My brother and I will be visiting Oxford next week and would very much like to sample some local pubs. We are big fans of real ale and are history buffs to boot. After consulting some pub guides, our preliminary choices include The Eagle and Child ( We are Tolkien fans as well), The Bear, The Turf Tavern, and Wheatsheaf. I feel that while pub guides may be a good place to start, there is nothing like practical Doper experience to help guide us in our search for a tasty quaff. We harbor no ill will towards any local football clubs and promise to keep our views about American superiority to ourselves. Please feel free to endorse or bemoan our selections or suggest some others that are not to be missed that we may have overlooked. Thanks and Cheers!
I think Lobsang ** , jjimm** or another British doper lives there.
On the other hand, I was there for 7 weeks one summer, so I’ve been to a lot of the pubs around there.
The Turf Tavern is my personal favorite. Quirky location, very good beer selection and decent food.
The Eagle & Child is worth going into to see the C.S. Lewis and Tolkien signs, but beyond that, I wasn’t impressed.
Most of the others were pretty generic Young’s or other corporate pubs, as far as I could tell.
Those four all have their good points. Other pubs worth a visit include the Rose and Crown in North Oxford and the Head of the River (tho this is not really the season for it).
Of the four you listed the Turf is the best - nice ambience and good selection.
Whatever you do don’t go to the Mitre on High Street.
A little further out - the **Isis **(south east over Donnington Bridge) and the Trout at Wolvercote (north).
Of the ones you listed, don’t miss the Turf for all the reasons stated.
The Rose and Crown has loads of character as well as being notable for the landlord’s blunt (for want of a better word) manner.
Another vote for the The Turf. Though I did almost once freeze to death there in December when I found myself on the outskirts of our group clustered around a brazier.
**The Turf **will fit the bill - great place to visit and good set of ales. That being said, it’s a tourist trap. You’ll enjoy it, but you need a local to recommend somewhere else with a bit more of an authentic Oxford flavour for comparison. It’s ten years since I lived in Oxford, so I haven’t much of a clue. The lamb and flag was always good, there’s a big boozer on the roundabout into the centre just before Magdelen college that was very good for a time.
You could always try one of the college bars as an interesting sociology experiment. Some are not bad, and I think members of the public are allowed into one or two.
If you like Cider, have a pint of Old Rosie at the Turf. They make it themselves, and I consider it a kind of ambrosia. It tastes like a combination of white wine, apple juice and flat mineral water, in the best possible way. That being said, you can hardly taste the alcohol (around 10-14% IIRC), so I’d avoid that third pint.
Unfortunately I’ve just moved out of Oxford. However, to the best of my knowledge MarcusF and Surok still live in the city so might find this via a vanity search as I did.
Avoid: The Head of the River. Great location on a sunny day, but that’s all it has going for it. Shit service, shit food, shit beer.
The Turf, as everyone else has said, is a definite must for real ales and quirky architecture.
The Bear is OK but it’s tiny and difficult to get a place to sit. Also, the service there has gone downhill of late, but they still have everyone’s ties on the wall. The Rose and Crown is definitely worth a visit.
I’d also recommend The White Horse in Broad Street. It’s opposite the Sheldonian Theatre. Nice atmosphere and IIRC, some good staple ales, and usually some interesting guest beers.
The pub near Magdalen (at “The Plain” roundabout) mentioned by The Cocky Watchman has gone through a number of unpleasant changes over the years, including a spell as “The Pub Oxford” - inspired, eh? - but is now back to being a decent, pleasant bar with good food, called The Cape of Good Hope. However, their speciality is world lagers, not real ale. I’m not sure if they even serve ale to be honest.
Another pub worth a look is a bizarre little place in Jericho called the Harcourt Arms, in Cranham Terrace, accessible down the alleyway by the Loch Fyne restaurant, with the most eccentric landlord ever, that does some reasonable ales (London brews I think), has a great atmosphere, games and reading materials, and is such a genuine locals’ hideaway, with no concessions for tourists, that it’s well worth a visit.
I think it might be GorillaMan. Edit: :rolleyes: (that’s a looking-at-the-post-above-mine smiley) it was jjimm. I have a feeling that GorillaMan lives in one of those interesting English places.
I wish I lived in Oxford.
My brother used to live in a flat in Jericho; there was (we’re going back a decade or so) a burger shop where the owner was a bit odd and used to give juvenile delinquents a chance by employing them for a while. Ace burgers though. And then there was a veggie-burger place. Ye gods but I’ve never had such an appalling burger.
Pepper’s! Best burgers ever! Also, allegedly, you could or still can get a side order of hash with your food, and I don’t mean hash browns.
I forgot the White Horse! Nice place, near good bookstore (Blackwells!).
I entirely agree about the quality of Old Rosie, but they don’t make it themselves - it’s made by a Herefordshire brewery called Weston’s, also known for a lighter cider called Stowford Press and as Britain’s first organic cider producer. Which is great, as it means it can be found at places other than the Turf - in Oxford, the Cape of Good Hope also has it.
Other pubs worth a look in Oxford include:
[ul]
[li]The Gardener’s Arms on Plantation Road - excellent vegetarian food, nice real ales, some cider and folky music[/li][li]The Jericho Tavern - sister pub to the Cape of Good Hope, located on Walton Street in North Oxford. Similarly good beer and cider and nice food. Also frequently live music.[/li][li]The Bookbinder’s Arms, 17-18 Victor Street, Jericho - quirky pub with books and board games to keep you entertained while you enjoy nice ales and Stowford Press. Sometimes does food.[/li][/ul]
Yeah - I had such crappy service there once, I went back later and burned the place down.
(Just Kidding).
Sadly, it was the Perch you burned down. 
The Head of the River is a chain pub in the middle of town, by the Isis.
In my defence, it was dark, and I’m not from round those parts.
I don’t remember pubs, seeing as how it’s been over 30 years since I’ve been in Oxford. I do remember that there was a local bitter called Morrell’s that you could get drawn from wooden kegs. It was the best bitter I ever had. Don’t know if it’s still made, though.
Thanks for all the replies. It looks like The Turf for sure, and we will be trying out several of your suggestions. At lunch today, a friend suggested The Perch, though they said it was a bit of drive outside of town. Has it really burned ? I would hate to waste a trip to somewhere that no longer exists.
Nope. They sold out in the late 90’s… ultimately the brand ended up with the Thomas Hardy Burtonwood brewery, the brewery itself was converted to luxury apartments around 2002, and the 132 (!) tied pubs eventually mostly ended up with Greene King.
- Kilvert’s Pagan, basking in the reflected glory (but none of the money) of being a Morrell descendant
Sorry, it’s burned all to shit. Really sad, as it had a new owner who was a French chef and was doing well. It isn’t that far from town either - it’s in a village that is inside the meadows that are inside the city. Which is cool.
ETA: look for Brakespear’s, as that’s a very local brew (from Henley, about 20 miles away, and a very decent range of beers).