A new landlord is now in charge of the historic Lamb & Flag pub in Oxford.

Dave Molina has taken over from Dylan Dudbridge-Hay and his wife Alice, who have left to move to Cornwall.

Originally from Alicante in Spain, Mr Molina has experience in the pub trade, having previously worked at The Bull in Charlbury, and at The Anchor in Oxford.

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In recent years he has run his own catering business and worked as an events manager.

The Lamb & Flag in St Giles is one of the oldest pubs in the city and drinkers were stunned when it closed during the pandemic due to a lack of trade.

Owned by St John's College, it was taken over by a community interest group called The Inklings and they appointed Mr and Mrs Dudbridge-Hay who reopened the famous hostelry in October 2022.

Mr Molina, who has also worked at the Duke of Cambridge in Oxford and at The Crown in Woodstock, said he would not be changing much initially as the couple did "such a great job".

(Image: David Molina) He added: "I have more than 26 years' experience working in customer service - I opened my own pub when I was 18 in Spain and ran that for five years - it was more like a bar.

The previous managers started out with a plan to serve food throughout the day and then reverted to bar snacks when drinkers told them to focus on the beer.

Mr Molina said: "There is room for improvement with the food during the day but you have to look at the idiosyncrasies of the place - the kitchen is right in the middle so that could make things difficult during the evening.

"Real ale is the soul of the pub - fresh local beers - so it's important to focus on that.

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"Hopefully there will be a gradual improvement with the food, and we can stage more events and continue to build bridges with the university.

"I want to put the Lamb & Flag on the map a bit more - it's one of the most important places in Oxford."

(Image: David Molina) Mr Molina said he wanted to highlight the pub's links with the Inklings, a group of writers which included fantasy authors J.R.R Tolkien and CS Lewis.

This could involve decorating the walls with pictures, photos and other memorabilia.

Before the Lamb & Flag reopened in 2022, there was extensive refurbishment work inside.

Renovation work was completed following close consultation with the city council's conservation officers as the pub building is Grade II listed.

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About the author 

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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