The Bell at Hampton Poyle in Cherwell

Really can not recommend. Rooms have extremely low ceilings and definitely not luxurious. One packet of biscuits and one coffee bag between 2! Waited 50 minutes for breakfast which included one strip of very overcooked and tough streaky bacon, burnt toast and no mention of the black pudding which was supposed to be included.

Not what it used to be. Food not quite up to its former glory. The rooms are cramped with some baths incredibly difficult to get in and out. Ask for a shower room if you're a little aged,

Room lacking a little bit in cleanliness. Food excellent and great staff.

Definitely the worst Sunday roast I’ve had in a while. I had the roast beef, as did my daughter. The beef was wafer thin and just 2 small slices. The veg consisted of 2 small broccoli stems and about 6 green beans. Gravy thin and very bland. All for £22 each!! Cannot recommend and definitely won’t be eating a roast here again.

I came to Oxford on business. First time I stayed at a chain hotel across the road from the customer. This time that hotel was WaaaaaY over the expense limit. The Bell was way under. What a tremendous outcome!! Lovely room Friendly staff Great food Got to come back on business in a few weeks. That chain hotel isn't getting a look in!!!

Rather expensive to what it was £5 for potatoes as they were extra which we had to wait for had the main but not potatoes

I have stayed two nights at this pub room at a ground floor road facing room, noisy from road traffic and pub drinkers, table lamps were not working. I forgot to book a dinner before on arrival, I was not allowed to have dinner anywhere in this pub after checked in as a stay guest, I felt so unwelcome, no earlier breakfast was allowed before 8am, I left my room without breakfasts even I paid for it. There was nowhere I could leave the room key in a safe box. The pub manager was cold, rude towards me. I am not reconmmend this accommodation to any other guests.

The hotel is in a quiet location, very old-fashioned but beautifully decorated The employees are nice The food was good

Where exactly do I start? I would have given zero stars if possible but as myself and husband have been going there so regularly (every lunchtime and more) for so long I can hardly do that as we wouldn’t have done so if the place was dreadful. But, dreadful it is now and we will never be going back! Let me start by saying I am not the only person to feel dissatisfied with this hotel/bar/restaurant and yet not one reply 🤔 What does that say in itself? We went there for lunch last Sunday as we had not been for a while due to it going downhill but felt it was only fair to give it another chance. However, we wish we didn’t. We started with a couple of drinks and decided to stay for lunch as they were unusually quiet for a Sunday, which I suspect is the case most of the time now. My husband had roast and I chose the ‘posh’ prawn cocktail with sweet potato fries. Starting with mine, I am not quite sure why they describe it as posh when it was anything but! A thin greyed strip of salmon which should have been in the bin was placed on top of a regular prawn cocktail only the shrimps were smaller and harder. The fries were not cooked through and this I could tell just by looking at them, they were anemic! My wine was warm, it was white wine, so all in all I was disappointed and knew there was no way I was either eating or paying for this disgrace of a meal. My husbands roast was expensive and this would not have mattered had it been worth it, but seriously I could fly to Spain and get a better roast for the same money! If you want to have a better experience than the one I’m describing, do yourself a favour and don’t go near!

I’m having trouble contacting this place on the phone. All I get is a message to leave a note for “Robert”. Eh?

My nephew celebrated his 40th birthday with family and friends and it was an excellent evening. I arrived early and the staff were really welcoming and friendly. The food and service was first class, a really nice place to enjoy an evening meal.

All looked great, lovely place, big room, all clean, was very happy, let down a little by some small issues: TV in the room didn't have power 3 of the 4 ceiling lightbulbs weren't working Neither bedside light worked but flickered on and off if you flicked a wall switch on and off quick enough Some painted wallpaper was ripped off the wall on the bathroom by the toilet roll holder, which I don't really care about, but did see in someone else's post, so would have thought it would have been rectified by now We reported the electrical issues before going out for the evening but nothing had changed when we got back which made it a bit inconvenient only having 2 lamps the other side of the room and no TV. Went down for breakfast the following morning to find all other guests still waiting to be served as only 1 staff member was available. This wasn't 1 staff member in the kitchen, this was 1 staff member in the whole venue, so he was rushed off his feet having to cook for upwards of 15 people while also checking guests out. I get that things go wrong, and I hate leaving negative reviews, but having working lighting and TV are table stakes for a hotel and that should have been checked, or we should at least have been notified when we checked in. The missing chef the following morning was I'm sure unavoidable but even so, only having 1 other person there seems a little light. I'm not marking the score down on the basis that the problems we had are temporary and the staffing issue probably a one off, and we would probably stay again given the room was generally lovely, the location is far away from everything to be secluded, but close enough to be convenient, so hope action is taken to fix these little issues.

Very nice lunch, great food, great service and atmosphere in a traditional pub. I would highly recommend this venue.

I really wanted to like this pub as it seemed like it was going to be great. But the service was lacklustre and there were small things that just didn't sit right - the menus were dirty, the white wine was warm, nobody said hello when we came in. The food was nice, but not exceptional. I think, for the prices they are charging, you'd expect the experience to be nicer than it is (or was when we went).

Been coming here for years, it's always been on the pricier side but generally in the past warranted it. From the last couple of visits, it's coming off the go-to list I'm afraid. On our previous visit both the food and service was awful - we waited ages for everything and when it came it was a huge disappointment including one of the worst risottos we'd ever had, to be fair they recognised it and we didn't pay as result. Hoping it was a one-off, went again recently - it was average considering prices are still on the high side. Greeted with tatty old menus, service was OK but things seemed to come one at a time, food as I say was average, nothing particularly wrong with it but didnt feel up to standards of the past and the place overall quite quiet for a Saturday evening.

3 generations met today (Sunday 10th March) for Mother’s Day. We chose this pub because of its reviews. How wrong we were, especially as it’s sooo expensive!! The service was really poor throughout, the drinks were slow and the bottled lager was warm. The starters were disappointing and came out in fits and spurts and were also only warm despite being left neglected under the heat lamp for ages. Despite having a lot of staff, no one really seemed to care about our table or looking after us from the beginning to the end of our meal…. Main course came out, again in drips and drabs and several parts were missing and one meal was served 10 mins late with my lamb overcooked, and the potatoes were awful and £24+ too… more drinks were ordered and still came out warm and took another age…. Deserts were worse still, not cutlery for 10 mins despite asking twice for them. I finally had enough and asked to speak to the ‘Manager’ who couldn’t have been less bothered when I explained our poor experience. The bill came…. eventually…. and it included a 10% added service charge…. Very cheeky !! That’s £400 we spent on an awful meal with terrible service and will we will never return. Stay clear from this poor excuse from a pub !!!

Absolutely HORRENDOUS! Do not go here! We booked for 1:30pm, when we arrived there was a booking of 5 people ahead of us, their booking confirmation looked the same as ours however the manager told them their booking was not on the system, he then proceeded to tell them it was ‘not his problem’, I’ve never ever ever been to an establishment where people have been treated in this way, absolutely disgusting, the group left and we were next to be seated. Luckily a young waiter sat us at our table and organised menu’s and drinks for us, having ordered we began to relax although still quite shell shocked from what had happen with the booking before us. There were 3 of us on our table and we only ordered main meals, we waited 1hr45mins before asking how long it would be, we were told it would only be another 5mins, we waited the 5minutes and then left, honestly just such a despicable experience. If the manager knew there would not be enough staff to manage a full restaurant then they should have cancelled bookings in advance, it seemed as though there was enough space for the family before us but clearly it was easier for the manager to be rude and not honour their booking than to deal with another table. I’m absolutely outraged, never have I ever been to a place so poorly run, I felt awful for the waiting staff having to deal with complaints when really it is down to exceptionally poor management, disgusted.

We stayed and ate at The Bell. The serving staff were excellent, friendly and attentive. The food was of a standard above the average for pubs, although the vegetarian options were limited. The room was compact but very clean and comfortable. The downsides were that our first floor room (9) was above a large and noisy kitchen extract fan. Fortunately, it was turned off around midnight. Given that it is a pub there was some inevitable noise from customers leaving late evening. The unexpected noise into the early hours was from a man with a deep, noisy and hacking cough who seemed to either be in the adjoining staff accommodation or outside in the car park.