17/05/2022
**Existential threat to The White Rabbit – we need your help, please.**
A very personal appeal to ask you to write an email in support of our garden – details at the bottom.
We’re not perfect but we really try our best. We start our staff, regardless of age, on the OXFORD Living Wage plus a share of the tips, and we kept every single one of them, full or part-time, on furlough throughout the pandemic. We’ve just completed our first sustainability audit and aim to be the first Oxford pub to get to Net Zero in 2023. During the pandemic we donated 100s of pizzas to people who really needed them; we contributed to The Cellar to try to stop it closing; we paid to soundproof the Oxford Playhouse and we’ve contributed to the Ultimate Picture Palace to try to ensure it remains a Community Asset. We love our customers and our suppliers, especially the local ones we have close relations with. We try to keep our prices as low as possible, and have actually reduced the price of our Margherita Pizza and Pravha lager to try to help with the cost of living crisis, as we feel it’s important that as many people as possible can go to the pub occasionally….
A Garden or a Derelict Car Park…
A few years ago, after a very long, hot summer we realised we needed a proper garden to survive. The semi-derelict carpark adjacent to the pub attracted drug-takers and was an eye-sore. We consulted with the Planning Department of Oxford City Council about our ideas for the bespoke oak tables and heated benches, parasols and fencing and the Planning Officer informally pre-approved, via email, everything before we purchased and installed it. We finally opened the garden in June 2019, and have been so grateful for it ever since, it’s what managed to get us through the pandemic – it saved our pub.
Oxford City Council want to change this – they want us to replace the very expensive bespoke pub furniture with cheap, “more typical pub furniture”, to change the fence and replace the parasols with generic pub umbrellas and to remove the weather protections that allow us to operate in all weathers.
Out of the 30 pubs in Oxford City Centre there are only TWO (us and the Wheatsheaf) which are truly independent, ALL of the others are either managed or owned by pub chains or breweries, or closed. We are proud to be independent and do not want to be like every other pub - we want to be better! The parasols and fence absorb the noise from the pub, the sides and the benches keep our customers warm and the plants bring a refreshing bit of greenery to this part of the city.
We are asking you to please send an email in support of our application to the planning department before the 25th May when consultation closes. Your help could make all the difference. REALLY.
From our planning consultant –
"The emails of support don't have to be particularly long, but it's important that they say that they support the existing pub garden furniture and fencing at the White Rabbit pub. Please can they click on this link to email [email protected]"
Please quote the following reference number: 22/00672/VAR
Site address: The White Rabbit pub, 21 Friars Entry, Oxford, OX1 2BY
Thank you – and fingers crossed!
Philippa, Edward and all of the Rabbits ###
