Simon Burchell, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Eat and drink · Woodstock
The Star Inn
A Grade II inn on the north side of the Market Place in Woodstock, serving pub classics and burgers all day without bookings, with cask ales and four rooms.
Family-friendly
The straightforward pub on the Market Place: pub classics, burgers and cask ale, served all afternoon. You cannot book, so arrive early for a table at lunch on a Blenheim weekend.
- Good: Food from noon, all afternoon
- Good: Children's dishes and small plates
- Good: Cask ales
- Good: Four rooms upstairs
- Worth knowing: No table bookings: first come, first served
- Worth knowing: Food stops earlier on Sundays
About
The Star Inn stands on the north side of the Market Place in Woodstock. Historic England lists it Grade II: a house of the late seventeenth century whose front block was rebuilt in about 1800, three storeys under a stone slate roof, with its old stables and coach houses still round a yard at the back. It is about ten minutes on foot from Blenheim Palace.
The food is pub cooking from a printed menu. The summer 2026 menu ran from scampi and chips at £17 and a pie of the day at £21 to a mushroom bourguignon pie, fishcakes, ribs, sausage and mash, burgers at £16 to £18 and a five-bean chilli, with nachos, wings and halloumi chips as small plates. There are children's dishes from £8, and the menu marks vegetarian, vegan and gluten-sensitive dishes. The bar keeps cask ales, which the inn's site says come from Charles Wells, and there is a large beer garden.
You cannot book a table: the Star works on a first come, first served basis. Its own timetable gives food from noon to 9pm, and to 6pm on Sundays, with the bar open from midday. Four rooms upstairs have their own bathrooms. The Town Hall, also on the Market Place, carries one of the town's two odd sundials, which our story on the Woodstock sundials explains.
Opening hours and season
Closed, opens Mon 9, 12:00
| Mon | Opening | Food served |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | 12:00 to 23:00 | 12:00 to 21:00 |
| Tuesday | 12:00 to 23:00 | 12:00 to 21:00 |
| Wednesday | 12:00 to 23:00 | 12:00 to 21:00 |
| Thursday | 12:00 to 23:00 | 12:00 to 21:00 |
| Friday | 12:00 to 23:00 | 12:00 to 21:00 |
| Saturday | 12:00 to 23:00 | 12:00 to 21:00 |
| Sunday | 12:00 to 23:00 | 12:00 to 18:00 |
As read from the inn's own timetable: open from noon, food served all day to 9pm, and to 6pm on Sundays. No table reservations.
The details
- Food
- Pub classics
- Serving
- Lunch · Dinner
- Dietary
- Vegetarian dishes · Vegan dishes · Gluten-free dishes · Children's menu
- Booking a table
- Walk-ins only
- Rooms
- 4
- Features
- Bar · Real ale
- History
- Late seventeenth-century house, front rebuilt about 1800; Grade II
- Without a car
- The S3 and S7 buses from Oxford stop in Woodstock, a short walk away. Hanborough station is about 3 miles (5km) off.
Photos
An evening on the Market Place Photo: Mark Percy, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Location
Places to stay nearby
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The Star Inn
Pubs · Woodstock
A Grade II inn on the north side of the Market Place in Woodstock, serving pub classics and burgers all day without bookings, with cask ales and four rooms.
Family-friendly
Verified Oct 2026
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The King's Arms
Inn · Woodstock
A Fuller's inn with 15 rooms on the corner of Market Street, Woodstock, in a Grade II listed building, with dogs welcome and breakfast included.
Dog-friendly · Car-free
Verified Oct 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 Woodstock Arms 0.1 km away
- The King's Arms 0.1 km away
- The Bear Hotel 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*.
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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.