The Eagle & Child , also known as the ‘Bird and Baby’ is a unique pub in central Oxford with an interesting heritage being associated with the Inklings Group of writers (both JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis frequented the venue).
The pub has had a chequered history including closure at the time of Covid and exposure to the market over a number of years with no obvious commercially supportable scheme being found until its recent acquisition by the Ellison Institute of Technology.
White Land Strategies (specialising in viability appraisals, developer procurement, development agreements, delivery models and implementation) were appointed to lead this project and worked closely with Arc who provided the hospitality industry insight and input.
Oxford City Council required an independent viability report to review a planning application supported by a detailed assessment by Savills and work carried out for the owners by Ridge and Partners. Proposals supported the planning application centred on changing its use to an alternative concept on the basis that the pub is not viable as a trading concern.
In a challenging hospitality market affecting smaller operations significantly in terms of their potential viability as costs rise higher and trading formats need to be larger in many cases to ensure profitability it was important to understand what the realistic options were to the owners of the site which required significant if not fundamental restructuring in order to deliver a scheme.
We carried out a detailed review of the site, its market and the commercial logic and investment and trading assumptions behind the new proposals.
The image above is the pub before construction work started. The internal condition of the property is limited in scale (making trading a challenge) and many structural issues arise which are now being dealt with by the new owners in a scheme that includes the adjoining building and whilst focused primarily on Ellison Institute needs it also retains a bar/restaurant that will remain open to the public.
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