The Acorn, Bicester

The Acorn is a large L-shaped Greene King pub with picnic tables in the rear garden which is shielded from the passing main road by a waist high white picket fence. To the front of the pub is an enormous car park and the entrance that opens onto some high tables to the right where a television was airing an England football friendly. Unfortunately my Tuesday evening visit coincided with the weekly quiz so there was a beardy chap with a mic reading out questions in front of the TV. More seating runs up the left hand-wall opposite the long serving counter up the right. At the rear is some banquette seating before seating in the conservatory that opens up onto the aforementioned rear garden. The counter supports premium keg and Fosters alongside five hand pumps. Three were unused and the Abbot was ‘coming soon’ which left GK IPA. I decided to order half a Fosters, but the friendly barman poured a pint informing me that it costs the same as a half, £2. They’ll be giving it away next! There are better pubs in town so I’ll not be walking south again.

Substantial Greene King on the southern edge of the 'old' town, with various seating and dining areas in an overall L-shaped arrangement. As it seems to have moved on from the previous Hungry Horse branding, the furniture and décor are now also a bit less bland than most chain outlets of this type, although that's rather damning with feint praise. However, its location directly opposite the Bicester Village designer shopping outlet probably explains the price of my IPA (£4.90) with only the 'coming soon' Abbot otherwise clipped on the bank of five handpumps.

Facebook page of The Acorn - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of The Acorn - www.facebook.com

Official site of The Acorn - www.greeneking-pubs.co.uk

Official site of The Acorn - www.greeneking-pubs.co.uk

No change from the previous review. This large pub situated on the roundabout just by Bicester Outlet Village and a short drive from J9 of the M40 is still branded as a Hungry Horse outlet of the GK chain and as such you know exactly what you are going to get. One large open space broken up with a couple of partition walls with lots of tables dotted about of different shapes and sizes, each sporting the laminated card of deep fried delights that passes as a food menu in the Hungry Horse chain , a couple of screens dotted about showing the BBC news channel and the usual long serving area with lots of draft options and a couple of Ales from the GK stable and a couple of guest beers if you are lucky. And this one comes with a large internal kids play area bolted onto the far side clearly showing who the target demographic is. Fortunately as well as IPA and Abbot from the Green King stable there was also Woodefordes Nelson’s Revenge and a very passable pint of York Brewery Guzzler. We went for a couple of baguettes off the laminated sheet of delights which were fine enough and couldn’t fault the service levels , so for a place to grab a bite to eat whilst traveling up the M40 it was perfectly fit for purpose.