Making a ‘Good Habit’ of supporting the work of Blackfriars while enjoying good coffee in Oxford

Good Habit, a new café opened last month by Blackfriars at 32 St Giles, Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

I think I may have found my new favourite café in Oxford – and it only opened last month.

Good Habit is a new café that was opened by Blackfriars at 32 St Giles in September 2026. It is now open seven days a week, and it was a good place to have lunch earlier this week immediately after spending a little time browsing through the religions and theology section in the basement of the nearby Oxfam bookshop on the corner of St Giles and Pusey Street.

Good Habit is at the top of St Giles, near Little Clarendon Street, and opposite Saint Giles Church. It has a stylish façade with large picture windows, and the elegant and spacious interior has décor that is inspired by Blackfriars Priory.

Good Habit is managed independently from Blackfriars Priory, and has been created to serve both the general public and the Dominican community at Blackfriars, providing meals and other social events for the student body and the academic staff of Blackfriars, and sometimes you can even bump into one of the Dominican friars there.

Good Habit is run on a profit-sharing basis, meaning that if the café is successful as a business, then this brings a financial benefit to Blackfriars, supporting its work as an educational institution within Oxford University.

Good Habit is a stylish café and events space in a former bank (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Good Habit was created with the generous support of alumni of Blackfriars, friends and grant-makers. The unit, at 33 St Giles was a bank until 2018 and has been transformed into a stylish café and events space billing itself as a spot for ‘coffee and bakery’. Planning permission was secured by the Dominican Order earlier this year, and permission to display signs and install a canopy with café followed soon after.

When it opened, café staff posted on Facebook: ‘Come and visit us at the north end of St Giles in Oxford, just opposite Saint Giles churchyard – we recommend the Guinness cake!’

In the summer, Father John O’Connor, Regent of Blackfriars Priory, said: ‘At long last we have planning permission, we have the workers on site, and things are moving really quickly with a view to an opening during the summer. It’s a great project, it’s going to be a retail café during the day, buzzing with lots of activity, and then in the evening there’ll be opportunities for Blackfriars Hall events, events for the community, and also events for the wider public as well, in what I think is a wonderful part of Oxford that is buzzing in so many different ways.’

The fare at Good Habit … ‘a great café and a great space for everybody’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Rich Sewell, manager of the new café, said he had been looking forward to opening Good Habit: ‘I’ve been working with Blackfriars now for the last couple of years and it’s really great to see how this project has been developing.’

He promised ‘a great café and a great space for everybody – the public and for Blackfriars students to enjoy.’

The vegetarian and vegan options are many, the coffee is as could as I expected, and I enjoyed an early lunch this week before heading off to look at some college and hospital chapels and their stained glass windows.

Dropping into Good Habit for coffee or lunch could become a good habit in the weeks and months to come each time I visit Oxford.

Good Habit is run on a profit-sharing basis, supporting the work of Blackfriars as an educational institution within Oxford University (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)