The Talkhouse

United Kingdom , Oxford
Oxford, Wheatley Road
Show on Google | Map

75 reviews shown

6/10

Pleasant

08 Mar 2026

Barney

Bit of room to improve here, to charge the rate paid (£118).

The floors weren’t clean, and the decorating very tired - lots of messy paint, rusty radiator, and mucky old window in the shower room.

I will highlight the very comfortable bed & quality bedding as the best aspect of our stay! But cleaning the floors (and toilet) between guests is essential.

Friends_and_family Family

8/10

Excellent

05 Dec 2025

norah

Clean room, comfortable bed, pillows a bit tired. Very helpful staff, beautiful old tavern with delicious food, close to Oxford. Free parking too!

Business_and_leisure Self

8/10

Excellent

30 Oct 2025

Steve

Decent place to stay for the night, clean room and good food on offer at the pub.

6/10

Pleasant

30 Oct 2025

Janine

Checked in after a day out, sadly the bar area and restaurant was cold although heating was on, we were shown to our room which had an overpowering smell of lavender, assume cleaning products (so good sign), room was cosy with standard size bed & good powerful shower but no hot water from sink tap.
Our food from the restaurant was tasty.
During the night we found the room to be noisy from other guests using bathrooms etc or coming and going as no sound proofing in place.
Staff were friendly.
Free car parking across the road and good location for several attractions in the area.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

28 Oct 2025

David

Basic rooms, great pub with excellent food

Partner

8/10

Excellent

06 Oct 2025

Eleanor

The room was cosy and tidy, with a lovely blanket and felt quite fresh. The bed was a standard double size, which fit the room well. The staff were friendly and very helpful, they let me use their charger when i forgot mine. The food was delicious and good sized portions (the chocolate fudge cake was huge! Could have been a bit warmer, but very tasty all the same!) The bar was pretty and comfortable and the breakfast was freshly cooked and of ample portio s, plus cereals and toast available in addition to the full english. It was a lovely stay and i would go there again if i am in the area.

Self

10/10

Exceptional

16 Sep 2025

Mark

Relaxing and carefree accommodation.

Leisure Self

8/10

Excellent

09 Aug 2025

Jane

Nice room and outdoor space for a picnic and a drink from the bar. Nice village and countryside.
Continental breakfast was disappointing.
Fire alarm at 7am was a surprise!

10/10

Exceptional

25 Jul 2025

Christopher

Quaint, historic, charming, friendly staff

Leisure Family

4/10

Poor

13 Jul 2025

Roy

Lovely country pub, but small dirty, grubby rooms!

The pub itself was very quaint but there was so much wrong with the room and service that I really don't know where to start!

The room was very small and musty smelling. It opened on to the beer garden but the window had no net curtains or privacy glass, so the only way to get privacy was to close the main curtains with a 10watt bulb in the ceiling.

There was no wardrobe or chest of drawers, just a black wrought iron clothes rail with a knob which was perfectly positioned at eye-level!

The worse part was that the whole place felt grubby, grimy and dirty. I've never seen such cheap, thin, degrained bed sheets and the pillows were also lumpy and disgusting. We decided to sleep on top of the bed rather than get inside!

I knocked a tin of drink off the bedside table, mopped it up then used a wetted bath mat to clean the floor… the bathmat turned black with grime off the flooring!

The bathroom was also musty and the extractor fan had a mesh over it which was full of dead wasps/insects! The towels were an off-white, creamy-grey colour and stained in several places.

I wish I had more room here to write everything i wanted to cover.

The only positive thing I can say about The Talkhouse is that the staff in the pub were very friendly.

In summary, a quaint country pub with dirty, grubby rooms and zero customer service. Obviously, we'd never stay here again.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

19 Jun 2025

James

Very peaceful, nice room whith a great shower, short drive to a park and ride to the center of Oxford.

Leisure Pet

8/10

Excellent

04 May 2025

Weekend break

Very beautiful and quaint setting, very helpful staff, Bar prices a bit high, food excellent. Check out/Breakfast at 10am, If check out was later we would of had breakfast before leaving. Location remote but a 20 minute drive to city centre

Partner

2/10

Poor

24 Apr 2025

Kelly

AVOID!!!!!!

We were staying over night for a hospital appointment early the next morning.
Sadly there was a power cut a couple of hours after arrival, I understand this was not the fault of the owners, however it left us with no light, heating, hot water, power. We had to move hotels (at our own additional expense) as the power was not due to return until the early hours of the morning, a 12 hour outage I believe it was. The manager said he was unable to authorise a refund and the owner outright refused. Told us to get a refund from the power company. An awful, rude, unkind man named Nick, who clearly needs the £62 more than us. Would not recommend this hotel or any others under the Duvall inns brand, wouldn’t give that man another penny of my money!!!! I will also add I was poorly and expected to stay in a room with no heating or hot water for the night

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

02 Apr 2025

Lisa

Quiet Getaway

Staff were lovely, very friendly and attentive. Easy to communicate with. Cody Okde Worlde type pub with exposed beams, partial thatched roof as well as tiled. Rooms were across a courtyard. Pub was very quiet when we arrived (about 2100). Large Carpark situated across the road.

Partner

8/10

Excellent

17 Mar 2025

waclaw

The wall finishes in the bathroom in particular a bit tired. A bit damp with mould on the ceiling. Needs better ventilation.

8/10

Excellent

10 Mar 2025

Barry

Olde world interior and quality food 👌

10/10

Exceptional

01 Mar 2025

Verified traveler

Would stay again

Friendly and welcoming staff. Good location. Lovely warm cosy room.

Partner

4/10

Poor

28 Feb 2025

Colin

Sadly a no from me

The worst bedding I have ever had. Lumpy thin pillows and duvet and cheap feeling linen. The room smelt of damp and they had tried to mask it with an air freshner. The room looked tired and in need of a refresh. The rooms were in an outbuilding located around a beer garden which in the summer i image would be very noisy if busy. The walls of the room were very thin and we were woken by a loud noise every time our neighbour used the toilet or sink. This is an honest review that I am sad to leave as the service and staff were so nice. The hotel itself is a pretty country pub serving very good food. They just need to work on making the guests stay more comfortable. Just for the record, i am not an over picky person.

Partner

8/10

Excellent

10 Feb 2025

Patricia

The pub and food is wonderful and the staff were very helpful. The room could do with some TLC.

Business Partner

8/10

Excellent

03 Feb 2025

Elizabeth

Great value stay for us - rooms are warm and clean. You can hear some noise from guests next door but for the budget, it’s excellent. The staff were really lovely and friendly. Car park is easy to park in and just opposite the pub.

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

13 Jan 2025

Tim

Lovely room.Great staff.Great breakfast.Great dinner great price.

Business_and_leisure Self

10/10

Exceptional

12 Jan 2025

Julie

Lovely pub with lots of character.

Lovely pub with lots of character. Good food and friendly welcome.

Partner

6/10

Pleasant

30 Nov 2024

Amanda

Nice enough, but...

Booked with the lure of roaring fires in the pub: not so, there weren't any logs so no can do... we didn't really want to sit around all evening (as we were staying the night) in our jumpers but so be it. Other people kept their coats on. It was Monday night so maybe no chef but my Asian risotto was a porrigey mess that had no Asian flavours at all and a couple of limp pieces of pak choi that looked like leftovers. My husband's pie had nothing but potato inside and the pie crust was not edible. We just said OK when we were asked about the food because, what are the staff going to do? Offer more of the same? Room was cosy and had heating but certainly was not soundproof, we could hear next door's TV and road traffic noise. Could do better. The staff were fine but the \"directors\" need a rethink.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

24 Nov 2024

Keith

A cosy overnight and great staff

Talkhouse is 15 mins from Oxford and we arrived in bad weather, room and pub very cost and staff are outstanding..so great. If there's any negative, I think cleaning details like corner, ledges, handles need attention, and an entrance may as it's an outside chalet.breakfast great and it's stay again.. it feels good to be there.

Partner

4/10

Poor

11 Nov 2024

Tony David

No heating or hot water due to a boiler failure so had to vacate the hotel. Requested a refund 5 days ago and still waiting.

Business Self

4/10

Poor

07 Nov 2024

Tony David

No heating or hot water due to boiler failure on arrival. Staff informed and aware and checked out. Hopefully my refund request will be approved.

10/10

Exceptional

17 Oct 2024

Tony David

A lovely country pub with a few rooms.

Business Self

10/10

Exceptional

16 Oct 2024

Tony David

A lovely quiet pub with rooms in a lovely village. Food is pretty good and service is excellent

Business Self

8/10

Excellent

01 Oct 2024

Steven

Staff were really friendly and chatty. Really nice pub to sit by the fire for a couple of drinks. Room nice and clean, decent size but metal bar to hang clothes is positioned badly and nearly knocked myself out as it was so close to bed when getting out and moving around. Would happily stay again.

Partner

8/10

Excellent

21 Jul 2024

Rita

The dinner at the restaurant is great!

Leisure Family

10/10

Exceptional

21 Jul 2024

stuart

All round, ace!

Leisure Self

8/10

Excellent

14 Jul 2024

Sharon

Good value

Great value for money. Nice pub, perfectly adequate room, clean, everything you need for an overnight stay. Pillows & duvet not the best quality but we were comfortable. Good towels. We would definitely stay again & it’s a good location if, like us, you needed to be close to the Churchill hospital or any of the Headington hospitals.

Partner

8/10

Excellent

13 Jul 2024

Great except the bad smell

Food was great. Staff all very friendly. Sadly the bed was less comfy than hoped and had to mark down as the bathroom was very very smelly.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

29 Jun 2024

Catherine

Very comfortable and clean. Good value for money.

Business

10/10

Exceptional

14 Apr 2024

simon

Good value

Nice little place to stay

Partner

4/10

Poor

15 Feb 2024

Andy

room large but noise problems

Struggled to sleep at night there was a constant buzzing noise in the background possible generator and also next door plumbing and toilet noise.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

28 Jan 2024

Christopher

Excellent Stay

Lovely Hotel and Bar. Friendly Staff. Room was Small but ok for 1 night. Would stay again.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

25 Jan 2024

david

Awesome

Awesome place , loved the wooden decor and the live fire every night reading my book

Business Self

10/10

Exceptional

21 Jan 2024

David

We liked the quirky pub with all its salvaged bits
The staff were all so friendly and helpful

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

07 Jan 2024

Julie

Lovely country pub

Lovely country pub with nice cosy rooms for overnight stays.

10/10

Exceptional

07 Dec 2023

Iona

Gorgeous find

The team were very welcoming and showed me to my room. Clean room, comfy bed, good shower.
Perfect for my needs.

Business

8/10

Excellent

25 Nov 2023

Alan

It comes across as a North American experience in the English countryside. The staff are very pleasant, but one senses the owners are more interested in efficiency and the quick pound than the customer. Breakfast is either continental with basic supermarket food delivered at 10:00 pm the night before (an odd time, one could be in bed, certainly in pyjamas) or a hot breakfast at 10:00am at the absolute earliest in the restaurant. It is awkward eating the continental breakfast in the room with no table and chairs, and no napkins are supplied.
The restaurant at the pub for evening food is certainly excellent. Worth going for the restaurant in itself.

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

23 Nov 2023

william

Had a wonderful stay here. The rooms are comfortable. The shower is lovely. The staff are beyond great. So attentive, friendly and accommodating. The pub is lovely with a nice selection of beers, wine and spirits. The food was also excellent. I'll definitely be staying here again in the future.

Business_and_leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

05 Sep 2023

Marion

Right from the start the staff were very friendly and helpful nothing was to much trouble.
Our room was different, more like a log cabin, but clean and comfortable. We liked every thing about the hotel/ pub.

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

28 Jul 2023

Thomas

Well priced for the experience. Pub attached is nice and not loud in the evening. Easy and convenient check in.

Business Partner

10/10

Exceptional

19 Jul 2023

It was a unique property. Small room, but with a luxury feel and very clean. In the middle of the country, but close to a small starion with regular services to Oxford and London.

Leisure Pet

8/10

Excellent

15 Jul 2023

Karen

The Talkhouse is a lovely old quaint pub in a tiny village. On the outskirts of Oxford, it is quiet and picturesque. Transport is a must for this property as there is not much available within walking distance. Freya was bubbly and helpful and the pub itself had great food. The room was clean and well equipped with essentials needed for a short stay. Across the road parking was easy and convenient. Breakfast on site is available from 10am and has to be prearranged so if you have an early start (as we did) then you need to organize this from before for a Continental option or go elsewhere.

Leisure Partner

8/10

Excellent

26 Jun 2023

Shelley

1 night stay

Location is excellent and staff particularly helpful and friendly. The room itself was very cute and adequate for an overnight stay. There were a number of cobwebs and there are some signs of the room needing some attention especially the towel radiator in the bathroom. We ate here both in the evening and for breakfast and the food was ok but nothing more and therefore offered not the best value for money. All in all a lovely place that fulfilled our needs but could do better in some areas.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

15 Jan 2023

Gillian

Delicious Gluten Free food, good bedroom

Good clean room next to the Courtyard beer garden. Comfortable bed and powerful shower.
Great meal in the Talkhouse, delicious Gluten Free food.
Sure we'll be back.

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

20 Nov 2022

Dave

Comfortable, friendly, good food too.

Partner

8/10

Excellent

08 Sep 2022

Teresa

The room was good however, there was some noisy machinery nearby which went on all night.

Partner

8/10

Excellent

30 Jun 2022

Lovely old world pub, very friendly staff,good food, nice room, nice garden area. Unfortunately our one night stay coincided with a very noisy wake. Apart from that we would stay there again if in the area

Partner

8/10

Excellent

23 Feb 2022

Richard

Talkhouse stay

Stay was as expected, accommodation was comfortable and staff were friendly and helpful.

Business

8/10

Excellent

19 Feb 2022

Elizabeth

Excellent for just an overnight stop. Comfortable bed and excellent shower.

Friends_and_family Family

10/10

Exceptional

27 Dec 2021

Julia

Good rooms and convenient location

We booked two rooms for the family members over Christmas. The rooms were very comfortable and convenient, thank you.

Friends_and_family Family

10/10

Exceptional

03 Nov 2021

Verified traveler

Charming, warm and friendly, with first class food. Good value for money.

Business

10/10

Exceptional

20 Oct 2021

Verified traveler

A quaint little set of cottage-style rooms, attached to a very nice pub, set just outside oxford.

The rooms are all self contained units, built into the old stable block, so have a single door that leads to the pub beer garden.
Being a country pub, it wasn't noisy or disturbing

The rooms were clean, warm, and welcoming.

We explored oxford during the day, and then used the local thornbridge Park and Ride, to get back to near the hotel (5 min drive)

If breakfast is important, please check, as we were informed it would not be available until 10:30am (not a problem for us, as we had other breakfast plans the following day)

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

02 Oct 2021

Andy

Excellent food, friendly staff, comfortable room, great stay overall.

Leisure Partner

4/10

Poor

11 Sep 2021

Verified traveler

Disappointing

I booked 2 rooms here for a colleague and I and as it is a pub we were looking forward to having lunch after working all morning. On our arrival however at 2.15pm we were told there is no lunch and they have stopped serving all day. Ok so a bag of nuts and a drink later we went to our rooms which are located outside of the pub area. The rooms are in what looks like an old barn and the bedroom is quite quaint, nicely decorated between the old beams, and small but cosy. The flooring is laminate and was not the cleanest but everywhere else appeared super clean. The bathroom was nice and again, clean. The lighting from a main pendant light and two bedside lights was poor and the room was not conducive to working and after a few hours my eyes gave up on me!
We had booked dinner for 5.30pm as we had missed lunch. I had roast beetroot soup which was tasty, followed by stream which was cooked perfectly.
We retired to our rooms for the night for me to find the bed was not very comfortable and the sheets felt damp. After not a good nights sleep we were up and at metro go to breakfast only to find ourselves locked out! I tried the front and back doors and the pub was in darkness. I tried phoning to no avail. The rooms are not cheap and should have included breakfast indeed their website states this. When I booked I had paid on the assumption we would receive breakfast as we were moving on to our next work location. Couldn’t check out so I left the key in the room. Disappointed.

Business

10/10

Exceptional

04 Sep 2021

Emily

Great little find - would recommend

Lovely little self contained rooms on the pub premises just off the beer garden. Dog friendly. The room was clean, facilities good, staff were extremely helpful. We ate at the pub twice and the food was lovely (especially the burgers!)

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

02 Sep 2021

Andrew

Surprisingly good!

Very comfortable stay!

Business

8/10

Excellent

27 May 2021

Chris

Great

Great

Business

8/10

Excellent

15 Dec 2020

FLU

We stayed in the Talkhouse on Saturday for one night. My only (very slight) downsides were that we couldn’t sit in the pub until 5pm which would have been nice to know before coming as we turned up at 3pm - I know COVID permits just sitting in a pub but we’d planned to order some small plates. The other downside was that none of the smart features on the smart TV worked (Netflix, Now TV, even screen mirrroing). We didn’t alert staff to this as there was not much they could have done and we were only there for one night. The room smelled amazing and was so clean and the shower and toiletries provided were great. When the pub did open at 5pm we had a long dinner and the staff were so attentive and catered towards my dietary requirements. Overall a great stay and we will definitely come back - the pub is beautiful (the perfect countryside setting) and my two downsides were so minor, I wasn’t even sure if to mention them.

Leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

11 Oct 2020

Lucy

The rooms are cosy and beautifully furnished. The pub does amazing food, really nice stay!

Partner

10/10

Exceptional

23 Sep 2020

Abby

Clean and cosy

The lady who greeted us was friendly, the room was ckean and cosy, had a great sleep!

Partner

6/10

Pleasant

12 Sep 2020

Jeremy

Nice place. Poor service.

Attractive building. Good parking. Clean rooms. Good food. Shame about the welcome and subsequent service.

Business

6/10

Pleasant

14 Aug 2020

Mark

Clean comfortable Room

OK for a one night stay. Room was clean, not the most welcoming place I have stayed at. Also the room was next to the kitchen which was noisy but ok for a one night stay

Business

8/10

Excellent

02 Mar 2020

Naomi

Lovely country pub with a cosy feel to it. Close to Oxford and Bicester. Would recommend the pub food and drinks. Unfortunately the pub were not serving breakfast during our stay so we had to travel out to eat. This would have been useful to know before our stay as we were planning to purchase the pub breakfast. Free parking although there are HUGE potholes in the car park so watch out. Room was nice, particularly liked the modern bathroom. However the bed was very hard and was not big enough for both myself and my partner. We were squashed together and our feet were hanging off the end! Neither of us are of very large build so this could be problematic for other guests. We were also kept awake one night by music being played from a neighbouring room/property.

Business_and_leisure Partner

10/10

Exceptional

09 Dec 2012

Verified traveler

Business turns into pleasue.

Beautiful location. Ideal location - 10 mins from centre of Oxford. Service fantastic. Food great.

Will definitely be returning in 2013 with Rochdale Hornets RLFC.

8/10

Excellent

02 Dec 2012

Andrews

Good value hotel

Good to stay at but only downside nobody there in morning to check us out despite having asked what time we would leaving. Not a problem as we put key through letter box, just a bit odd. Handy for Thornhill park and ride.

10/10

Exceptional

05 Nov 2012

Verified traveler

Excellent place to stay near Oxford.

Super. we chose wisely. Close to oxford. Good food. Good coffee. Nice proprietors.

4/10

Poor

03 Nov 2012

A Powell

Dropped in my estimation

Having stayed here before i was happy to rebook but this time things had changed, after a very poor nights sleep in an extremely uncomfortable bed i had to miss out on a cooked breakfast as they had changed the times so it started too late, it was 7am but its now 8.15am.room maintenance has dropped and the bathroom had loose tiles etc, curtains in the room were too small didn't cover the window and were full of holes. staff were helpful but it was difficult as i don't speak polish( i think) a letdown i won't be back

10/10

Exceptional

22 Oct 2012

Andy

Fantastic pub. restuarant, B&B at a great rate

Highly recommended if are having a weekend break in the Oxford viscinity or need somewhere really nice to stay during the week. Our room was lovely, the dinner we had in the restuarant was excellent and all the staff really friendly, chatty and helpful. It is within easy driving distance of the city centre and even closer is one of the park and rides where you can leave the car all day for the price of a £2.50 per person return trip into Oxford on the bus. We would stay again and be very confident in recommending it to friends and family.

10/10

Exceptional

20 Oct 2012

Traveller

good location to visit Oxford

Lovely old pub. Clean rooms. Good food. Breakfast a bit pricey.

8/10

Excellent

12 Oct 2012

Simon

Home from Home

Really nice venue, complete with comfy sofas and real wood fire.Definate homely feel. Had an evening meal and breakfast there both of which were very good and reasonably priced. The room was compact but had everything I needed, including being in a quiet location. Would visit there again if in the area. Within easy driving distance to Oxford.