The Fishes, Oxford

“The epitome of gastropubbery in Oxford”
Paul Stammers, The Oxford Mail

fishes@peachpubs.com

Katie Robertson, General Manager Katie arrived from Australia on what was supposed to be a year-long break between finishing a science degree in Melbourne and doing her masters. Three and a half years later, she’s still here – just couldn’t tear herself away! Her rapid rise from working behind the bar to being number one at the pub has all been down to her passion for fine food and wine.

Charlie Barr, Head Chef Charlie's our new head chef at The Fishes. She reckons she became a chef by accident; her holiday waitressing job came to an abrupt end when the head chef commandeered her to work in the kitchen. She never looked back. She turned out to be a bit of a star at college, bagging five gold medals and chef of the year at the Birmingham College of Food, Tourism & Creative Studies. After qualifying, she dashed down to Cornwall and spent a fantastic year working at Rick Stein's seafood empire in Padstein, sorry, Padstow. A phase at The Cross at Kenilworth followed, then a move to Michelin-starred Simpsons in Edgbaston, before Charlie encountered Peach. Charlie’s into rustic French food in a big way and one day wants to run her own cookery school.

For every Caesar salad we sell, we will be making a 25p contribution to healthy eating activities in a local primary school.

Why Caesar salad? Well, it’s not the lowest calorie dish, but we think you’ll love it, so it met our fundraising criteria for a best-seller that will be on the menu all year round.

We will be changing our menus with the seasons and we’re hard line on animal welfare. All our chicken, eggs and pork are free-range. We do not use foie gras. Our Aberdeenshire beef is Scotch Beef Club accredited and our chefs regularly visit the farmers. We buy British wherever we can to keep food miles down, and, where we need to import ingredients, we minimise air-freight. Provenance is key to serving trustworthy food. Our coffee is ethically sourced from Guatemala (by Union Coffee Roasters, recently voted No. 1 ethical coffee company) and the bespoke furniture we commission is made from European oak and iroko timber from sustainable forests. We have also worked with the Carbon Trust to ensure that The Fishes operates as energy efficiently as possible.