between the house and the view, but the Roebuck does not open until 4pm on Wednesdays and Thursdays and Shenington is closed at weekday lunchtimes before Friday, so this works best at the weekend.

Other pubs near Banbury

Three more pubs in this country showed themselves trading on their own sites in late 2026, though they do not yet have listings with us. The Castle at Edgehill is the one to see, for its tower and the view from the ridge. The Butchers Arms at Kings Sutton is the place for Aunt Sally, and the Brasenose Arms at Cropredy is the village pub for the canal.

The Castle at Edgehill is Sanderson Miller's folly tower of about a century after the 1642 battle, now a Freespirit pub with Hook Norton ales and five rooms, on the ridge above the battlefield. The Butchers Arms at Kings Sutton has a large garden, log fires and a range of pub games: Aunt Sally, dominoes and darts. If you have never seen Aunt Sally, the game has a long history in this part of Oxfordshire and around. The Brasenose Arms at Cropredy has four refurbished rooms and ran its own Brasenose Fringe in 2026.

We have left out other pubs where we could not show from their own site that they were open in 2026. That is no judgement on them, and if yours is one of them, tell us. Hours here change with the seasons, and the villages near Banbury guide says what else is near each one. For where to go next, try things to do in Banbury.