Bowyer Arms in Vale of White Horse

Lovely friendly local pub with good food at excellent prices

We’ve just returned home from a fantastic evening at The Bowyers. A fabulous fireworks night, with marshmallows, sprinklers and bubbles included in the ticket price. Absolutely great value for money, and so great to see the pub so busy and putting on great family friendly events for the community. We can’t wait to see what’s on over Christmas!

Roast dinner was awful supposed to be pink meat was overdone and like leather! Disgusting!!!

Now part of the Hive arm of Greene King. Kiddies play area has gone. Drink prices have increased. Looks very nice inside. It's the only pub in the village but is empty most of the time.

Would never eat here again staff rude the roast dinner awful 2 black long hairs in gravy food luke warm disgusting

A lovely village pub. We've been a couple of times since the refurb and the new team are very friendly. Likely a few teething issues as we saw things improve from first to second visit, so onwards and upwards 🙂

Friendly staff, good tasty food.

Went last Friday evening for our friends birthday unbelievably there was no soft drinks on tap ! But what made it 10 times worse was the attitude of the lady behind the bar blonde hair and glasses so rude spoke to us like we were a piece of dirt we used to go regularly but never again absolutely appalling cannot believe how we were spoken to

We were regulars at this pub never had a problem. Since it's had a refurbishment. Wouldn't recommend this venue. We booked for 3 adults and 1 child. Arrived and it was not busy. Made our order. 3 course meal Starters came out after 20mins. Main course after 35 nothing in total took over 1hour to get our mains out. The food was awful. The roast potatoes were sitting in oil they were so hard looked like they had been recooked they were just full of oil and tasted greasy. Meat was awful. Don't visit this venue absolutely disgusting and definitely not worth the money

Friendly staff, but seemed a little inexperienced. Food wasn't that great, had the buffet for a family gathering. £11/head. Quiche was hard to eat, nothing labeled so was Hobsons choice what you ate. No soda available as it was broken, so sat mulling over a jug of tap water, some beers off pump as well. Very large heads on some served lagers, had to ask to get them to top them up.

This was my first visit to the Bowyers Arms since it was closed for refurbishment. It is certainly well presented externally, and tastefully decorated in the lounge/dining room. The menu has a variety of choices, and our selected meals were excellently prepared and presented by the chef, and delivered by very friendly and customer oriented staff. My wife and I will certainly be returning in the near future.

We came, with 2 friends, for a meal on Saturday evening. We had an enjoyable time, the staff were friendly, the service was prompt and the food was very tasty and was hot. One small niggle was the mashed potato was a bit stodgy. Overall it was a good experience. Keep up the good work.

First visit back since refurb. Food was good. Staff seemed new and inexperienced with little training it would appear and at times they seemed disinterested. However they were friendly and helpful A special shout out to Jacob who did his best with a big smile and friendly manner. It was such shame to see it so empty.

Thank you for a warm and friendly welcome, excellent service and delicious food. We had a lovely meal and felt very well looked after.

How the hell can you charge £4.05 for a regular coke is this some kind of joke

Good location with parking. Disappointed that they've got rid of the playground. Less of a reason to go there now. However, there were issues with the fryer and many foods unavailable. Food took 90 minutes to arrive on a quiet weekday lunchtime when the place was quiet. Such a shame. Hopefully things will improve but we will wait a while until we try again.

Lovely pub. Good Sunday roast. Fantastic to sit in the patio area and listen to the trains. Pub and Garden are dog friendly. Clean interior and friendly atmosphere.

Food was cooked to perfection, my kids and I really enjoyed our evening… would definitely be recommending and returning in the future thank you very much 👍🏽

Nice family and pet friendly pub with outdoor space highly recommended good food and service 😊

Lovely pub amazing food and friendly staff definitely will be coming back again soon!

Food was brilliant daughter really enjoyed her mac and cheese keeps asking to go back for more! Our meals were great too. The staff are absolutely lovely and the kids really enjoyed the games in the garden and watching the trains go past was an added bonus we will definitely be back again thank you!

excellent service food came out was wrong but the service and food in the end was amazing thank you so much to the landlady and landlord for there understanding and service will deffo be back

We booked in advance for a birthday and when we arrived there was no table ready for us and none of the food on the menu was available. The owners were unapologetic or sympathetic towards this, didn’t once apologise or seem bothered. The poor bar staff was trying to single handedly serve a long queue or people meanwhile the owners (husband and wife) were sat in a booth drying cutlery. When we said we were going to make a complaint the male owner marched up to us and told us to get a refund and leave. Overall a very disappointing first visit and we won’t be returning.

The management & staff were brilliant & the food was amazing had a great time & will go back 😀

Lovely quiet setting, easy to manoeuvre around in a wheelchair and get out to the large garden. The trains going by add interest for the children, as do the garden games provided. There is a library/book exchange inside, where you/children can get a book to read whilst you are there or take a book to swap with one there. Three adult meals and three children’s meals catered for, all enjoyed with no complaints, other than the steak diner being envious of the lamb shank diner, with good reason. The steak was perfectly cooked, but the lamb falling off the bone deserved the longing looks. The lasagne diner felt their meal was the best version they had out in a long while. Dairy free cheese and ice cream was available, which was a pleasant surprise, as it allowed the cheeseburger and ice cream option for a child meal, which is usually not possible when eating out. We were sitting at a small table, with the children running around and playing, when the food was brought out. The managers moved another table over to us for the children to sit at. When we left, there were a lot of people inside and it was still easy to manoeuvre around.

Awful place with the new "managers". Incompetent! Lol. It was raised with you and your wife at the time. You refused to honour the receipt. Shame on you!

We came in at 12.00 booked and we had to wait til 1.30 for starters to come out. Then had to wait til 2.30 for the mains to come out. The waiting staff were friendly and apologetic but the kitchen staff need to sort there timings out. we were not the only ones complaining. considering it's had the money put in for refurbishment the need to serve your customers regarding food is just lacking in urgency. I would not expect to wait 3 hours to eat 2 courses. first time here to this pub and it will be the last time. birthday lunch ruined. Mash potatoes had so much salt in that it wasn't edible. Order mash with one main and got chips instead. Just very poor management. Clearly the kitchen staff need some training. Comment to reply. It was not told to us at any point that there was builders in your kitchen and the service was going to be slow because of this. A good pub manager would of informed prebooked table of this as we would of gone somewhere else if we have been told.this wasnt communicated when I spoke to the bar staff when we walked in and said we had a table reserved. And I didn't say that I ordered at 12 I said we had booked a table for 12.00. Still waiting 1 hour for starters and then another hour for mains afterwards. The waiting staff offered a free drink after we had just ordered drinks at the bar 10mins before. We really just wanted to eat and leave at this point so that's why the whole table didn't have a drink on the house. You are very aggressive with your response, Clearly you need some training on how to respond to feedback. If I was GreenKing I wouldn't be happy with the way you are replying to people on here. I'm not the only one that has complained about the service with food over the last week. Comment to second reply. By the time the mains came out we didnt bother saying anything as we just wanted to eat and leave. The order that was wrong was the steak, we were told that you had no chips just fries so I asked if it was possible to have mash instead with the steak as my 79 year oldfather doesn't like fries. This was all ok when I order with the lovely lady at the bar, she couldn't of been more helping and checking everything was on there. she repeated it back with steak with mash and side of the gravy with it. The bar staff were lovely and the waitress that was bringing the food out and dealing with all the complaints was lovely too. What your not listen to is that fact that service was slow and the communication was nonexistent . we were only informed on here about the problems you were having in the kitchen.the communication that you were having issues in the kitchen when we first walked in would of been better service. At no point while we were at your pub was this told to us. How are people ment to know there food will be longer then normal if communication isn't happening.

Sorry to say we came today to try the new menus as our last visit prior to the refurb was far from acceptable. We ordered 6 starters to share with an extra portion of fries. Sorry to say two of the dishes were unedible. Both of them way over cooked. Deep fried prawns and cauliflower. They weren’t just over cooked they were burnt . I returned both dishes. They then brought out another two exactly the same and tried to tell me they were probed to make sure they were cooked. Sorry I’ve been a caterer for 40 years they were over fried they must have had the oil too hot . The prawns inside the batter were not cooked! I did mention it to the landlady but she didn’t even offer an apology. It also took over 40 mins for our order to arrive and it was a wed lunchtime . God knows what it would be like on a busy day. My other comment would be if your serving sharing platters it might be an idea to give customers a plate each . I ate my couple of bits on a napkin . Won’t bother again service hasn’t improved at all . Such a shame we’ve been using this pub for over 47 years . Bring back Dave and Jill get it back to what it was .

Awful would never go there again, 2hr 30 mins wait from ordering to receiving our mains. When the mains came the order was wrong and mash salted so much it was inedible avoid at all cost of you want to eat within 3 hours of ordering. Take a quick walk down to the tandem instead and save yourself a few hours

Went to the Bowyers Arms with my wife, for our anniversary meal, the service was very good ,the staff were very attentive & polite, nothing was too much trouble, my wife had beef & ale pie which was large & very filling & I had the mixed grill which was well cooked which contained one of the best steaks I have had in a long time, for desert we both had Eton mess which again was excellent, all in all this meal was fabulous, thank you Bowyers staff keep these standards up and the pub will go from strength to strength, we are two happy customers that will be coming back for more, a big thank you from both of us,all the best.

Unfortunately the food and service we received at this pub was horrendous. We waited a long time for our food despite the pub being almost empty. The waitress came out after about 20 mins to state several things were out of stock - this clearly hadn't been communicated to front of house. When we finally received the food, it was awful. Several things wrong with the order like the wrong type of chips/fries, wrong rice etc. I spoke to the person who served us as my food was completely cold and the bread on my sandwich was very thin, cheap white bread which also felt stale. The garlic mayo was missing, rosemary and sea salt missing from the fries, avocado was extremely tangy and tasted off, the chicken within the sandwich was more like cheap chicken nuggets. I was polite to the waitress but there was no apology and no communication. About 15 mins later, they brought out another sandwich which they'd managed to make even worse. It was absolutely drenched in cheap mayonnaise (not the garlic mayo on the menu), so much so that I couldn't pick it up as a sandwich and had to remove the bread entirely. The fries were covered in so much rosemary and sea salt that they were utterly inedible. The katsu curry we ordered was just chicken (no breadcrumbs) and a horrid, gloopy jelly-like sauce. Again, they hadn't listened when we asked for no chilli/coriander garnish. Extremely poor customer service and even worse food - definitely will not be returning. Adding an edit for the owners reply: I did not request the food to be remade nor was I asked. There was no communication and no apology for the awful food when my plate was taken. I did not ask for more sauce. Initially, my fries came out with no salt (rosemary and sea salt as per the menu). The 2nd plate had so much salt on the fries that they were inedible. We spoke to the other waitress about the katsu curry sauce - again, this demonstrates a considerable lack of communication. Additional edit: There absolutely was not any feedback or conversation about the food being replaced or requesting more sauce. The woman who asked us if our food was ok did not respond at all to anything I said about the food and just took the plate without communicating. I had no idea the food was being remade. The other waitress was informed about the curry sauce. I think the feedback from the pub shows what it's like to be a customer. Avoid the place. The refurb looks lovely but sadly the quality of the food and customer service don't match.

Ordered 2 mix grills absolutely top notch best mix grill I've had for along time good portions to

No stars. Found manager really rude & made our party of over 60's ladies very uncomfortable as shouted at us When we queried our order. Disgusting

Just what the village needs, fantastic new owners who are so very friendly and the food was the best we have ever had in the Bowyers Arms! We will now been using our village pub much more frequently, thank you very much ☺️

Food was amazing,staff are very friendly and helpful. Lovely pub nice and clean . Roast dinner are very nice.

I Definitely would not recommend this place to anyone. Awful Dry Microwaved food. Slow service, Some staff were rude. Booked for a Birthday, Called again to add additional person. We even dropped a cake off earlier in the day. However on arrival apparently they had no knowledge of our booking. They then Sat our party on x2 seperate tables some distance apart. After ordering, some of the Meals arrived 1 hour apart, X2 meals didn’t arrive at all as apparently they could not cook it, it was either raw or burnt!! So these guests actually left as they were not impressed. Told couldn’t be refunded as they didn’t know how to issue it. Call back later in the week if they still wanted it to be refunded.?? Food took so long they then tried telling us we had to leave as kids were not allowed in after 9:00pm. This was due to their incompetence. I genuinely have never been so disappointed with a Pub/Restaurant. Pity as it’s nice looking place since the refurb. We called management later in week to explain the situation to management they offered 20% discount on next visit which we refused. To be honest I would not have returned if it was full free meal. Not even an apology. All we had was excuse. After excuse. Sorry guys but this is unacceptable :( Edit: Reply to Response: I have left a honest and true review to reflect my experience. I was certainly not trying to get any free meals once was enough thank you. Just to add I am not angry. Just very disappointed as it was a birthday celebration that was ruined. Still had no apology, Just to make it clear the refund from the x2 Guests that did not eat was requested on the night, however your staff could not issue this as they did not know how to do it. These x2 guests were then Instructed after numerous calls and almost a week to return to your pub to collect refund in person. Which i believe they have now done. You should try to address the issies instead of Accusing customers of wanting to get free food and leaving a review as some sort of revenge just sums up the attitude to a T. Wish you well in the future.

Over 1hr 30m wait on food. People were giving up and getting refunds. Staff and managers attitude is very poor, hardly any apologies or updates. Server barely said 2 words either. We were giving this place another chance after a recent refurb. But as usual, it’s terrible all round. Won’t be back for food.

Lucas and Kayleigh are really nice and friendly thank you guys

Went to our local pub for Sunday lunch after it reopened following a refit. We were not disappointed. The new landlord and landlady were extremely welcoming and the food was hot and well presented. There was also a good selection of ales and lagers

We've been before are we're disappointed with the food, but we thought it would be ok for a drink. We were wrong. There was a queue and the staff had absolutely no sense that they were trying to move quickly, so we stood in a queue for 10 minutes as the 3 people ahead of us were served, as the queue grew behind us. Then we ordered 2 different beers from a rather grumpy looking woman, who I assumed was a manager, only to find that both of them didn't taste like they should. Pub has great potential as it's a great looking building with a fab beer garden, but we won't be going again.

Not good service at all we ordered at around 7:45 and food didn’t arrive until 9. It’s a shame because this pub was so good when I was a kid but came here for the first time after the refurbishment and was not impressed as all.

The food is gorgeous and the staff are extremely friendly they recently had a refurb and now owned by someone else. They handled the change incredibly.

What a tasty little spot.. plenty of parking great refurb on pub and outside area.. the garden is so big and a proper sun trap.. definitely will go again.

Currently closed for refurbishment

Just having a pint and a read by myself. A lot of very friendly customers.

the bartender is uncultured, likes to humiliate women

This is a lovely pub to have something to eat. I have given a 4 star due to the fact that I went for a Sunday dinner and was disappointed that they only had a choice of turkey or beef, was hoping for pork. Otherwise the meal was of a good quality and quantity, the dessert of Eton mess was scrumptious. I would recommend a visit here for food. It also has a medium sized garden at the rear facing the train station with a selection of tables and a child friendly from ages 4 to 12 play apparatus for children.

Vastly improved compared to the last review I gave . Keep it up team 💪👍

We arrived at 12.40 on Saturday and were greeted warmly. There was a choice of menus and we chose one for seniors. Service was great, food arrived promptly and we enjoyed our meals. It was really good value for money. There is plenty of room, a nice garden and a relaxed atmosphere. We already plan to go back.

Me and my daughter went here for an impromptu lunch last Friday (26/04). We were greeted warmly and served quickly, enjoyed a well cooked. nicely presented lunch from a simple 'pub grub' menu. It's a shame they weren't as busy as the deserve to be. Definitely worth trying!

Really lovely food, friendly staff, good atmosphere, will be back soon, Only one thing wrong...... door slammed every time someone went into the kitchen, new door closer needed, everything else brilliant.

Great pub, my go to in Oxford for Sunday roast where I can take my dogs. Staff are always super friendly and food is always on point.

As a football club, we have been going to the bowyers now for about 35 years! Seen a few landlords come and go (thanks Eddie and carol!) but have to say that the current team are exceptional. It’s a very well run and family focused pub. Meals are great, nothing is too much hassle to change about for you and the front of house staff are genuinely nice people. Special shout out to Callum, thanks for putting up with the football lot! Cheers for getting the drinks ready for us pal! Can’t fault the bowyers, it hits the right notes every time. Keep doing what you are doing, you are smashing it.

Horrendous pub didn’t want to serve us because we had our kids with us but served her own family and let her kid under age behind the bar and refused to serve kids crisp bc we are “under age” for crisp

A good option for a mid week meal. We ate chicken schnitzel, served with a lovely tomato & feta side salad and a beef & ale pie with an option of different side orders. Tasty food, decent portions & affordable prices. Staff have always been very friendly....Jude was very professional & attentive.

Lovely staff and atmosphere is great. Will definitely be back!! Thanks to all the friendly staff for your hard work.

Nice place to hang out. I loved the onion rings they offered.

Great service, brilliant choice of food and drink Landlady and all the staff are very friendly and welcoming Will be back!

Was abit dead when was there but looks like could be great pub when busier

Went over the Christmas holidays so it was a little quiet. Food and service were 10 out of 10 ! Lamb shank with mint gravy was delicious ! I'll be back !

Good Roast. Reasonable size and good price. Staff helpfull ans welcoming.

Lovely Sunday roast. Cosy clean village pub. Great service!!!

We have been here a few times as my grandad lives down the road. After our last visit we didnt have high expectations as it was fairly disappointing. However we came on Sunday and were very impressed, the roast was exceptional especially for the price. Meat was tender and lovely and the yorkshires were huge. We also had pudding which was really nice. Staff were very welcoming and attentive. Not sure if they have changed hands again or a different chef but already looking forward to going back again!

Nice food , polite helpful staff & great pub & facilities 👌

Warm welcome, efficient & helpful service, warm & tasty food, cold beer - what more to expect?

We had two great Christmas meals here for groups of ~40 colleagues at a time - the staff were very accomodating and the food arrived quickly, with very tasty food for the price! Thanks to everyone who looked after us on the day!

Excellent pub with exceptional staff. Well worth a visit.

One of the best Sunday lunches I've ever had, with Turkey. Had to wait quite a while for it to arrive, but most of it was freshly prepared. The Yorkshire puds were the best ever - just like my Gran used to make 70 years ago!

I booked a table for 16 for our Christmas lunch get together. We all had a great time, the service and staff were very good indeed. The food was bought out in a timely fashion and we all enjoyed our meals - some of us had 2 courses, whilst a few had 3 courses, but it still worked well. Our 2nd Christmas luncheon and we would come back again. Thanks to all the staff, nice and relaxed and no hurry to get us to move from our tables.

Probably one of the worst burgers I have eaten in my life. The bread tasted like cardboard. I didn't know it was possible to burn a piece of meat so much. I suppose it was so burned because it took them almost 40 minutes to bring the food to the table. The person in the bar was quite unfriendly because I didn't speak English as my first language. (Good atmosphere though: there was a lovely Christmas party for kids)

So, we were passing the area and made a detour to the Bowyer.. we were unfortunate enough to arrive into a "shortage" (the delivery for that day hadn't turned up). The chap behind the bar did let us know that some items weren't available, meaning that we had to change our options for dinner, nothing could have been done about that and completely understand that just is what it is. However, we waited for over an hour for our starters to arrive - we had ordered the camembert sharer board, which came out with virtually nothing on it aside from the camembert and bread (not as advised or described). My partner and I did send this back, and then proceed to wait for another half an hour for the mains to come out. The bar staff couldn't have been more apologetic and did compensate but in all honesty it absolutely put a dampener on our evening and there definitely wasn't the need for such a wait based on the number of guests in the pub, and we weren't advised on such a long wait. Can't fault the service, food was average but won't be going back.

Have to say that last night fish and chips was amazing . Great service and amazing staff . Thank you bowyers arms

Unfortunately had a terrible experience. The starter to be fair was good but they omitted the crispy onions on the side and when they did come it was soggy burnt onions which were totally inedible. The food (scampi) was off and the chips cold. Had to send my back and ended up not having anything and had to ask for a refund as it wasn't offered. The other meal was burnt and cold. Staff lacked any interest in serving or rectifying the problems. It used to be such a good place for food but we won't be returning in a hurry.

Amazing team amazing food chef was very insightful and was able to cater to our needs

The garden is lovely for having drinks with friends. The sarnie was a bit burnt though.

What a change. This place is great now. Apparently there's a new Landlady who clearly knows what she's doing. Well done.

Food very poor, cold chips rock hard mushroom’s the only thing on the plate worth eating was the onion rings,, don’t remember the last time had such a bad meal. Told server but he was not interested in what I said. Think this is the only time I have complained, but I had to. Regards J Collins

Really good menu, lots of choice and the quality of the food was excellent. Veey reasonably priced also. Local guest ale avaliable, and a good selection of cider, larger and gins. Service really was great. Friendly, helpful, genuine staff. We felt very welcomed. Only minor points were the gents toilets. Contained and didn't impact our dining experience. They weren't pleasant to visit on a Saturday evening, however.

Good solid chain pub. Separate dining area and sports bar feel.

An enjoyable meal out. Friendly staff, good choice on menu. Something for everyone, good drinks. Good value.

Enjoyed a Lovely meal with my friend thank you .

Heard from someone regarding the Sunday roast. Very disappointing. It wasn't real turkey,meat like smoked salamy type. Vegetables undercooked. Staff and service is pleasant. We will never eat there again,sorry.

Enjoyed lunch with a cold refreshing strawberries and cream cider. Staff friendly as ever and happy to make changes and swaps to the order.

I loved the mussels. I didn't like the bread as it was burnt. The fries were full of oil. Maybe next time, have better luck 😉

All good, food and beer nice, friendly staff. Ran out of a few meals and quite a long wait but more time to drink and chat so all good.

Great pub and staff. Couldn't be any better. They looked after us so well for a birthday party on Saturday. Great food and good selection of drinks.

We had a great night in The Bowyers Arms recently. Easy booking over the phone. Lovely warm welcome, great food, great drink, superb atmosphere. Emily looked after us really well. We were well chuffed with our experience and would not hesitate to recommend the Bowyers Arms and Emily and the team. We will definitely be back. Jane & Tommy.

Very disappointed in the restaurant we booked a few weeks in advance bacouse there was a whole family coming to celebrate an 80th birthday. But food was very substandard and even staff a bit matter of fact . 15 people is a good earning for restaurants these days but we felt let down

Food good no Guinness and no coffee

Being new to Radley, we ventured down to have supper. What an amazing welcoming place. Will definitely be back.

A bit disappointed. Caught them on an unexpectedly busy hot evening midweek. Short staffed and long wait for food. Would Tey again though.

Really nice salt beef and beer cheese on sourdough bread. Also have a separate menu for gluten free

Had a lovely meal. The staff were were friendly and welcoming. This was the first visit since the Bowyers changed hands. I highly recommend it .

Sat and enjoyed a beer and meal in the lovely garden....what more could I want.. thank you

Like god’s waiting room, had to wait ages. And 4 people would normally get food all together. We got ours when our friends were halfway through. Chips cold and looked like been thrown back in fryer to keep warm a few times , peas cold, fish was ok. But never again, how this place got 4 stars I don’t know.

Great atmosphere & friendly staff. Will certainly be going again soon

We found this on a bicycle trip during lunch time and we were positively surprised for a nice staff, the moderate prices and the quality of the beer and the food.

When I went there with a friend we had a drink and a bit to eat and it was great there and we injoyed sales there great staff and great lay out

All good for me staff polite and friendly, will go back there again Definitely.

Visited the Bowyer's a few times recently and wanted to say what a lovely pub it is. The staff have always been very welcoming, with friendly and prompt service, even when they're obviously very busy. The regular customers seem to be a friendly bunch too, which lends to a nice, enjoyable atmosphere. I'll certainly be visiting again very soon!