Crime & Safety
Update on opening of Hickory’s Smokehouse creating 100 jobs
Earlier this year, Southern-style BBQ restaurant chain Hickory’s Smokehouse announced The Bystander pub in Wootton, near Abingdon, run by Greene King, will become the home of one of its new restaurants.
The new business is expected to create 100 new jobs and vacancies are being advertised for chefs, with a salary of up to £40,000 for a senior sous chef, £36,000 for a sous chef, and £33,000 for a junior sous chef.
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The pub shut in April for refurbishment but no opening date has yet been revealed for the restaurant.
The advert for the senior sous chef says: “We’re looking for a senior sous chef to join our passionate brigade of BBQ enthusiasts.
“You will be responsible for running our bespoke kitchen in the head chef’s absence, and in doing so you will be working towards becoming a head chef yourself.
“You will be working with and leading the team to deliver authentic fresh food-based BBQ menu in one of the busiest restaurants in town.”
There are also branches of Hickory’s Smokehouse in Milton Keynes and Swindon.
A new smokehouse opened in Swindon last year, the first of its kind in Wiltshire, replacing a Hungry Horse restaurant.
Hickory’s managing director John Welsh said earlier: “We are so excited to be heading to Abingdon.
“It’s an area that’s been on our wish-list for a while now, and we’re over the moon to finally be planning our first smokehouse in the town and our first in the wonderful county of Oxfordshire.
“We’ll be spending plenty of time getting to know the area and our ambition is to create something really special. We can’t wait to become part of the local community for many years to come.
“Across all our restaurants we love working with schools, charities, grassroots sports teams and community groups – and Abingdon will be no different.”
The first Hickory’s Smokehouse opened in 2010 in Chester, and the chain’s restaurants are now open across the North West, Midlands, Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, North Wales and in other locations.
The chain said in a statement: “As the fastest growing, southern style Smokehouse group in the UK, Hickory’s is really going places and we want to take you with us.
“We look after our team and are passionate about promoting hospitality as a top career choice.
“Everything we do at Hickory’s is fuelled by our desire to deliver the best, most authentic guest experience – so every smile, every ‘nice to see you’, every ‘that’s no problem’ is just as important as every dish of food we serve and every cocktail we shake.”
A mobile speed camera van was parked up along the Hennef Way in Banbury, close to the M40, between 6.30am and 8.30am on Monday, June 1.
Police caught 97 drivers exceeding the 40mph speed limit of the A422.
The highest recorded speed was 81mph and two large goods vehicles were also caught speeding.
A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: “Speeding significantly increases the risk of serious collisions and puts everyone in danger.
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“These figures highlight why our enforcement activity is so important.
“Please slow down, stick to the speed limits, and help keep our roads safe for everyone.”
Data reported on earlier this year revealed 69 per cent of speeding tickets handed out in Oxfordshire are from mobile speed camera vans.
Thames Valley Police caught 10,817 instances of speeding in the county for three months during the summer between July and September.
And of those, 7,512 vehicles were caught by somebody with a speed gun at the side of the road.
The worst area to get caught by a speed camera van is in the West Oxfordshire and Cherwell districts of the county, the data suggests, where 3,540 were caught in the three months.
Overall in Oxfordshire, fixed speed cameras flashed 3,305 times during the three months of summer, while mobile speed cameras recorded 7,512 instances of speeding.
St Hilda’s College completed the purchase of Stonemason House, 145 to 146 Magdalen Street, on Friday, May 29.
The building was purchased by the college from a vendor represented by Allsop.
It is being used for student accommodation with plans to house 44 St Hilda’s graduate students from October 2027.
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Stonemason House allows the College to house roughly 50 per cent of its graduate students, in addition to all undergraduates.
This then relieves some of the strain on the private rental market, says St Hilda’s College.
Bursar Chris Wood said: “The acquisition of Stonemason House is a landmark moment for St Hilda’s.
“It advances our commitment to providing accommodation for nearly half of our graduate students and represents a significant investment in the College’s long-term future.”
The future graduate accommodation has been placed to complement the College’s existing accommodation in Cowley Road and Iffley Road.
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This lively area of the city is popular with students and young professionals thanks to the wide variety of local restaurants and bars.
It is also within walking distance of the College on Cowley Place.
A statement regarding accommodation from St Hilda’s College reads: “We allocate accommodation for new graduates on a first-come, first-served basis once funding has been confirmed.
“We own several graduate houses where we can offer rooms to most first-year and some second-year graduates who want them.
“Many choose to rent privately. We have a small number of rooms for couples, but do not have accommodation suitable for families.”
According to the Met Office, the rain is expected for the rest of the afternoon (Tuesday, June 2), much of Wednesday and Thursday with a cloudy break on Friday.
On Wednesday, temperatures are to feel like 14C – nothing like the 30C-plus weather last week – with a 40 per cent chance of rain from 7am.
There are no thunderstorm warnings or flood alerts issued for any of Oxfordshire.
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The sudden change in the skies comes after the Met Office on Monday, June 1 said the UK had the warmest spring on record.
The mean average temperature in England across March, April and May was 10.41C, beating the previous record of 10.23C set in 2025, according to provisional figures from the Met Office.
It is the third year in a row that a new record has been set for the warmest spring in England.
Met Office scientist Dr Emily Carlisle said: “This spring highlights both the natural variability of the UK’s weather and the longer-term warming we are observing.
“While conditions varied through the season, all three months of meteorological spring recorded mean temperatures within the UK’s top 10 warmest on record.
“While we expect fluctuations from year to year, this spring shows some of the changes we’re seeing in our weather patterns, with more extreme conditions becoming more frequent.
“The fact that nine of the 10 warmest springs in England have occurred since 2007 illustrates this ongoing shift in the UK’s climate.”
A422 speed camera – 97 drivers caught in two hours
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