Name: Browns
Address: 281 Iffley Road OX4 4AQ Oxford,Iffley Road, Oxford, Oxford, Oxford, OX4 4AQ, United Kingdom
Rating: 8

Smoke-free property

Heating

Garden

All Spaces Non-Smoking (public and private)

General

Non-smoking rooms

Hairdryer

Rooms

Iron and board

Luggage storage

Services and amenities

Breakfast

Restaurant

Snack bar

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Free internet

Internet

Free parking

Free parking nearby

Parking

Tennis court

Sports

Location

At the guest house

Room amenities

South Park

University & Pitt Rivers Museums

Magdalen Bridge

Warneford Hospital

Temple Cowley Pools

Examination Schools

Churchill Hospital

St Edmund Hall

Lincoln College

Asaba International Airport

Raf Brize Norton

Milton Keynes

Blackbushe Airport

Browns

Oxford

We called in for coffee and loved the atmosphere. It felt relaxed and refined. The coffee was good too! The surroundings had a ' luxurious' and 'refined' feel, mirrors and a  grand piano! Service was excellent and we liked it so much that we went back on another day.

Relaxing coffee breaks

Brown's is my new favourite resting pace in Oxford. 

Family owned since 1968, it underwent a transformation recently into a chic bohemian hotel with a simply stunning organic cafe, and a restaurant that specialises in occasional theme nights, centred around sustainability and provenance.

My room was furnished with upcycled items from yesteryear, with a 1930s bed side table and a 1950s dresser.  The bed was extremely comfortable and the  en suite more than adequate.

The star of the show is the organic cafe where you can buy breakfast.  My sourdough was amongst the best I have tasted, topped of with a sublime three berry organic jam.  Brittany, who ran the cafe, was charme personified.

I  should offer my apologies to Mary who was far too understanding as I inadvertently ran off with the room key, returned later that day.

Brown's is on the Iffley Road, a 15 minute walk or three minute bus ride from the City Centre (route 3).  There is a superb gastropub five minutes away and a late night Co-op just along the road.

I doubt there is a better value hotel in Oxfordshire.  I plan to return for a long weekend,if Mary will let me!

Charming bohemian travellers rest, highly recommended

We stayed here for two nights and were made to feel most welcome. The hotel was very clean, comfortable  and homely, and nothing was too much trouble for the owners. The cafe downstairs provided breakfast/brunch and the food was superb; wholesome food which was deliciously prepared.
 Real home baking is so rare these days, I particularly enjoyed the old fashioned oat flapjack, such a treat. 
Browns is conveniently situated on a main bus route, and ideal for sightseeing in Oxford.

Superb homebaking.

Five of us stayed in Browns for two nights to attend my son's graduation. We were delighted with the accommodation - very comfortable and ideally located. We availed of the breakfast in the cafe attached to it called 'Silvie'. Both mornings we were served a top-class breakfast with a lovely range of food on offer! Our vegan member was particularly impressed. Even if you aren't staying in the guesthouse, I would heartily recommend breakfast there.

Delightful Guesthouse and Delicious Breakfast

If you were going to design a budget guesthouse in expensive Oxford then this is how you would do it. The decor and furnishings are quite basic but made to look and feel tasteful and homely, with some nice touches like free cake!
I've stayed in a lot of similar places at this price point and this is definitely one of the best ones, and would have no hesitation at staying here again.

Tasteful Budget Guesthouse

Stayed here for one night when vising Oxford. It's a short walk from the city centre. Room was clean, large bathroom and had all of the amenities that we needed. Didn't have much interaction with the hotel staff, however they were courteous when showing us to our room.

Everything we needed

Entry to b&b was via password as we didn’t arrive between 2-4pm which was fine but room was disappointing with tiny bathroom and no tea/coffee available. Also price of £95 does not include breakfast which can be bought in separate cafe on same premises. We found instructions confusing, admittedly because we are both approaching our 70s so not exactly spring chickens. And we weren’t sure why breakfast is called ‘brunch’ in a b&b. On arrival the entry to cafe was not immediately apparent. After a very tiring weekend participating at nearby festival, in the morning we were eager to get back on the road to the East of England. We tried to enter cafe before 9pm but all doors (no lables on them) were closed so I rang bell. It was then we encountered quite rude person who wasn’t exactly respecting our status as paying guests. After I said we had had a hard weekend she said she had too and I (!)  should be more considerate. There was also confusion about payment. I am deaf so don’t like to use the telephone so when my husband rang them to give him his card details he assumed he had paid in advance, but apparently he hadn’t. I tried to make the point that it was fortuitous that we had rung the bell as we could have left without paying. She certainly didn’t see the funny side of this! Frankly, I think if entry is automated and breakfast is not part of the deal, there should be better signs to where breakfast is avaialble and staff when on duty could be a tad more polite and friendly.

Surprise encounter with rather impolite person in morning after a one-night stay.

I booked on a room only basis for a one night stay whilst visiting the Tolkien exhibition at the Bodleian Library. My small single room was on the second floor and had a shared bathroom.

Browns has an attractive looking cafe on the ground floor, though my short visit,with an early start the following day meant I didn't have the opportunity to use it. The second floor landing has an area for making your own tea or coffee, with a small fridge with milk and water - there was also water provided in the room. 

The bed was comfortable with Freeview TV, towelling robe and local information provided. The shared bathroom had a shower which took a little while to heat up, wasn't very powerful but did the job.

Local bus services to central Oxford are good, with buses 3A, 3B and 3C running to the High Street every few minutes, though it was less than a 30 minute walk if you're so inclined. There's a decent local pub, The Magdalen, where I had a drink but didn't eat, though the food looked good. And several local shops including a grocery and a Co-op.

An extended stay in Oxford would have been great and I'll happily stay in Browns again if I have the opportunity.

Likeable quirky place to stay

We were visiting Oxford with friends to attend the foodies festival on Saturday.  We noted that there was no parking on site but we all had to drive around on the morning of Saturday to find a suitable space down the side streets that would not impede on someone's drive.  Left the car with fingers crossed that we would find it the next day, and unscathed, which we did.

We were able to check in.  We had room 3 which was easy to get to.  Our friends had rooms 6 and 9 which were a tortuous route typical of old houses.

The mattress was very hard with very soft pillows so not super comfortable.

Our room was adequate with a very small ensuite.  Neither my husband or I are big people so managed to cope but would hate to think of others of a more rotund stature trying to cope.  My shower started at a decent temperature but then became dangerously hot,  I turned down the temperature but could only manage cold water after that!  One quick shower was had!!!

Be aware that whilst on the loo or having a shower (i.e. water running) the dispersal system is via a macerator which can be disconcerting if you are not used to it!

We met downstairs (it was advertised that breakfast was extra £10 each to be eaten in cafe on premises downstairs) after searching for milk on landing (had to get it ourselves!) and a dubious coffee bin was provided with powdered coffee which was awful.  Therefore thought we might be able to enjoy a better one at breakfast.

Oh dear, all doors were locked until one opened with a surprised lady who explained in few words that there would be no breakfast.  She did say she was about to bring croissants and buns up to coffee/tea station.  By this time we had lost interest and just wanted to leave.  There was a sign outside the establishment to explain due to illness there would be no breakfast but this was useless for paying residents!!

All very disappointing.  Certainly would not recommend to others.

Not quite what I expected

We were looking for a typical English breakfast (beans, sausages, eggs...) and the truth is that it's great! Look, we're 23 years old and we're students, and we look cute, but it's okay because you put in a lot of money and the food is made by them at the moment and it's really good. It's worth seeing and eating in the garden even if it's just because it's the first English breakfast and coffee with 10 pounds of milk (it's the first and only breakfast of this kind we're going to do) The thing is that then we went to Blenheim Palace and didn't eat until 5pm, or that we had enough energy to go around the whole house without getting tired.

Browns

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