An evening at The Angel in Bicester

An evening at The Angel in Bicester

It’s not often I get to go out these days in the evening. With a husband that works over 80 hours a week, a social life is something I’ve almost forgotten!  So when an opportunity arises to have a night out with a friend I tend to jump on it, and that’s exactly what happened on Friday.  I got to enjoy an evening at The Angel in Bicester with my friend L. She works at the JR in Oxford, so finding a night which we can both make is sometimes a struggle.  But a few month after the pub had been refurbished we finally got to see it for ourselves.

An evening at The Angel in Bicester

The Angel can be found at 102 Sheep Street in Bicester and it was refurbished earlier this year.  I missed the launch party in April as it was on my birthday, and I was away.  But over the last few months I’ve noticed lots of pictures on my Facebook feed from friends who’d spent an evening at The Angel in Bicester.  All the feedback was good, and hearing that they stock 30 different types of Gin alone, was enough to tempt L and I through the doors.

We arrived for 8pm on Friday and The Angel was already getting busy, but had a nice welcoming atmosphere.  I’m using some photos that have been supplied for me, to avoid having too many people in the shots.

There are a number of different seating areas within The Angel.  You can sit inside close to the bar area, there’s a permanent marquee, seating by the Cocktail Bar and a courtyard seating area too.

L and I both enjoy a nice Gin and Tonic and Hannah, the bar manager suggested we try their own Guildhall Island Gin with Mediterranean Tonic Water.

An evening at The Angel in Bicester

It sounded like a good option, and we decided to head outside to the courtyard to have a good catch up.

An evening at The Angel in Bicester

Of course as luck would have it the lovely warm weather we’d had all week had deserted us, but The Angel does have patio heaters and I did spot some blankets too near the Cocktail Bar.  We could have done with being seated a bit closer to the heaters as the evening progressed, but it didn’t stop our enjoyment.

I struggle a little with my hearing, so it was so refreshing not to be drowned out by loud music, L and I could actually have a conversation.  An evening at The Angel in Bicester is clearly a popular choice as both the interior and exterior areas soon filled up and remained that way for the rest of the night.  A good sign, but at no point did the atmosphere become rowdy.

We’d both had a busy day and neither of us had had chance to eat before leaving home, so we were really looking forward to trying out the street food on offer at The Angel.  Each weekend a different hot food vendor is available at The Angel from 5-10pm.  On Friday night we got to enjoy the food from Pollocks Event Catering, and customers on the Saturday night would be enjoying Jammin’ BBQ with Jamaican Wraps.  Each week The Angel updates details of the following weekend’s street food vendors on their Facebook page.

We opted for Fish and Chips, but there were also beef burgers available.  Priced at £6 for fish and £1.50 for chips, I can thoroughly recommend the food we received.

Service was prompt and friendly, and the food was good.  The portion size was perfect for a quick meal on the go.  L added Mushy Peas for £1.00 for her Friday night treat.

We could hardly spend an evening at The Angel in Bicester without trying out their cocktails now could we!  I liked the idea of having a separate bar exclusively serving cocktails, but I guess it might be an issue if others in your party wanted to order something else at the same time.  Luckily L and I were in agreement so it wasn’t an issue for us. One of the bar ladies helped me over with our drinks, which was great service.

An evening at The Angel in Bicester

We hadn’t arrived early enough to make use of the special offer of 2 for £8 but we didn’t think that the cocktails were badly priced anyway.  Looking at the menu I would normally have gone straight for the Mojito but I was looking to broaden my horizons. I opted to stick with the gin theme and went for the Strawberry Gin Fizz.  I was certainly intrigued to see how strawberry jam would work in a cocktail.

An evening at The Angel in Bicester

With apple juice, lime juice and topped with Prosecco this is a cocktail and a half, it was a bit sweet towards the end, but I certainly enjoyed it.

An evening at The Angel in Bicester

L would also normally have gone for a Mojito, but she decided to try the Pornstar Martini, which comes with a shot of Prosecco and a floating passion fruit.

An evening at The Angel in Bicester

Her choice was also rather wonderful and I can see me ordering that again in the future.  I may well be seen drinking a Bramble on my next visit, I do like the sound of Gin, Raspberry Gin and mixed berries, don’t you.

We decided to end an evening at The Angel in Bicester with a double Brockmans Gin and Mediterranean tonic. Again, another really good gin and if I hadn’t got to be up early in the morning with my 7 year old son, I’d have been tempted to try a few more of the 30 varieties of gin available.  Always got to have a reason to return somewhere, haven’t you?

For those of you who prefer their beers, The Angel has its own bottle shop where you can purchase craft beers and a micro brewery is launching soon.

An evening at The Angel in Bicester

We thoroughly enjoyed an evening at The Angel in Bicester and we will definitely be visiting again in the future. The service was good, we liked the atmosphere and I would say that the pub is really aimed at the over 35’s which is perfect for us.

disclosure:  we were given complimentary drinks and a meal in exchange for an honest review.

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