Eynsham Village - Good Food

The quality of Eynsham produce goes back to the Abbey Fishponds and lives on in the allotments and the Village Show. We are almost spoilt for choice, whether eating in or out. Check out our food & drink suppliers or drop into any of our cafés & pubs and see for yourself - and keep an eye on this growing recipe page.

From the Spar to the Co-op to The Market Garden ... you will find exotic produce - and locally grown at that. Our new butcher, Cricks Butchers & Deli, continues the local story with deliveries to Bartholomew School.

Eynsham Country Market has a superb selection of local fruits and vegetables too. And no one could ask for better home-baked goods, including a fine selection of savoury dishes in the Cornucopia mould.

The village also boasts an Indian restaurant and takeaway in Newland Street and a superb Indian & Bangladeshi restaurant in Lombard Street, where customers are made to feel at home immediately.

There’s also a Chinese takeaway, and several sandwich outlets, while our popular fish and chip shop now faces challenge from a mobile chippy.

As most of the pubs sell food now ... eating out, or buying freshly cooked meals to take home, is easy. The Co-op also stocks Fairtrade goods; and Eynsham’s very own Traidcraft Fair Trader contributes further to reducing our carbon footprint.

And if you fancy relaxing with one of the tastiest cups of coffee this side of London, while munching a slice of home made cake, the Cherry Tree Cafe serves that too.

How times change!

Eynsham foodie Helen Peacocke reminisces below.

• Try her Seasonal Recipes

• Visit the image archive

Few living out their childhood in Eynsham directly after the war, when sweets and meat were rationed, will forget the joy of collecting a loaf from Biggers the bakers, in the very centre of the village.Those warm crusty loaves were unforgettable and seldom arrived home without at least one crust missing. Sometimes two. The longer the journey, the smaller the loaf that reached the kitchen table.

Sadly Biggers closed down some years ago - and the bakery at corner of Mill Street in late 2017. That aroma of freshly baked bread no longer permeates the streets that lead to the village square.

Then there was the small general grocer's shop next to the Chemist, and later in Old Witney Road, run by David and Peggy Knight who would go out of their way to stock all we needed. In their crowded little shop the potatoes were weighed on a pair of red scales with brass weights. That comforting thud of potatoes being tipped from the brass bowl into the shopping basket still lingers in the memory.

The village was also lucky to have a fine family tradition in Golsby Butchers, who went out of their way to source local meat wherever possible. You could order a certain cut here and have it prepared just as you like it. Standing in their queue on a Saturday morning was rather like being a member of a very friendly club where everyone knows everyone.