THE owners of Oxford’s first underground restaurant can officially take it overground, despite a petition to stop it.

Oxfork was created by East Oxford resident Drew Brammer and chefs Chloe Horner and Becky Craven as a ‘pop-up restaurant’.

The idea behind the pop-up craze is to host dining events in unusual or disused spaces.

The trio has run a number of successful Oxfork evenings around the city, including in a former dolls house museum in Iffley.

But they now have a permanent base, the former Oxford Cycle Workshop in Magdalen Road.

They have moved to reassure residents it will simply be a cafe rather than an entertainment venue.

Some neighbours in the road had tried to scupper an application by the group to sell alcohol and play music at the cafe, but last week the venue was granted a licence by Oxford City Council.

Objections to the cafe included submissions from the Thangu Rinpoche Trust, which is based a few doors away. The buddhist centre claimed noise from the cafe, which plans to host spoken word, talks, cookery demonstrations and poetry evenings, would disturb its own meditation, yoga and study groups.

It also claimed the cafe’s application to serve organic lager and wine with meals would add to the street drinking culture of Magdalen Road.

Another objection letter listed concerns that the cafe might “get on the circuit where young people know they can go and drink until late”.

Drew Brammer said the community could be assured the group were not “noise terrorists” and rather than an entertainment venue frequented by party-goers, Oxfork would simply be a fantastic local cafe.

The team is pushing ahead with the finishing touches to the cafe ready for the launch at the end of the month.

He said: “We are absolutely delighted. All of the neighbours’ concerns were taken on board and as a result we made some changes, including giving up plans for the off sales licence after a heartfelt plea from the owner of a family-run shop who said he could have gone out of business as a result.

“We are now looking forward to welcoming everyone in for a cup of tea, and a slice of cake.”

Mr Brammer said the cafe will focus on breakfast and brunch, serving up Eggs Benedict, a hearty full cooked breakfast and healthy options.

Each day there will be daily specials, seasonal salads and vegetarian options with many of the ingredients sourced locally, including bread and viennoiserie from Eynsham based Natural Bread Company.