Snow business like Snow Busines

Tomorrow's the night - We have the unveiling of @SnowFactoryHQ - and it's going to be amazing

Let me tell you about something…..? For 1.8 million years, there has been a Snow Factory concealed within a hidden location in Oxford - As human beings became more inquisitive, recently, they hid the Factory within a prison and then within a crap chain restaurant complex, just so nobody would enquire within, once humans get involved with stuff like Snow Production, they just tend to cause troubles.

What the elves do, in order to make the snow, is they Frack the sparkle out of Moonlight…. and insert it to Snow. Without the sparkle, without snow, there's just no Christmas, which is pretty tragic, but what's more, when Elves are out of work, they become mischievous - And, there's nothing worse than a mischievous Elf.

So, we're having a 5 minute long documentary every hour, followed by 5 minutes of real snowfall. It's going to knock spots off the rest of Britain's Christmas offering, I've got to tell you, so we'll hope to see you there. You can even get some Sausages on Sticks, Marshmallows, Mulled wine or a fancy snow globe.

Oxford Castle Quarter Just got fun

What's On at The Big Bang and around the Castle Quarter

Movember This November Oxford Castle Quarter are leading the way in Mo-getherness as Oxford’s Centre for Excellence for Movember. Whether you’re supporting Mo’Maison, having Bangers & Tash at The Big Bang, tapas at La Tashca, or sporting Mo Excellence at The Living Groom, there are a range of discounts and special Movember events taking place all around Oxford Castle Quarter. There will be a Mo’pening party at the Living Groom at the beginning on November 1st, followed by weekly Mo’gress meetings on Thursday evenings at The Big Bang, and a Gala closing party at Mo’Maison on Thursday 28th, where a major award ceremony will be held for all those who have Mo’d at Oxford Castle Quarter throughout the month, crowning the King and Queen of the Castle. Mo Sisters can get involved too, with cocktails and meals which all go towards donating money to men’s health. To donate or to find out more click here

The Snow Factory Snow Elves on Red Alert! With the packing up of Oxford’s only beach at Oxford Castle Quarter this summer, a dark cloud has descended over the city. The result is that Oxford may be left entirely without snow this year. As we all know, the factory that produces Oxford’s snow is run on moonlight; it is the moonlight that gives snow its sparkle. The Snow Factory has descended into panic and chaos, as a solution to the problem is yet to be found. Whilst the location of Oxford’s Snow Factory has remained a secret for centuries, it has now been revealed to the public in the hope that the people of Oxford will lend their support to the cause and help the Snow Elves to save Christmas. Found atOxford Castle Quarter, the Snow Factory has kept Christmas for Oxfordshire, and the world, since the very first snow. It has been confirmed that a variety of solutions will be put to the test to ensure that The Snow Factory is still able to produce the highest quality snow: light and projection shows; animations; flambeaux torches; music; stunning Christmas trees and lights. Ed the Elf, the spokes-elf for The Snow Factory HQ has said, ‘We’re on red alert! This has never happened before. At this stage, I can only reassure the public that we have our best elves on the case and we are working tirelessly to make sure that Oxford has snow this year. But, quite frankly, we need all the help we can get!’ Please show your support by joining the Snow Elves, for free, at ‘The Snow Factory’, Oxford Castle Quarter, from 22nd November until 8th December, 6pm – 10pm. Your city, and Christmas, needs you! Keep up with the Elves' progress by following @SnowFactoryHQ on Twitter.

Your city, and Christmas, needs you!

End of Summer

So, summer had drawn to a close, the sand has been taken away and you wouldn't believe that we'd ever had one of the most fun installations of this Great British Summer.

With 36 tonnes of sand, twelve palm trees and a Summer filled with fun events, we launched our Barbeque menu, our Summer cocktail menu and made full use of the stunning courtyards of the Oxford Castle Quarter.

Now, as a chill returns to the air, we're delighted to welcome our core of Sausageers back - With 230 diners last night and another 150 booked in this evening, we're back in our comfort zone and looking forward to a busy Winter.

With a new, brave chef in the kitchen, David (to replace David who worked here for the past seven years) we have a fine, fun menu to venture towards the colder months - Each working day lunch we'll have Bangers & Dash ready for your arrival for just £5 and will also have Stews, Broths and other Great British Dishes for the same price, with a hunk of Barry's homemade bread.

We want to make the Castle Quarter somewhere to hang out, use the wifi, do your emails and make the place your home. It's the finest part of Oxford and we're looking forward to showing you around it.

Max

Couldn't have imagined it

I've been pretty quiet for a while, not because I don't love you, it's none of that, but I've just been busy - I've built a beach and I've been busy making sure that Oxfordshire people can't be in any doubt that The Oxford Castle Quarter is cool - not just cool on an Oxford level, but international, sensationally cool.

Tonight we've had live beachside Jazz, see the photo below

A few days ago we had the Copenhagen Brass Band and we've had silent Disco Beach Parties, we've had stay and play groups, we've had circuits, we've had oodles of stuff and there's oodles more to come.

You may have read about the Oxford Beach in the Independent, The Guardian, The BBC, The Times, or any of the local media, or maybe heard it on BBC Radio Oxford or Jack FM, but either way, Summer don't last too long, so come along and sample the BBQ, get some cocktails and see that we're more than just Bangers & Mash.

We look forward to welcoming you to the Beach - when I was a kid, I couldn't make up my mind about whether I wanted to be a musician, whether I wanted to have a restaurant, or whether I just wanted to be a beach-bum, well, tonight I've accomplished all 3, and I couldn't have imagined that it would feel even half as cool as this does. I can't wait to share it with as many of you as possible.

Before I took a tenancy in the Oxford Castle Quarter, as an Oxfordshire resident, I hadn't been to the Oxford Castle Quarter for 6years, and I didn't expect that there was anything there that I wanted, but now I can tell you, with authority, that it's an amazing place - Do come and see it 

Max

Feeling Chuffed

If I'd had a sausage for everyone who told me I was a burk to open a Sausage & Mash restaurant 9years ago, I'd only be slightly slimmer than if I had a sausage for every time I recognised pity every time I told someone I was moving The Big Bang from the rubble of Jericho to the Oxford Castle Quarter.

Ghost town, they said, chain restaurants, bad reputation, nobody goes there.... well, last night, I can very happily report we had our busiest ever day in 9year - We served 430 people in total. (In simpler terms, that's nine bags of Oxfordshire spuds, the equivalent of a bathtub brimming with sausagemeat (no horse!) and three witches cauldrons full of gravy (regular size cauldron)

I'm not gloating, because I still have no idea whether this move is a sensible one or not, but I'm delighted that my team are rising to the challenge, are able to serve that many people without losing their cool.

What's more, we've had some splendid reviews... we're still not recognised on TripAdvisor as a recommended Oxford eatery, despite already having become Oxford's 100th Favourite Restaurant, in 4 short months. I'd ask that anyone who has a good time here throws a couple of kind words our way, either on TripAdvisor or on something more fabulous and local like Daily Info or Oxford City Guide so we can start to regain some of the nine years of hard work that we'd built up.... or just drop me a line, I'd always be delighted to hear feedback, good or bad.

Anyway, we're enjoying being back, we're looking forward to the warmer months when Bangers & Mash becomes BBQ & Beers and we've got an amazing lineup of Bangers & Live music over the coming months. Thanks for appreciating us I guess

Fun Filled February

After a pretty fabulous January, we're kicking the Oxford Castle Quarter rather hard at the moment to make the most of February - Live jazz each Tuesday, a full menu of Great British dishes, a cider launch with the Rabbit Foot Spasm band, a charity 'build a banger' competition and our regular slew of crewdates on a weekly basis.

We're having fun, enjoying the fact that people are happy to have us back in business in Oxford, back  on form and having more fun than ever - It seems the tricky decision to open within the Castle Quarter was the right one and we're seeing some very happy diners.

We've teamed up with Helen & Douglas House to devise a Build a Banger competition, asking submissions from Sausage Lovers everywhere - What would you like to see in a sausage? If your sausage selection gets chosen, it will be featured on the menu for a full month and £1 from each dish of them sold will go to the charity. Email submissions to me, entitled "Build a Banger".

We've actually decided that any remarkable event from the calendar should have a commemorative sausage created, so if there's an event that you know of, let us know and we can get working on a sausage - This past week has seen Haggis, pork & black pudding, Duck, hoisin & spring onion and Full English breakfast sausages to celebrate special days - Let's keep them exciting!

In addition to those, our menu now boasts Sunday roasts, full English breakfasts, cream teas, Great British classics and also our regular sausage and mash selection. We have oodles of space, so do come, use the WIFI and just hang out until you get peckish, we'd be happy to see you.

This Saturday we have the first of our extra music nights, continuing a theme we've long loved at Sausage HQ - The Rabbit Foot Spasm Band will be performing as they launch their brand new Cider - tickets for £7 (the few that are left!) can be bought from wegottickets and if you require food or a table, you'll need to get in touch with us!

Tuesday jazz continues to be popular, with each Tuesday selling out nicely - We've currently got just a couple of spaces left for Ben Holder on 12th, so if you want to catch him, you'd better be quick.

Nothing else for now, keep well

Max

Future Bookings Policy

An open letter to those planning to make party bookings:

You should never really write these things when you're miffed, but it's quite a depressing day when one is forced to restrict the way one operates a business because of repeated customer insensitivity to your situation.

We have always trusted people to turn up to bookings, with a hope of a recognition that, in a very difficult economy, we are having to put on extra staff and buy in extra food, and cancel other bookings so that we can accommodate the larger ones.

So, each time we have a major cancellation, it's upsetting - Clearly some are perfectly understandable, but on an evening when 3 big reservations of tables cancel at the very last minute, it leaves us with rather a costly situation and 100 seats empty - something that an independent restaurant can not afford to stomach.

So, I regret that from this moment forward we will be taking a card number for each reservation to ensure the booking. We will establish the following procedure;

If the party cancels within 48 hours of the allotted reservation time we will take £5 per person as compensation.

If the total number of the party is reduced by 25% or more then we will take £3 per person for every person not in attendance.

If the party damage the restaurant or refuse to maintain order then we shall take a bond of £50, after the leader of a party are warned twice to act in a more responsible manner.

We do our level best to accommodate all parties and are delighted that The Big Bang is a restaurant where student parties sit alongside parties of tourists and locals, but it is reliant upon the major bookings realising that they are acting as ambassadors for their respective student bodies and if they don't have the maturity to act appropriately, then we have to devise ways to ensure they do, or ask them to dine elsewhere.

In ten years of business I've never had to do this, it's something I've tried hard to avoid, because I think people should be trusted with the maturity to treat us the way we try to treat them.

A sad day, Max