Drinking In Oxford

A list of good pubs - subtly different from Eating In Oxford.

Reviews needed...

Geographically based is probably a good idea.

East Oxford (inc Cowley Road)

The Elm Tree?
The Bullingdon Arms (Cowley Road)
Temple Bar - Good booze, good crowd, but I hear the Monday-night DJ sucks....
The Black Swan, Crown Street (off Cowley Road). A genuine Irish pub. No real ales, but Guiness, of course. Good calm place to drink - the thing is, the Irish don't get as aggressive as the English when drunk.
The Angel and Greyhound (St Clements)- Nice pub, good beer, bar billiards
The Half Moon (St Clements) - small pretend-Irish pub (unlike the Black Swan), though it is run by an Irishman. Greene King ales - IPA, Abbott - averagely kept. Guiness. Open-mike music and poetry sessions from 9pm on Thursdays, including Mauro's Galician music, Sparky's 'I Slipped Through a Rip in the Fabric of Time', and much else, some very weird.
The James Street Tavern (James St) - okay, and has pint and a half glasses

The White House - OK, has a pool table, but is a little expensive, and only has smoothflow type ale.

The Radcliffe Arms - Average beer (Marstons Pedigree, Wadworths 6X, only averagely kept), cheap food, served until 9pm. This is a very popular student eating place. Relatively pleasant though can get smoky sometimes.
The Harcourt Arms - Fullers beers - Chiswick, London Pride, ESB?. No other real ales, but these ones are extremely well kept, always in top condition. The landlord will sell them to take away, in four-pint jugs or similar. No soft drinks on tap. Open fires and weird jazz music. Pleasant, though a bit small and dark. Has an unfortunate pro-smoking policy.
The Globe
The Jericho - A 'Scream' pub. 'Nuff said.
Jude The Obscure - Not an annoyingly pretentious as the name might suggest, has a fine range of 1930s self-help manuals on the walls. Good fish and chips.
Bookbinders Arms - Cosy, quiet on Friday nights, full of gloomy cubby-holes to sit in, good range of ales....
Beat Cafe - Wouldn't normally recommend a trendy, cocktail-based nightspot such as this, but it does serve a cocktail called the Philip K Dick....

The Head of The River - expensive and not particularly good beer, nice views and beer garden in summer. Full of boaties a lot of the time.
The Wharf House. West end of Speedwell Street, where it starts turning into Oxpens. You can also get there by going down St Ebbes and continuing straight down until you cross Speedwell Street. Two permanent real ales: Hook Norton bitter and Pitchfork. Plus two or more guest beers, changing at least once a week - breweries have included Slaters, Archers, Wye Valley, Rebellion and many others. Good range of bottled Belgian beers - Westmalle, Rochfort, Bieken, Beelzebub, Troubador, ..., and some from other countries - recent deliveries included Paulaner Salvator from Munich, and a Baltic dark stout. Erdinger on draught. At least two real ciders from the cask, and - this is very unusual - perry, (pear cider). Prices are low, e.g. 1.80 for Hook Norton, 2.00 or 2.10 for the other cask ales and ciders, 2.20 to 2.80 for the Belgian beers. Customers include some of the local Night Shelter inhabitants, whose appearance might be offputting to the nervous, but the landlord, Tony Flatman, keeps very good order, and will ensure you're not bothered. He also knows a lot about beer and cider. And will accept euros as well as sterling!

The Turf Tavern - arguably the best pub in Oxford. Always lots of good beer, nice beer garden with cool brasiers to keep you warm in winter. Low enough ceiling that anyone above 5ft10 can keep themselves upright by leaning their head on a beam!
The Mi(t)re - large restaurantopub located on High Street. A corridor/tunnel at the back leads into The Turl. Good place to hold Committee Meetings.
The Turl - Tudoresque geographical confusion attached to Turl Street and The Mi(t)re.
The Crown
The Kings Arms- Reputedly has a dark and secret way to and from Wadham College in its upper storeys. Massive, and needs to be, given the number of people who use it to celebrate the end of exams by destroying their livers. Located on the corner of Broad Street and Holywell Street. Otherwise known as the KA. Apparently has a second establishment called Next Door (more accurately, should be next door but one), where the Blackwell's annexe used to be.
The White Horse - Far too small to be pleasant, as everyone in the pub can overhear your conversations simalataneously. Lousy Guinness, but pleasant barstaff.
The Wheatsheaf - decent beer with a selection of guest ales. Live music upstairs most nights.
The Blue Boar - tiny with a huge array of sawn off ties! Now renamed the Bear.
The Bulldog
The Eagle And Child (aka The Bird and Baby) - once home to The Ink Lings.
The Madding Crowd - may be found by journeying into a small parallel universe near Borders on Magdalen Street. Some like it, some don't.

Extremely nice. It has sufficient room for OUSFG to sit together, it serves tea and coffee, it's not the <insert disliked pub of your choice>, it's airy and non-smoky, and near Borders, what more d'you want? -- WJR
I'm not a big fan. The acoustics are dreadful, and it is certainly not 'non-smoky'. It has a decent selection of beer (the only place i've seen porter on general sale, other than during some sort of festival), and it does sell beef jerky as a bar snack. There is generally irritating local artwork on the walls. -- TA

The Lamb and Flag - OUSFG has met here before adjourning to Cranham Street. Owned by St Johns College. Only about 60% Evil. Located on St Giles, more or less next to St Johns College. Serves world's worst Guinness.
College Bars. These range from the sublime and the ridiculous to the sticky and foul-smelling, and some have VAT led objections to serving people who aren't members of the college. Others couldn't care less. Best avoided during times of sport. Balliol College bar (the Lindsay) is student-run and does shots for 70p a go on 'Crazy' Tuesdays, and you can get a mixer thrown in. If, that is, that's your bag...

Mon, 21 Jun 2004 07:40:17 GMT