The Black Boy
The original, seventeenth-century Black Boy stood nearer the corner of Barton Lane and Old High Street than the present one: see postcard above (supplied by Ian Garrett). This and the postcard below date from around 1930.
The old Black Boy had a large backyard (now occupied by the present pub) and also a large garden (now owned by the Priory) where fêtes were held. The board above the door showed a black boy-servant, a sign commonly hung outside coffee houses in the seventeenth century. The famous elm tree that used to stand on this corner had already been removed at the time the above photographs were taken.
The play Joan of Headington about the landlady of the White Hart in the seventeenth century mentions two nearby landladies, Mother Shepherd and Mother Harris, one of whom presumably kept the Black Boy.
The pub had a bad reputation in the mid-nineteenth century. Jackson's Oxford Journal of 26 November 1870 reported that the landlord James Honey was charged with allowing “drunkenness and disorderly conduct in his house, on the 29th of October last” when Mrs Honey sent for P.C. Smith to stop a fight between Thomas Ward and his brother William. Police Inspector Yates reported that “the house born an indifferent character before the defendant took it, and one man was killed in a fight outside”.
The present Black Boy at 91 Old High Street (below) was built in 1937.
Former pub
The old pub was already on this site in 1667 and may well be the inn known as “Old Mother Gurden’s” that was frequented by Anthony Wood in the late seventeenth century. It may also be the inn kept by Mother Shepherd that is depicted in the play about Joan of Heddington as being a rival to the White Hart in 1712.
It is specifically named as the Black Boy in the Headington Enclosure Award of 1805, when Barton Lane is being described:
Also one other public Carriage Road and Driftway of the like breadth of forty feet numbered X beginning near a certain public House in Headington aforesaid called the Black Boy and leading from Headington aforesaid in an Eastward direction to the Hamlet of Barton aforesaid being the public Road from Headington aforesaid to Barton village.
Important auctions were held at this pub in the nineteenth century: for instance an auction on 20 March 1810 of the three-acre copyhold estate (tenanted by Joseph Phillips) on the London Road opposite Bury Knowle House, or the sale of Headington Windmill or Jackson’s Oxford Journal of 18 January 1823 announced that the sale of Headington Windmill would take place “at Mr Jeffcoat’s, the Sign of the Black Boy, in Headington” on 5 February 1823. Crops of hay and grass were also sold here.
In 1847 Charles Jeffcoat was reprimanded at the Court of the Manor of Heddington for lopping the elm tree that stood next to the old stocks outside the Black Boy, and the Headington Rate-Book of December 1850 shows that he was then the owner of the pub, but that it was occupied by Mark Powell. Its gross estimated rental was then £13, and its rateable value £18.
On 26 November 1870 Jackson's Oxford Journal reported that the landlord James Honey was charged with allowing drunkenness and disorderly conduct in the Black Boy, and was fined. Inspector Yates reported that “the house bore an indifferent character before the defendant took it, and one man was killed in a fight outside. The labourer Thomas Ward was fined for drunkenness, and “three rough-looking customers from Leamington” were charged not with assault but with having poaching nets in their possession the previous Saturday.
The landlords in the nineteenth century were only part-time beer retailers: for instance in a directory in 1847 William Powell is described as “‘Black Boy’, & brickburner”. In 1876 James Honey was described as “coal merchant and victualler ‘Black Boy’”; and in 1898 William Somerville as “Black Boy P.H. & wheelwright”.
In 1907 Headington Baptist Church held a mission with many special meetings both inside and outside the church. It was so successful that Mrs Carter, then the landlady of the Black Boy, complained to the Sergeant of Police that it was affecting her livelihood.
The 1921 census shows William Grimlsey (55), described as a general labourer for Morrell's Brewery, living at the Black Boy with his wife Sarah (45).
The new Black Boy (1937–present)
These extracts from Ordnance Survey maps show how far the Black Boy has moved back from the road
Left: Old Black Boy in 1921
Right: New Black Boy in 1939
Photographs by Cyril Arapoff:
The Old Black Boy
The present Black Boy
In 1937 the present pub was built in the backyard of the old pub, and then the seventeenth-century building in front was demolished in order to widen Old High Street. The new pub was given the same number as the old one (55 High Street, Old Headington; the address has now been changed to 91 Old High Street).
The rebuilt pub used to have a sculpted figure of a black servant in the niche above the entrance (shown right in June 1983), but this was smashed in 1990 and was replaced by the painting of a chimney-sweep’s boy (below), which was (arguably) more politically correct. Even so, in 1997 there was an unsuccessful attempt by Oxford students to get the pub’s name changed on the grounds that it was offensive. Since about 2008 the niche has been empty.
When Morrell’s Brewery closed in 1998 the Black Boy was taken over by Greene King. In 2007 it refurbished as a Mustard pub: their lease from the brewery ran out on 15 July 2008 and was not renewed, and the pub reopened under a temporary manager.
On 7 October 2008 Chris Bentham and Abigail Rose took the pub over, with an emphasis on good food. In July 2009 the Black Boy’s planning application 09/01218/FUL for “Change of use of first floor to provide 5 en-suite guest bedrooms and a studio flat. New external door to replace existing window and new external fire escape” was approved, and it became the Black Boy pub and hotel.
In 2013 the pub was sold by Greene King to Everard’s.
The Black Boy closed suddenly in mid-June 2019, and the previous tenants left. The Black Boy Oxford Ltd was incorporated as a private limited company on 19 August 2019 (Companies House) and the Directors (who ran the pub and restaurant as tenants) were then Simon and Samantha Stonehouse of Lamb Catering.
In June 2020 Everards stated that they would not change the name of the pub because it wanted to preserve its history: see article in the Oxford Mail.
On 28 February 2026 Everards welcomed Fitz Davis and and Katie Warnaby, the new business owners of the Black Boy.
In 2026 Red Oak Taverns Limited. bought the Black Boy from Everards, and they have submitted a licensing application (26/04862/TRPREM) for the transfer of the premises licence to themselves.
Some landlords of the Black Boy
Former |
1810 |
Mr Moore |
|
1817–1826 |
William Jeffcoat (described as a publican in St Andrew’s baptismal registers during this period). Charles Jeffcoat, son of William (after 1826). |
|
1830 |
George Phillips |
|
By 1836–1866 |
William Powell (by 1836–1848) Mrs Ann Powell (1848–1851) Matthew/Mark Powell (1852–1856) John Powell (1855–1866) |
|
|
1867–1869 |
George Taylor |
|
|
1869–1881 |
James Honey (1869–1876) Mrs Ann Honey, his widow (1876–1881) |
|
|
1882–1901 |
William Dawson Somerville |
|
|
1902–1907 |
William Carter (1902–1904) Mrs A. Carter (1906–1907) |
|
|
1909–1912 |
George Thomas Edney |
|
|
1913 |
J. H. Kirk |
|
|
1915–1916 |
Joseph Lindley Bond |
|
|
1921 |
William Grimsley |
|
|
1922–1930 |
Reginald Dickenson (1922–1927) |
|
|
1932–1936 |
Henry Badcock |
|
Present Black Boy |
1937–1964 |
Archibald J. Bolt (Mrs E. I. Bolt from 1962) |
|
1967–1976 |
Reginald A. Newman |
Above: The Black Boy, viewed from the tower of St Andrew’s Church
