Lockdown spoilt the party. We’re throwing it again.
One long table at the Spice Lounge in Summertown, sixty Oxfordshire business owners, and a minute each to say who you are and what you’re after.
£50 a seat. Sixty of them, and that is the lot.
- When
- Thursday 22 October 2026
- Drinks from
- 6.30pm, Dew Drop Inn
- Dinner at
- 7.30pm, Spice Lounge
- Seats
- Sixty in the room
Six years and one pandemic later
Lockdown got us on the day.
We were launching our second group over in Bicester when the country shut. The event was due that week. It went in the bin along with everyone else’s plans.
We had another go a couple of years later and it went well, but our own businesses got in the way and it quietly fizzled out. That’s the honest version.
This time we both have the room to run it properly. Same restaurant, same format, same reason it worked in the first place: one room to ourselves, one long evening, and a table full of people who actually run something.
No lanyards. No referral slips. Nobody timing you with a stopwatch. Just a proper curry and the sort of conversation you only get when everyone is sitting down.
We have also carried out extensive due diligence on the likelihood of a national lockdown falling on Thursday 22 October. Early indications are encouraging.
Who’s in the room
Owner-managed businesses from in and around Oxford. Trades, professional services, retail, agencies, consultants, one or two people who defy description.
Anyone who runs a business is welcome. There’s no membership, no committee and no one-per-sector rule — if two accountants want to come, that's two accountants.
What it costs you
An evening, and the price of dinner. That’s the whole commitment. Come once, come every time, bring someone who’d get something out of it.
The running order
How the night goes
Loose enough to be enjoyable, structured enough that you actually meet people.
-
6.30pm
Drinks at the Dew Drop Inn
We take over a corner of the pub over the road. Turn up when you like — this bit is deliberately unhurried, and it’s where most people find their first proper conversation of the night.
-
7.30pm
Across to the Spice Lounge
The whole restaurant is ours. You’ll be seated with people you haven’t met, because that's rather the point.
-
Poppadoms
Pitch over Poppadoms
Everyone in the room gets sixty seconds. Who you are, what you do, and who you’d like to be introduced to. It’s the reason people still remember each other the next morning — and it’s over well before the mains arrive.
-
Then
Eat, talk, stay as long as you like
Four curries, all the sides, and no formal ending. Most people drift off around ten. Some don’t.
Included in your seat
Four curries, and everything that goes with them.
One fixed menu, served to the table, so nobody spends twenty minutes reading and there’s something for everyone. Tell us about allergies and dietary requirements when you book and we’ll sort it with the kitchen.
Last time round
Excellent crowd, excellent curry, excellent craic. Contacts were made and guests did business — but most of all we had a blimmin good laugh.
From the Curry Favour page, the last time we did this.
Thursday 22 October
Book a seat
Sixty in the room, us two included. When it’s full, it’s full. Booking takes two minutes.
No tiers, no membership, nothing to join. Pay for your dinner and turn up.
- Your seat at the table and the full fixed menu
- Rice, naan, poppadoms and chutneys
- Your sixty seconds in front of the room
- Drinks at the bar, paid for by you
Tickets are non-refundable but fully transferable — if you can’t make it, send someone in your place and let us know who. Your seat is confirmed once payment has cleared, and your ticket arrives by email.