May Morning in Oxford

Most early mornings in Oxford you expect to see few, if any, people. The High Street is empty. Quod is hushed, its Georgian arched windows looking onto a silent Radcliffe Square. The restaurant usually resumes its clatter and chatter at 7 am.

All that, however, changes on May 1st 2024. Falling on Wednesday this year, you’re welcome through Quod’s doors from 6 am (walk-ins only) for a special May Morning breakfast of bacon & egg rolls, buttermilk pancakes, fruit, pastries, and perhaps a Breakfast Martini or two to merrily toast the joys of spring. And the reason? An uproarious centuries-old tradition that sees locals and visitors gathering in their thousands to welcome the arrival of longer, lighter days.

Up The May!

May morning in Oxford is every bit the spectacle, and certainly worth an up-with-the-larks start! At 6 am, a crowd swells in the High Street and on Magdalen Bridge to be serenaded by the choir of Magdalen College singing the Latin hymn, Hymnus Eucharisticus, from the top of Chapel Tower. After more choral pieces, the bells ring loud for 20 minutes as the sun waves hello.

It’s an extraordinary way to welcome spring – a wholeheartedly joyous one, too. After the singing, musicians and revellers with flower garlands teased in their hair form a carnivalesque procession toward Radcliffe Square for Morris dancing and folk music. And this is where you’ll find us, large and bustling, and filled to the brim with springtime optimism as the community celebrates.

View last year’s celebrations in photos.