Panny Skrivanos of The Souvlaki Brothers

SINCE our first appearance in 2016, Oxford residents will have seen us serving authentic Greek food at local festivals and markets such as Bitten Street and North Parade, as well as a range of public and private events.

This hugely exciting step for our business means you can now eat with us seven-days-a-week at our new city centre location – a little corner of Greece in the heart of historic Oxford!

The Souvlaki Brothers is an independent, family business founded on our love for the delicious Greek street food – souvlaki.

Unable to find what we considered to be a truly authentic version of this delicious hot wrap in the UK, we made it our mission to make them taste every bit as good as we would expect them to be in Greece.

For those yet to try one, we make our souvlaki skewers by hand and our popular favourites include chargrilled pork, lemon chicken, beef meatballs and grilled halloumi.

All are served in real Greek pita from Athens, with traditional accompaniments of tomato and onion salad, homemade tzatziki, crispy fries, fresh lemon juice and a dusting of paprika – tasty, fresh and portable.

The business was founded in 2015 by us, two brothers, Panny and Yan, who wanted to revisit the food we experienced on our many childhood holidays visiting family on the island of Chios.

Most of our time there was spent eating souvlaki – so we believed we had enough experience to know when the taste was genuine.

Aware that this food was rarely found in the UK, we set up as a mobile street-food business, which gave us a great opportunity to bring our products to a variety of audiences, and the response in Oxford has always been hugely positive, with a loyal customer base who we love welcoming back to the trailer.

Over the next two years, our reputation grew and we built a strong track record supporting local events such as Oxford Food & Drink Festival, the Christmas Lights Festival, Oxford Royal Regatta, St Giles Fair and Towersey Fringe.

In addition, we built a strong client list for corporate lunches and functions including Porsche and Land Securities.

Our dream was always to open a permanent takeaway and, with strong family links to the area and a successful trading history here, it always seemed that our fate was to open in Oxford.

Sure enough, in late 2017, we had the opportunity to meet with representatives from Oxford City Council, who discussed their vision and strategy for the Covered Market, and the opportunities within for local independent traders to gain a foothold in the busy city centre.

Soon after, the perfect unit on Avenue 4 became available and we were fortunate enough to secure this important new home for our business.

Since then, we have worked through a successful planning process, and our newly-refurbished and renovated shop on Avenue 4 is now open.

As well as cooking souvlaki all day, our new premises has enabled us to expand our menu to include a range of weekly specials and popular classic Greek savoury and sweet dishes – freshly prepared with the same love and care that we do at home.

We also stock a select range of our favourite high-quality Greek deli products including oils, herbs and spices, preserved fruits and more.

We look forward to welcoming you to the Covered Market for authentic Greek food and great service: just like being in Greece!