The new edition of the Good Beer Guide puts the Nags Head in Abingdon in the top 10% of pubs in the UK – some achievement given that the pub only re-opened its doors in November 2012.
The Nags Head is situated on Abingdon Bridge and has four regular beers, including ‘Abingdon Bridge’ from the Loose Cannon brewery in Abingdon, and four guest beers.
The Nags Head re-opened in November 2012, having been closed for almost a year – at a time when other pubs were closing for good, 2 taken over by Tesco.
The Abingdon Street guide of 1869, in the local history section of Abingdon Library, shows what businesses have survived 144 years. There is one shop, Smiths The Chemist, a few churches, and several pubs including the Nags Head. I wonder what gives pubs such longevity?
Good new for Dusty and his team. Mustn’t get complacent though, need to keep the standard up 🙂
Sorry, good *news* 😉
It’s great that the pub is open and doing well but i just don’t get it,
Below average food and a high price and not a lot of seating if you just want a drink. It’s nice but they need to up their game.
(franks not my real name, i just don’t want to be frogmarched out for writing a bad review)
Totally agree, this is great news for the pub and also for the town in general. Especially as its often one of the first pubs people come across when they visit the town. Its looks great inside and out with the garden in particular is a real selling point! However I also agree with Anges’ comment about becoming complacent. The Stocks bar was in the good beer guide not too long ago and that went to rack and ruin a few months later! Good luck
What Dushan has achieved, completely on his own, in only 10 months, can only be described as remarkable. Many of the big chain breweries and pubs looked at this project and walked away. Trust me, in 24 months they will be queuing to buy him out. Of course there are going to be teething problems and people are very quick to pass criticism, but bearing in mind this proud Sri Lankan left his home country only 6 years ago to try and better his prospects then he can only be praised. The Nags Head and the Island is an Abingdon icon and it was a disgrace to see the building gradually falling derelict. It took a brave man, from another culture, to put the building back on to the map and restore a bit of pride into our failing town. Rather than place critical comments behind false names on well known websites, why not pass on constructive advice to him and support his pub before the big boys from Wetherspoons swallow all the independents up. Rant over!
It was so depressing to enter Abingdon from the Culham direction and see the Nags Head closed looks stunning now.
not eaten there yet but been in on a sunday – seemed very classy with the live music and it was packed – I guess that the new nearby old gaol flats provide quite a few extra potential customers.
Lovely pub, lovely location, but shame about the owner. So many individuals are put off coming here due to his profound rudeness.
Dusty is an incredibly hard working guy, he transformed the old Broad Face and took it from being a finacial failure for its two previuos incumbents to a thriving pub full of vitality, good food and drink at affordable prices in pleasing environment are his hall marks and for sure it was a giant leap for him (and anna and team) in going from that corner pub to one of the finest locations on the thames, remember, less than a year ago the Nags was boarded up forgotten dump, the kind you would find on a Rochdale housing estate ! now look at it? even if you never go inside you can help but notice that he’s transformed the gateway into Abingdon and speak as i find i have always enjoyed it, my wife and I had Sunday Lunch there just this Sunday, 2 starters, 2 roast porks a cheese board and 2 bottle of house wine for £65 is excellent value in my book, oh and then we had a very pleasent hour listening to the Jazz. Well done Dusty !
Couldn’t agree more Steve. Food is excellent at the Nags Head, plus good selection of wines as well as beers. My wife and I went there for our anniversary a few weeks ago and enjoyed a very nice evening.
Great stuff Dusty – keep up the good work.
A lovely pub yes, but an absolute disgrace of an owner. Spent many a evening in there up until the incident in July 2013.
I was with the girl who was frogmarched out (and I was taken with her) for writing a bad review on tripadvisor of her visit there. The staff and Dusty were very rude, not only to the girl concerned but to anyone that happened to be with her that afternoon.
A real shame, as many of us (young people in their 20’s and 30’s) had been using the pub a lot.
Not anymore.
Word of mouth is a powerful tool, both positive and negative and the facebook generation sometimes needs reminding that actions have consequences. A business proprietor is quite entitled to refuse the custom of anyone he is not prepared to serve. If you don’t like the place for any reason, go elsewhere, don’t bleat about it.
Whatever the specifics of one human-interaction event, the Nags Head is now an upper Thames asset. The speed with which it has been brought back from near dereliction is most commendable. I wonder; has the river steamers’ landing stage in the garden been refurbished ?
Hi Spike S. I think there was an issue with how much it was going to cost to repair the landing area for Salters Steamers to use it. I believe they are going to continue landing at the Upper Reaches.
I would also like to say that I have heard other people complain that Dusty is rude. But whenever I have been in the pub and Dusty is there he always says hello. I don’t know him personally, but I do think that you have to understand he is extremely busy and perhaps doesn’t have the time that some managers do to chat and joke with cutomers. Please don’t give up on this place, just learn to enjoy the surroundings x
Love the pub, love the food and beer, and I love that we can get some live music. Keep up the good work!!!
Wise words Spike S, if the young girl that left the bad review on TA was so upset about the place then one has to ask why she was back there again with friends. Not only has Dusty saved one of the oldest pubs in town but also created at least 20 extra jobs for local young students through-out the summer. As people have already said, if you don’t like the place then leave the gentleman to run his business and drink in the Punch Bowl.
Pubs like the Nag’s head and King’s Head & Bell are clearly doing well, but I think it’s a shame that most pubs seem to only cater for the middle classes in this day and age. As a 22 year old I’d like to go somewhere I can play pool, put some music on the jukebox, and not pay over £4 a pint.
Sadly these places are few and far between now.
Cross Keys ?
True, but how long will that stay open?
It’s always seems to be full when there’s a match on.
Abingdon has a wide variety of pubs to suit all tastes i think. The boundary house, the midget, the royal oak, the white horse and the black swan all offer versions of the sort of atmosphere i think wj was refering to.
Spot on Iain.
You’re right, I just feel its a shame that these sorts of pubs are disappearing, but you could argue it’s for a good reason.
If this girl has written an insulting review offending staff not just on their work ethic but also personal comments about them and then goes on to say that she would never visit again, you ban a drunk for insulting staff so what’s the difference if they insult them from behind a keyboard? I too would not want said person to be aloud on the grounds, It is a beautiful pub and good value for money especially considering the quality, the Jazz on sunday is a delightful way to end the week especially when they play out on the decking and I can only see things getting better. Hat’s off!
I think the issue with the Trip Advisor comment isn’t so much that he asked her to leave, it’s the way in which he handled the situation.
If someone writes a bad review about your business you should do everything in your power to change their opinion, it would of been far better for the pub if she had gone on later to write a review saying that it must of been a one off and it’s far better now.
it would of even been better if he had gone and had a quiet word with her rather then creating a spectacle.
I wish Dushan all the luck in the world over the winter period, it’s always been the hardest time for that pub, i just think he could of handled this situation in a more profesional manner
@WJ “but you could argue it’s for a good reason” – yes – probably because pubs aren’t viable if they don’t charge enough for their service to cover their costs. The Narrows opens soon – that will be good value.
Personally I’ve always found the Nag’s Head to be very friendly since it reopened, and always a good selection of ales. I wasn’t aware of the incident everyone is talking about and it doesn’t match my experience of the place.