Category: UK

As the weekend drew to a close, I had time for one final Good Beer Guide pub visit. Regarding the history, CAMRA notes:

“First built in 1820 and rebuilt in 1879, this is a rare Victorian pub in the city centre. There is a single narrow panelled room, with the bar on one side and seating on the other. The glazed timber screens have been removed to give more room. In the entrance there is some original tiling, mostly obscured. After being run by St Austell Brewery for a while the pub reopened under West Berkshire Brewery ownership in April 2019 but the brewery went into administration.”

There was an extensive and interesting selection of real ales which covered a range of beer styles, it actually felt curated. The service was slightly sluggish, but it was friendly and efficient, with the general environment being inviting and comfortable. Everything felt clean and tidy, with power outlets available for those who might need them.

There was also an excellent range of craft beers and if I had longer then I would have started to work my way down a couple of these, I had no idea that they would have 40 keg lines.

It wasn’t very busy, although there was some drama when the 15:00 national phone emergency testing alarm went off.

I went for half a pint of the Bliss Point from Thornbridge, which I haven’t had before. It was well-kept, light and had flavours of hedgerow (this isn’t an official term), pine and citrus. The price was towards the lower end of the scale for Oxford, although some of the decadent craft beers are of course more decadently priced.

Although I didn’t eat, there was food available and the only customer I saw order a meal came over to the bar to say how much they’d enjoyed it. The menu isn’t overly extensive, it contains small plates, traditional pub classics, burgers, pizzas and the like.

Some beermat decoration on the ceiling of the pub. There are also some vinyl records near to the door which I think can be played, with sports being shown on the TV. Neither of those latter two points particularly engage me, but it all adds to a rounded pub and I’d be happy just with the beer selection. The recent online reviews are very positive and I can imagine that this venue will soon get busier as its reputation spreads as it certainly surprised and delighted me.

This was the best pub that I visited in Oxford and I’m very grateful to the Good Beer Guide for pointing me towards it. The venue has won numerous CAMRA awards recently and shows what can happen when a large corporate doesn’t make it formulaic and drab. There are a few offers floating about, not least the current £3.50 for any pint of real ale on Mondays.

This was an unexpected treat, being able to tick off two things at once, another Titanic pub and a Good Beer Guide pub. In terms of its history, it’s a Victorian pub which takes its name from one of the stagecoach services which used to serve Oxford.

What a lovely sight and the pub has won numerous CAMRA awards in recent years.

The keg section.

For the many and not the few.

The bar and there was a friendly welcome from the staff member. It’s always a delight to visit a Titanic pub and she was knowledgeable and engaging.

Clean and comfortable seating. The pub doesn’t serve food any more, instead focusing on its drinks trade and it clearly does that very well.

This is half a pint of the Idaho Pale, a Titanic beer that I haven’t had before. It’s 4.3% and was really rather lovely, hoppy, fluffy and rich in flavour.

My second half pint was also a first for me, the True Stout nitro, which the staff member told me is a long-standing Titanic beer, although I’ve not knowingly noticed it before. It was smooth, dark, creamy and again there was a depth of flavour. Titanic really are good at this brewing thing.

Well, indeed.

The online reviews are broadly very positive and this was one of the very few negative ones:

“Pretty unfriendly if you have kids. Great pub otherwise, but the unfriendly treatment spoiled it for me. I understand why the management might prefer to have a kids-free pub, but there are nicer ways to communicate it, even conceding this might be a tenable position to have in 2023.”

I don’t know how they communicated it, but I find it hard to believe they randomly turned on some kids that entered without them having caused a disturbance.

“There was live rugby on, but in the area we were sitting no one was watching and the sound was intrusive and distorted. Two customers, including the person I was with, asked if the sound could be turned off. The pub employee replied that it could not be turned off, and if people did not like it they should go elsewhere.”

This feels sub-optimal if true…..

Anyway, this was a pub that I thought absolutely deserved to be in the Good Beer Guide, a wide selection of real ales and keg beers, a friendly welcome, a quirky feel and something that didn’t feel formulaic. All really rather lovely.

The next Good Beer Guide listed venue on our little pub crawl was St Aldate’s Tavern, a Young’s pub which makes an attempt to have a couple of local beers. The history of the venue is complex and Young’s have shown no interest in the pub’s heritage, but it’s not the original St Aldate’s Tavern which was located further down the same road. CAMRA notes that there has been an inn here since 1397, although rebuilt on numerous occasions and in 1716 it was known as the New Inn. It was then renamed as the Bulldog in 1965 before being rebranded back to St. Aldate’s Tavern in 2005.

The beer selection was dreary, although there was an attempt at having a local beer which was the Prospect from Oxford Brewery. The service was friendly and engaging, although the prices were to the higher end of the scale.

The seating was odd, a sofa that really isn’t that suitable to sit at for those wanting to drink or eat, it all felt formulaic. The online reviews here are a little poor, although I like this one:

“I went to this pub and was enjoying My self with friends when we were told to be quite? I won’t be going back as we had to be quiet”

The pub replied:

“Good evening, we are sorry you are feeling this way about your visit today. Your group were raising your voices and cursing, including raising your voice towards one of our team. You were politely asked to keep the noise level down. To give an opportunity to all of our guests so they can equally enjoy their time in our venue.”

I’m with the pub, I like them a bit more now.

“After a show in Oxford we went in the pub and Callum said to us that they were showing the World Cup Final. Great we thought! Lets stay eat drink and enjoy the match. After the match, extra time, two meals and several drinks later it was time for a penalty shootout. Lots of people in the pub in a good mood. Took to France missing second penalty and calum decided to switch all the TVs off in a huff. Plus the upstairs projector.”

I quite like Callum   🙂

The DEYA is decent, there’s a slight effort to offer some craft beer options here.

I went for the Prospect as it was the local option and it’s named after the story of when the unfortunate prospective Balliol scholars were set upon by the College Fellows and carried to College Hall where they were forced to tell stories to entertain them. The beer is 3.7% and was hoppy, a slight taste of toffee and was well-kept. It was slightly challenging to battle off all the flies in the venue, a slightly sub-optimal situation.

It was dark when we left…. Although it’s an interesting venue historically, I thought it was all just a little soulless, corporate and formulaic, perhaps fortunate to be listed in the Good Beer Guide.

It was the Norfolk & Suffolk LDWA weekend in Oxford and although there were some walking elements, I thought I’d come to tick off some more Good Beer Guide pubs. Located down a small side street, the venue refers to themselves as being the oldest pub in Oxford, but this isn’t really the complete story. There was a Bear Inn which was in existence from 1241, but they knocked that building down in 1801. The building which was once the residential property of the Bear Inn’s ostler had been trading as the Jolly Trooper since 1774 and so, in 1801, they renamed that to the Bear.

This is a small venue, with only 24 seats inside and so it’s not the easiest to take photos in. Here’s an AI of what the interior looks like….. There is more space in the garden area, but more on that in a moment.

The truly eccentric detail of the whole arrangement is the collection of over 4,500 tie ends which are mounted behind glass. Its origins lie with a 1952 tradition started by the then landlord Alan Course which is that guests clipped the end of their ties in return for half a pint of beer. Now the walls and even ceiling are covered in bits of tie which represent clubs, schools, colleges and just about anything else which is tie related. It’s wonderfully odd.

The pub is operated by Fuller’s, so the beer selection is pretty much limited to their own beers. In many ways, it does feel a shame that this isn’t an independent venue, that would perhaps fit much better with its independent and quirky feel, an example is that the website makes no effort to engage about the venue’s history. There was a friendly welcome and the staff worked around a completely oblivious and rude group getting in the way of everyone to ensure that I was served promptly. This is quite an achievement, there’s not much space to work around anything in this small two room venue.

The venue is only really viable as there’s a large beer garden out of the back and an external facing kitchen area.

The garden area. The land on which the pub was built was once the churchyard of St. Edward’s Church (in situ between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries) and perhaps rather sub-optimally, they have found skeletons relating to that period of medieval usage. The archaeological report relating to three bodies were found recently is online and shows where the skeletons were found in the sump of the cellar and I’m not entirely sure that anyone could have predicted that when the bodies were buried.

Bike storage in the middle of the beer garden. There’s quite an extensive food menu which is priced towards the higher end of the scale, but customers are inevitably paying a little extra for being in such a well known pub. We were fortunate to get a table, thanks to Helen for getting there a little early and securing that.

I went for half a pint of the HSB which was well-kept, clean tasting, malty and fruity.

It’s an interesting and fascinating pub, quite rightly in the Good Beer Guide because of the historical interest, the range of beers and how well they’re kept. The Good Beer Guide is really just about beer quality, but, realistically, it seems to have become a little more wide reaching depending on the local group. The online reviews are generally positive, although some of the food reviews are quite scathing. Perhaps better suited for tie spotters and history lovers rather than groups and craft beer drinkers, it did feel clean and organised. As I mentioned, I would rather like that this was an independent arrangement offering something a little less corporate, but it was all functional and interesting.