Former Inklings tour guide Peter Berry welcomes the purchase of the Eagle and Child pub by an American technology institute and says he would like to see the pub reopened as soon as possible. This is his letter sent to the Oxford Mail.
I read with delight Andrew Ffrench's feature in the Oxford times (Thursday October 26) that the Ellison Institute of Technology have purchased the Eagle and Child pub in St Giles and will reopen after Norman Foster will renovate it.
I really hope that it will stay in it's original format as it was when CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien and other literary friends of theirs met there in The Rabbit Room.
READ MORE: Meet the entrepreneur who bought the Eagle and Child
I was the leading walking tour guide for 'the Inklings ' tours here for many years and have shown hundreds (if not thousands) of our visitors to the pub and described in there all about this famous group that met there.
I have had people become so emotional in there that one lady on my tour had to sit down to gather her thoughts (I first thought that she needed medical help).
She said: "No I am okay it's just that all my life I read about this place and the meetings and here I am."
READ MORE: Eagle and Child pub bought by tech company
The pub had this effect on many of my visitors so I do hope that it is kept to its original surroundings as it was when this world-famous group met there.
I hope the pub will reopen as soon as possible because with it being closed it has deprived the followers of the Inklings for far too long.
Peter Berry
Oxford
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Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here.
He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.
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