The Old Bank Hotel is a hotel located in the historic university city of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is located on the south side of Oxford's

High Street High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...

, where it was the first hotel in 135 years to be created in the city centre.

Location

The Old Bank Hotel and its restaurant Quod, is located on the south side of Oxford's

. The complex offers a large area to park, access to which is possible via

Merton Street Merton Street is a historic and picturesque cobbled street in central Oxford, England.

and

Magpie Lane Magpie Lane is an English folk group, based in Oxford, England. The musicians of Magpie Lane first came together in the winter of 1992–93 to record ''The Oxford Ramble'', a collection of songs and tunes from, or about, Oxfordshire. Originally ...

History

The main building of the Old Bank Hotel dates back to the 18th century, with number 93 not being erected until 1775 on a site owned by bankers John Parsons & William Fletcher called "George Hall". The five bays on the left were added in 1798. The corner of Magpie Lane was rebuilt by Stephen Salter in 1902 to imitate a sixteenth-century house. The building was separate from the bank until 1980 and was later a stationery shop run by Joseph Vincent. The buildings served as a bank (latterly as the main Oxford branch of

Barclays Bank Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

) from 1775 until 1998 when Jeremy Mogford bought the building to renovate it into a hotel.

Facilities

The

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

hotel has 43 rooms overlooking Oxford's towers and spires and is air-conditioned. The hotel has a number of 20th-century paintings, including Paddy Summerfield's ‘Handheld’ collection (commissioned for the hotel) and works by Stanley Spencer,

Sandra Blow Sandra Betty Blow (14 September 1925 – 22 August 2006) was an English abstract painter and one of the pioneers of the British abstract movement of the 1950s. Blow's works are characteristically large scale, colourful abstract collages made f ...

, Craigie Aitchison,

Michael Ayrton Michael Ayrton (20 February 1921 – 16 November 1975)T. G. Rosenthal, "Ayrton , Michael (1921–1975)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2008accessed 24 Jan 2015/ref> was a British arti ...

Roger Hilton Roger Hilton CBE (1911–1975) was a pioneer of abstract art in post-Second World War Britain. Often associated with the 'middle generation' of St Ives painters – Terry Frost, Patrick Heron, Peter Lanyon & Bryan Wynter – he spent muc ...

, Harrington Mann, and Henrietta Dubrey. ;Restaurant Within the hotel is the Quod Restaurant and Bar. The restaurant is designed with stone floors, an oval zinc-topped bar and leather banquette seating. Quod's emphasis is on seasonal produce. The restaurant serves

Mediterranean food Mediterranean cuisine is the food and methods of preparation used by the people of the Mediterranean Basin. The idea of a Mediterranean cuisine originates with the cookery writer Elizabeth David's book, '' A Book of Mediterranean Food'' (1950) ...

and is decorated with recent British art. The hotel also has private areas.

Local legend

Local legend tells of former resident Prudence Burcote, a

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...

maid whose unrequited love of a

Cavalier The term Cavalier () was first used by Roundheads as a term of abuse for the wealthier royalist supporters of King Charles I and his son Charles II of England during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration (1642 – ) ...

resulted in her suicide. Although, according to Yurdan, her burial records held at

University Church of St Mary the Virgin The University Church of St Mary the Virgin (St Mary's or SMV for short) is an Oxford church situated on the north side of the High Street. It is the centre from which the University of Oxford grew and its parish consists almost exclusively of u ...

opposite make no mention of this (which is not surprising, as people who died by suicide were not allowed to be buried on consecrated ground until 1823). Nonetheless, a Cornish couple who later took up residence of the house reported a sighting of a figure in a long brown dress with a white fichu along with an array of flickering electrics and misplaced objects which they linked to the legend. During the building's later incarnation as a bank, staff continued to report the sound of mysterious footsteps and rustling skirts. Yurdan and Puttick, however, find no reports following the building's conversion to a hotel.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Old Bank Hotel Hotels established in 1998 Hotels in Oxford Reportedly haunted locations in South East England 1775 establishments in England 1998 disestablishments in England Defunct banks of the United Kingdom Barclays