Eat and drink · Woodstock
The Back Lane Tavern
A pub, wine bar and small-plates restaurant on Park Lane in Woodstock, with two AA Rosettes in 2024 and 2025 and a Sunday roast.
Small plates to share, cooked to a two-Rosette standard, in a pub on a side street off the main road. Come with friends and order several dishes, and book for an evening.
- Good: Two AA Rosettes, 2024 and 2025
- Good: Small plates to share, marked for gluten-free and vegan diets
- Good: Sunday roast from noon to 4pm
- Good: Food at lunch and dinner every day
- Worth knowing: Kitchen closes between lunch and dinner on weekdays and Saturdays
About
The Back Lane Tavern is on Park Lane, a street back from the main road through Woodstock, and it calls itself three things at once: a local pub, a wine bar and a small-plates restaurant. It belongs to Brewmish, a pub company founded in 2020 by Chris Brewster and Mish Pharaon, whose other pub, on the outskirts of Woodstock, is the Duke of Marlborough, a family pub with thirteen rooms.
The kitchen works to the Spanish tapas idea: small dishes, sent out as each is ready, for the table to share. The sample menu on its website in October 2026 ran from olives, croquettes and charcuterie to Cornish sea bass with scallops, Fowey mussels, roast Cotswold lamb, Korean chicken wings and a butter chicken curry, with British and French cheeses by the piece. Most dishes carry marks for gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan and dairy-free diets. The pub held two AA Rosettes in 2024 and 2025, and in 2025 it was named best gastro pub at the Oxinabox Oxfordshire food awards.
Food is served at lunch and dinner every day. Sunday lunch is the roast, from noon to 4pm, and on Sunday evening a shorter menu of small plates and burgers runs until 8pm. Book online or by phone, especially for Friday and Saturday evenings. A discretionary service charge of 12.5% is added to the bill. Blenheim Palace is a short walk away, and the Woodstock town walk fills the hour before dinner.
Opening hours and season
Closed, opens Mon 9, 11:00
| Mon | Opening | Food served |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 11:00 to 23:00 | 12:00 to 14:30, 17:30 to 21:00 |
| Tuesday | 11:00 to 23:00 | 12:00 to 14:30, 17:30 to 21:00 |
| Wednesday | 11:00 to 23:00 | 12:00 to 14:30, 17:30 to 21:00 |
| Thursday | 11:00 to 23:00 | 12:00 to 14:30, 17:30 to 21:00 |
| Friday | 11:00 to 23:00 | 12:00 to 14:30, 17:30 to 21:00 |
| Saturday | 11:00 to 23:00 | 12:00 to 14:30, 18:00 to 21:30 |
| Sunday | 11:00 to 22:00 | 12:00 to 16:00, 18:00 to 20:00 |
Pub open 11am to 11pm, Sundays to 10pm. Sunday lunch is the roast, to 4pm; Sunday evening is small plates and burgers, 6pm to 8pm.
The details
- Food
- European · Modern British
- Serving
- Lunch · Dinner · Sunday lunch
- Dietary
- Vegetarian dishes · Vegan dishes · Gluten-free dishes
- Booking a table
- Booking recommended
- Features
- Restaurant · Bar
- Awards
- Two AA Rosettes (2025)
- Best Gastro Pub, Oxinabox Oxfordshire Food Awards (2025)
- Without a car
- Buses from Oxford stop in Woodstock, a short walk away. Hanborough station is about 3 miles (5km) off.
Photos
Tagliatelle 
Anchovies and peppers 
Cheese and red wine 
Port by candlelight
Location
Places to stay nearby
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The Crown, Woodstock
Inn · Woodstock
An inn on Woodstock's High Street, in a building it describes as Grade II listed and eighteenth century, with five en-suite rooms, a three-bedroom cottage, a townhouse apartment and a restaurant.
Wedding venues
Verified Oct 2026
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The Feathers
Hotel · Woodstock
A hotel with 18 rooms and five suites on Market Street, Woodstock, with two AA Rosettes and a Michelin Key, a few minutes from Blenheim's gates.
Verified Nov 2026
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The Bear Hotel
Hotel · Woodstock
A Macdonald hotel in a Grade II* listed old inn on Park Street, Woodstock: 54 rooms with four-posters and suites, a restaurant, afternoon tea and dogs welcome, a short walk from Blenheim.
Dog-friendly · Wedding venues
Verified Nov 2026
Nearby walks, places and things to do
- The Crown, Woodstock 0.1 km away
- Brothertons Brasserie 0.1 km away
- The Woodstock Arms 0.1 km away
- The Feathers 0.1 km away
Sights nearby
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Woodstock Town Hall
Sight · Historic building · Woodstock
Woodstock Town Hall in the Market Place was designed by Sir William Chambers and built in 1766 to 1767 at the Duke of Marlborough's expense, over an open market hall enclosed in 1898, with a marble sundial on its south wall. Grade II.
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St Mary Magdalene, Woodstock
Sight · Church · Woodstock
St Mary Magdalene is Woodstock's church on Park Street, founded with the twelfth-century town and long a chapel of Bladon, with a Norman zigzag doorway, a classical tower of 1784 to 1786 with chimes of 1792 made to play tunes, and a sundial with odd numerals. Grade II*.
-
Queen Pool, Blenheim
Sight · Lake · Woodstock
Queen Pool is the northern arm of the lake Capability Brown made at Blenheim from 1764, above Vanbrugh's Grand Bridge, with Rosamund's Well just west of the bridge and the Column of Victory above. Reached free on public footpaths from Combe; the lakeside road is permissive.
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Column of Victory, Blenheim
Sight · Monument · Woodstock
The Column of Victory is the fluted Doric column of 1727 to 1730 that carries a lead statue of the first Duke of Marlborough dressed as a Roman general on the high ground of Blenheim's park. Seen from Woodstock and the park's public paths.