What, you may ask, is an archery
club doing reviewing pubs? Well, given that we spend at least as much time
drinking as shooting (and tend to be better at it), we're more qualified to
review pubs than we are to review equipment. So why not? This is our guide
to the best and worst pubs in Oxford.
Oxford's second brewery (okay,
technically based in Abingdon), Morlands, doesn't produce beers quite as
nice as those of Morrells, but Old Speckled Hen is very drinkable at 5.2%.
That's the highlight of the drink for the Cricketer's, which otherwise has a
solid but uninspiring selection.
Drink: 3/5
Serves good quality but standard pub food which, if memory serves, is reasonably priced and available both at lunchtimes and in the evening.
Food: 3/5
Small without being claustrophobic, the Cricketer's would be a nice pub to have as a local. It has a pool table at an average pub price (that is, way too expensive), and no juke box. On the downside, it values its reputation as a venue for (usually dreadful) local bands and is all too often taken over for gigs you'd be well advised not to attend.
Atmosphere: 3/5
Because of its proximity to the
rugby ground, this pub is the traditional venue for post-shooting drinks in
the summer. There's good Morrells beer available at reasonable prices, a
randomly changing guest beer from various small breweries and for cider
freaks they've even got Stowford Press.
Drink: 4/5
Home-made food is served at lunchtime and after 6pm. Highly recommended are the pizzas, which are absolutely gorgeous if a little expensive. The deserts are also fantastic. A cut above the usual pub fare.
Food: 5/5
The Fir Tree was refurbished last year and lost a little of its charm in the process. It could never be called spacious but it manages to be small without being cosy, and the un-pub-like furniture makes you feel like you're in someone's front room. There is entertainment most nights, primarily dodgy folk music but also featuring the fiendishly difficult Brain Drain quiz on a Thursday, which is well worth a shot. The pleasing lack of a jukebox is somewhat offset by the selection of music played by the landlord.
Atmosphere: 2/5
(NB The rest of the club disagree quite sharply with me on the subject of the Fir Tree. I suspect they'd prefer to give it 0/5 for atmosphere.)
At their occasional CAMRA beer
festivals they collect votes for the various beers on offer and add the
highest-scoring pints to their range behind the bar. How cool is that? Plus
Old Timer (5.8%, very nice) in the winter, a range of summer beers in the,
er, summer and all year round their crowning glory, Tanglefoot (5% and
beautiful). All at more than reasonable prices.
(Watch out for the Moonraker when they get it in. £2.50 for 7.5%, not as treacly as you might expect, and the most pleasant way to get drunk on a tenner. It tends to run out quickly, though.)
Beer: 5/5
The food is everything you'd expect from the upper end of the pub range, divided between traditional British dishes and foreign food, including lasagnes and curries. Portions are reasonable though not generous, but at least arrive fairly quickly. However, the Folly scores a bonus point for its meat draw on Friday evenings: one pound buys five chances to win the range of prizes on offer. I played only once and won a chicken. Sunday lunch for three for a quid - can't say fairer than that, can you?
Food: 4/5
At first the Folly tends to give the impression of being a bit too much of a townie, real ale pub, but don't let this put you off. The bar staff are friendly (even when ejecting a couple of tossers who were harassing the customers) and the pub attracts a varied clientele. It's such a large pub that it never gets too crowded when it's busy (as on the quiz night) but it never seems oppressively empty, even when there's hardly anyone in (mostly because classic '80s pop music is piped in just loud enough to lift the silence). There are also several tables outside for the warmer weather, although the proximity to Abingdon Road makes this less appealing.
Atmosphere: 5/5
Definitely my favourite pub in Oxford, and not just because it's about two minutes' walk from my house.
Located confusingly close to
Oxford's other Gardener's Arms, this pub sadly charges North Oxford prices
for its Morrells beer. That is, don't expect a pint for anything less than
2 pounds.
Drink: 2/5
The food is good (I can definitely recommend the curries), and comes in large portions. Unlike the beer, it isn't excessively expensive.
Food: 4/5
The Gardener's Arms has had an atmosphere bypass, probably in a deliberate effort to discourage students. Ideal if you're over 40 and want a quiet drink, less than ideal for anyone else. I felt almost like a trespasser. Go to the Rose and Crown across the road instead.
Atmosphere: 1/5
Morrells beer at reasonable prices.
What more need I say?
Drink: 4/5
Haven't actually had any food here. Sorry. Some of the other club members seemed to like it, though.
Food: ?/5
Despite its location a long way from anywhere (find Donnington Bridge then head downriver for a few hundred metres), it seems to get quite busy. It's always been raining when I've been there, which takes away some of the attraction of sitting outside beside the Thames, but I can imagine it would be nice on a sunny day. It's even got swings!
Did you think you couldn't go bowling in Oxford? That's not quite true. Although it's not ten-pin bowling, the Isis Tavern does have as its best feature a skittles lane. This can be booked for an evening for only 30 quid, so club together with some mates and have an unusual night out. Getting wankered and walloping a heavy ball into skittles is awesomely satisfying. There's even a darts board in the skittles room.
Atmosphere: 4/5
Some people out the Marlborough as
one of the few (two?) pubs in Oxford where you can get a pint of the
Aylesbury Brewing Company's Duck. It's a pleasant enough beer but only 3% or
so and rather bland. It's cheap though, as are the other beers, with the
exceptions of Stella and Lowenbrau.
Beer: 3/5
They do toasties from 12 until 2, apparently. I've only been in that early once, and I wasn't hungry. I'm sure they're fine, though.
Food: 1/5
Deceptively big, the Marlborough's main bar is divided into two cosy sections, there's a table football room through the back and upstairs houses a large pool room with two cheap (40p, 50p) tables. The juke box takes 7" singles and is stuffed with classics; it also gives you seven songs for 50p. (If you've any old singles you'd like to donate, make friends with the landlady and she'll replace an unpopular song with one from your collection!) Contrary to popular mythology, it is possible to make friends with the landlady, and the pub isn't at all anti-student. Turn up more than once a week and you'll soon get sucked into the circle of regulars.
Atmosphere: 4/5
One of the few Oxford
representatives of Fullers of London, TPatP feels it also has to charge
London prices. Actually, a pint of London Pride cost me more there than it
had the previous week in a Westminster pub. So unless you actually like
Fullers, it's not a pub to go to for the drink. To be fair, though, it does
have a wide range of alcopops.
Drink: 1/5
The saving grace of TPatP is the food it serves. It doesn't have a particularly wide range, but the quality is excellent and the portions are huge. Astonishingly, it doesn't even charge more than other pubs despite the unusual size of the portions.
Food: 5/5
The repeated name changes were attempts to shed the bad image that The Cape of Good Hope had acquired as a pub of drug dealing and violence. Success in this field has not, however, imbued it with any atmosphere. TPatP feels excessively spacious, despite the fact that the large bar is smack in the middle and ought to break it up a bit. MTV or VH1 blares from the TVs unless someone puts on tracks from the (admittedly above average) jukebox. Enlarged versions of some MB games (Kerplunk!, Connect 4 and Jenga) are available from the bar, but the fun of playing with outsize game pieces wears off fairly quickly. On the plus side there is a pool table and The Point upstairs is one of the few venues in Oxford that sometimes hosts decent bands.
Atmosphere: 3/5
The range of beers available in the
Turf is unrivalled in Oxford, and it's worth checking out frequently because
the three or four guest beers change when you're not looking. However, there
is a tendency for none of the many beers on offer to be all that good, but
then that's the chance you take with real ale.
Drink: 4/5
Food is available at lunchtime and in the evening, including huge doorstop sandwiches. Of the usual pub fare on offer (at usual pub prices), the steak-in-ale pie is particularly worth trying.
Food: 4/5
Despite the ceilings being about a foot too low (says the man who, despite developing a crick in his neck from ducking under the rafters, still always manages to crack his head on one every time he goes to the bar), the Turf has a reasonable try at being the ideal pub. There's plenty of seating inside, but divided into smaller rooms so that it doesn't feel too big, and there are a dozen or so tables outside for those who want to drink al fresco, although even with the many braziers it's only for masochists most of the year. There is no music of any sort and only one quiz machine.
Atmosphere: 4/5
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