Inn · Bampton
The Market Tavern
A pub with rooms by the Market Square in Bampton, with a restaurant, a bar and a garden, doubles and family rooms, and a cooked breakfast.
Family-friendly
An inn with rooms in the middle of Bampton, a handy base for the Downton Mile and the Morris day. Rooms are freshly done but some doubles are small, and dogs cannot stay.
- Good: In the middle of Bampton, by the Market Square
- Good: Restaurant, bar, terrace and garden
- Good: Children welcome; cots free, extra beds £20 a night
- Worth knowing: Dogs welcome in the pub but not in the bedrooms
- Worth knowing: Some doubles are small (9 m²); breakfast costs extra on some rates
- Worth knowing: No hen, stag or similar parties
About
The Market Tavern is a Georgian stone pub with rooms on Bridge Street, by the Market Square in Bampton, the village used for Downton Abbey's village scenes. The Grade II listed building, an early nineteenth-century house and shop, was the Romany Inn and later the Fleur de Lys. It has a restaurant serving British food, a bar, a terrace and a garden, and its own photographs on Booking.com show an AA Rosette for 2025.
The bedrooms have been redecorated in pale colours and floral papers, each with its own bathroom, a television, Wi-Fi, a kettle and toiletries. They range from a small double of nine square metres through standard doubles to superior rooms that can be made up with a large double or twin beds, and there are family rooms. There are nine rooms in all, every one up stairs above the pub. Breakfast, a continental buffet with a dish cooked to order, is served from 7.30am to 11am and costs £9.99 a guest when added to a booking in 2026. When we looked in October 2026, a double cost from about £157 a night room only for a November date.
Children of any age are welcome: cots are free and extra beds cost £20 a night for under-16s. Dogs are welcome in the pub (let the pub know you are bringing one) but not in the bedrooms, and hen and stag parties are not taken. Parking on the street outside is free. Check-in runs from 3pm to 10.30pm and check-out is by 11am. The Bampton Archive, where the Downton Mile map comes from (now a download for a £1 donation), is a short walk away. Rooms are booked on the inn's own website, or through Booking.com or Expedia. The pub opens from 8am every day, to 11pm (10pm on Sundays), serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, and closes only on Christmas Day.
Opening hours and season
| Monday | 08:00 to 23:00 |
|---|---|
| Tuesday | 08:00 to 23:00 |
| Wednesday | 08:00 to 23:00 |
| Thursday | 08:00 to 23:00 |
| Friday | 08:00 to 23:00 |
| Saturday | 08:00 to 23:00 |
| Sunday | 08:00 to 22:00 |
Breakfast 8am to 11am. Lunch noon to 2.30pm and dinner 6pm to 8.30pm, Monday to Saturday; Sunday lunch noon to 4pm, dinner 6pm to 8pm. Closed Christmas Day.
The details
- Serving
- Breakfast · Lunch · Dinner
- Rooms
- 9
- Check-in
- 3pm to 10.30pm
- Check-out
- By 11am
- Features
- Restaurant · Bar · Garden or terrace · Wi-Fi · Family rooms · Dogs inside
- Awards
- AA Rosette, 2025
- Parking
- Free street parking outside and near the pub, with no permits or time limits.
Photos
A double room with French windows 
A double room overlooking the street 
The inn on the corner of the square 
A window seat
Location
Nearby walks, places and things to do
- Bampton Community Archive 0.1 km away