Oxford Pubs

[@coastmansingha9980]

A review of Oxford pubs without any mention of Inspector Morse is quite an achievement. I have not been in the UK since 2008 so finding the prices hard to stomach. Timothy Taylors Landlord was amongst my favourite beers. Here in sunny Thailand a pint works out between £1.20 to £2.00 but not what anyone would call a real ale. The pubs, beer & countryside are all I miss about the UK. Thanks for posting, enjoyed the tour, for once outside of London.

[@alanaitcheson9403]

I'm really enjoying your pub tours Tweedy Pubs. They're informative and just plain enjoyable videos a must watch.

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Alan, very kind of you to say so!

[@BertoniBertone]

Thank you , Tweedy. We all sit down at dinner and enjoy your laidback self-deprecatory style. That you’re also a fan of Harvey’s Best clearly marks you out as a stout trencherman. Keep it up.

[@TweedyPubs]

Thank you for that very kind comment and I hope the jerky camera work doesn't put you off your food! Yes Harvey's is a thing of beauty, and with no compromises! It's a liquid expression of the Sussex motto "we wunt be druv".

[@brianives380]

Reminds me of Alec Clifton-Taylor's talks in Six English Towns many years ago. Informative and entertaining.

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Brian!

[@gregoryharris4547]

A bit of History and a few ales.... Superb work sir

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Gregory, glad you liked it!

[@hanskurzen]

Great video , thank you. I have been in most of these pubs many times. Including the Eagle and Child. I love almost all of them. However a few months ago I went to The Old Bookbinders Ale House in Jericho and I have to say it was fantastic. I think it was in the first Morse episode but used a different interior. Can't wait to get back to Oxford . Cheers.

[@IanRoure]

The Chequers and the Harcourt are two that would also been worth a mention but as a general introduction in one day, a brilliant job I’d say - great to hear someone that shares my general taste in ales!

[@RonCraft580]

Only discovered your channel recently but have just about worked my way through all of your catalogue. Super enjoyable and informative, a walk down memory lane for me for, I was surprised how many pubs I had been to!

[@markjones327]

Outstanding thank you tweedy 👍

[@johnsharp8632]

Thanks Tweedy. The first four pubs looked great. Like you, I avoid pubs with loud music or live sport. My favourite was the Rose and Crown, lovely pub and one of my chosen beers Hook Norton Old Hooky. Youngs has not been a London beer for about 20 years. The brand was acquired by Charles Wells in Bedford and their 'Youngs' beers are a poor imitation of the Wandsworth brews. I rarely visit Oxford as it is a tortuous drive from my home in East Anglia, along single carriageways all the way. TV's Inspector Morse used to be seen drinking at a few Morrell's pubs. I once went to Oxford hoping to enjoy a few pints of Morrell's 'Oxford Blue', only to find that the Brewery had closed.

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks John! ...and thanks for the clarification about Young's. I was vaguely aware they had sold on their brewing concerns a while back but I think I vaguely recalled the "pubco" part of the business was in separate ownership?

[@johnsharp8632]

From what I have read the former Young's pubs are now in the hands of Punch Taverns (that's not the way to do it)!. I understand the brewing has returned at the former Youngs brewery tap in Wandsworth. I might have to pay that a visit!@@TweedyPubs

[@andrewdolinskiatcarpathian]

It’s a bonus when the bonus pubs outnumber the planned pubs 😂 I forgot how small The White Horse was. Probably the last pub I’ve drunk in Oxford. Excellent pub crawl. 👏👏👍😀🍺

[@j.t.5876]

Enjoyed this. As I sat down to have a beer you popped up; perfect timing, as I miss old English haunts (I live in Asia now). Speaking of haunts, you should definitely take a tour of York's offerings, especially around The Shambles towards Christmas time. The atmosphere and centuries-old pubs there are incredible in my mind.

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks J.T.! As it happens I was considering York for this day out but ended up switching to Oxford in the end. York is definitely on the list!

[@j.t.5876]

@@TweedyPubs Well, I look forward to seeing if you manage a trip there! All the best!

[@WC21UKProductionsLtd]

Superb! Especially the increasingly frenzied run of bonus pubs at the end! I used to drink in The Bear occasionally. It was great. There’s a very old video - now unlisted - of me running down a passageway near the Turf Tavern to get away from the camera. Ridiculous! Hope you got home OK!

[@TweedyPubs]

Thank you! Yes the filming quality and the historical insights definitely tailed off a bit towards the end there as the initially planned single bonus pub turned into more of a handful. I think part of the reason I kept trying "one last pub" was I was actually was a tiny bit dissatisfied with Oxford somehow (although I tried to put a more positive spin on it in the video). I used to go to Oxford for pub crawls about 20 years ago and there seemed to be more of a sense of pub magic, and a general feeling of antiquity, back then. Of course nothing stays the same, and perhaps I went this time with unreasonable expectations! The Turl Bar, the Mitre, and the Eagle & Child have all closed since those earlier forays, and the Turf Tavern, while they're making a valiant effort, is struggling to retain any atmosphere in the wake of the seemingly endless stream of American tourists who all bizarrely seemed to be ordering fish and chips and a pint at around 4pm on a Tuesday. Perhaps they were jetlagged? I suppose I should be thankful that at least the Bear and the Lamb & Flag were still holding their own. Actually the Lamb & Flag has more going for it in its current incarnation as a community ran pub, and also on the positive side the King's Arms was actually nicer than I remember it - I think we probably used to treat that as a emergency refreshment break to keep our strength up on that arduous 4 minute walk from the White Horse to the Turf. Whereas in reality that back bar in the King's is thoroughly commendable in its own right if you just make the effort to cross the rest of the pub to get to it. You do seem to get around! What brought you to Oxford? It used to be a semi-regular (once or twice a year perhaps?) destination for me when living in Pangbourne, when work friends and I wanted a change from the handful of pubs in the village (or the "delights" of Reading).

[@WC21UKProductionsLtd]

@@TweedyPubs I lived in Watlington for a decade, so got to know Oxford well. I’m not a city person, but I’m very fond of Oxford. It’s in my top 3 with York and Edinburgh. Haven’t been there for a few years, so I hope it’s not gone all crappy! Will have to check it out next time I’m down in Thame or Crowthorne (daughter/son locations).

[@TweedyPubs]

@@WC21UKProductionsLtd Ah, very close to the Ridgeway then! This is ringing a bell now - did we perhaps discuss this before? I am also reminded Jeremy Irons lived there at one point, perhaps still does? I certainly don't think Oxford has completely gone to pot! Perhaps I brought it on myself: I'd always just accepted as an act of faith that many of these pubs were very old, but doing the research for the video to pin down more exact dates revealed there's pretty much nothing, in terms of the current buildings we see today, which goes back further than the 17th Century... Which is just like London really. I just obviously have unrealistic expectations - three or four centuries years old really ought to be good enough for anyone!

[@WC21UKProductionsLtd]

@@TweedyPubs I think Mr. Irons does still live there. Next to the car park and a pub that you would hate! There’s an old story - not sure how much truth there is in it - that Hitler didn’t bomb Oxford because it was going to be his capital. And that’s why so many old buildings survive. I think the Costa might be one of the oldest!

[@muttley5958]

It's nice to see you both giving the Bear a shout. It was always my favourite pub in Oxford. A great place to chat to nice folks from all parts of the world.

[@PaulEvans-j7h]

Oxford is such a top pub town. Great memories of nights out. I remember on a Saturday lunchtime in the white horse trying to explain to a French family what a jacket potato with a filling was. I don't think they ordered any after I'd finished. The chequers is good but touristy. Don't even go to the Head of the River! I think you could do part 2.

[@mrmouse7642]

The "back bar" at the King's Arms was burned down in the 1980s as is an attempted replacement. The difference was between the "town " and the "student" pubs. With the possible exception of the Crown, the vid is all about "student" pubs. Lots of other pubs now gone - the Golden Cross, The Roebuck, the Apollo, the Ship, the Horse and Jockey. Also the Jericho Tavern is/was a cracking place. Don't Know if the Gardeners Arms and the Rose & Crown on North Parade and the Osney Arms are still trading. Wonderful times and wonderful places in the 1980s. The White Horse on Broad St has happy memories. Clive took a lot of my money off me through the till but I also got some of it back as I also worked there. Also he'd let us "have" a bottle of whiskey so long as we "replaced" it the next day.

[@stevo728822]

My mate had his stag do in Oxford. We started in the Lamb And Flag. There was about 10 of us. I was best man and asked if I had a stag do game for them. I had written down 20 challenges on 20 strips of folded paper. The young guys pulled a strip in a lucky dip. First challenge was to find a homeless beggar for the groom to shake hands with. Within 2 minutes the young guy had dragged a homeless man off the streets into the pub to shake hands with the groom.

[@robinhughes8822]

I had my stag do in Oxford 30 years ago and I ended up so pissed I couldn’t get in anywhere so while my mates where in the bars I bought a bottle of vodka and sat in a shop doorway with a homeless man drinking it ,he couldn’t stop laughing and then I realised a was wearing a huge latex penis and had a Hitler moustache stuck on me

[@Mark.Andrew.Pardoe]

Whato Tweedy, Nice to see you get out of London occasionally. I await to see your visit to Nottingham for the Trip to Jerusalem (the world's oldest pub at 1189!), the Salutation, the Bell and the Peacock but be warned, the Salutation is a rock pub playing Heavy Metal and the like although it claims a date of 1240.

[@markjones327]

Fantastic tweedy another great video mate merry Christmas and thank you 👍

[@barryconway]

Oh, that was a pleasant surprise. The Gevrey-Chambertin wallah sent me here, and what do I find but a tour of some of my favourite drinking haunts in Oxford. Well, some of those that remain, at least. Good job, carry on.

[@colin5021]

Check out Jude the Obscure, the Vic Arms, the Gardener's Arms, and the Harcourt Arms . Royal Oak also good.

[@Thefisherman27]

I think Oxford might be on the menu this weekend.

[@TweedyPubs]

I filmed a segment where I was suggesting this was a good time of year to visit Oxford, but the video was getting a bit long so I cut it out in the end. Term doesn't start until apparently October 8th (which is a Sunday, so I guess in practice they mean October 9th?), so there's still a good week-and-a-bit before presumably the bulk of students come back, whereas now the summer is over the number of tourists has probably dropped at least a bit (although I assume it never gets to zero). Apart from the Turf Tavern, none of the pubs were particularly busy... but it was also a weekday afternoon!

[@Thefisherman27]

@@TweedyPubs thanks for the reply.

[@andriswood5434]

You missed The Chequers! Delightful old pub off the high st.

[@FrugalMrB]

Really liked this video Tweedy - I’ve never been to Oxford, so it was interesting to see another side rather than the usual colleges/Morse view of the city. I think I’d like many of the pubs, especially with the absence of the F&B blue! Regards, Andrew Ps - I had to laugh at all the ‘bonus’ pubs - I wondered when you were going to stop!

[@CiderGuy]

Another good video, many thanks. I do think you missed out by far the best pub in central Oxford though. And that would be The Royal Blenheim in St. Ebbe’s street. Just around the corner from St. Aldates Tavern. The beer selection & quality in the Blenheim is easily IMHO by far the very best in Oxford & the best prices too. If you like White Horse brewery that was the one for you too. 😊

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks CiderGuy - that's a great suggestion, and I'm not sure now how I managed to overlook it! I mainly focused on the historic pubs for the original planned list, then the "bonus pubs" were pretty much just what I happened to walk past or vaguely remember from past visits. A shame though given how close the Royal Blenheim was to the St. Aldate's and I read it's a regular winner of CAMRA's pub of the year for Oxford... I shall definitely seek it out on any future visits to Oxford.

[@lodge99]

Nice work

[@martinmcnamara155]

Wonderful guide...Thank you. I hope you do Bath soon.

[@FreddieExPath]

The "Andrew Gramham Dixon of pub history" 😎👍!

[@TweedyPubs]

😂

[@robinhughes8822]

The lamb and flag On a really hot day the back room by the toilets is so cool in temperature the thick walls don’t let any heat in . Back in the 90s the lamb was really popular with punks,goths and New Age travellers,on a weekend there was no where to sit inside it was always good fun and no trouble 😊

[@kevinpayne3482]

Love the history aspect of each pub. Try to include the beer history as well

[@brianmac7036]

Great video thanks very much. I recently went into the Three Goats Heads on St Michael’s street and thought that was very cool. It’s a Sam Smiths pub and I think it would be right up your street 👍

[@davidlittle7182]

My favourite so far

[@Sharon_Mc]

🇬🇧 I went to The Head of the River pub last Wednesday. The meal was enormous. Any suggestions for a central Oxford pub with a lovely garden for my next visit .

[@bensmith372]

Superb tweedy 👍👏

[@TweedyPubs]

Thanks Ben!

[@johnrob6132]

Hi. What an interesting selection of Oxford pubs and their histories. It`s nice to see the large selection of hand pumped beers in each one rather than the limited two or three in many pubs. Was the one with the display of neck wear a tied pub? Look forward to many more.

[@TweedyPubs]

Hahaha! 😂 I only got the joke there on the second read! (I seem to be a bit slow today). I wish now I had used that gag in the video. Yes I agree the number of beers on hand pumps (most, but not all, real ales) was very encouraging in many of these pubs. I'm a bit of a fussy so-and-so when it comes to beer styles as you've probably gleaned from the videos, so not all of the beers were actually to my taste, but I'm fairly sure the majority of the pubs had at least one thing on I would have enjoyed, which is definitely good enough.

[@ysgolgerlan]

Thanks for a great video, I could just imagine you crashing over tables and causing a melee if you had stayed any longer. 👍

[@TweedyPubs]

Hahaha! I can assure you I am always well behaved, even when the pub count reaches double figures! I am reminded of a bar in Tokyo I went to a couple of times, where one night we heard a giant crash, and it turned out one of the tables out the front, laden with beer, had been knocked over by (drunken) accident. We saw a waitress trudging past us dejectedly with a dustpan and brush and asked her if that had happened before. "Every night", she replied, wearily.

[@ysgolgerlan]

Ha, a bit like our village at one time in the 80’s 👍

[@stevo728822]

I'm getting the impression you can guess the age of a pub by the height of the ceiling. But you have to take into account any upper floors removed leaving just the timbers.

[@OzzyMandias]

It's a tough job but...

[@TweedyPubs]

Yea I struggled through, for the greater good...

[@colin5021]

You didn't mention the VERY RARE pewter bar in The Bear!

[@TheEulerID]

I'm not sure how it is possible to do a tour of Oxford pubs without at least a mention of Colin Dextor, and his grumpy antisocial real ale loving detective, Inspector Morse. Virtually every pub in Oxford must have featured in the TV series. However, a couple of extra pubs that would have been worth a visit. In Jericho, there's the Old Bookbinders (formerly the Bookbinders Arms, and before that the Printers Devil). It is not hugely old, but was founded to serve the employees of the nearby Oxford University Press fairly early in the 19th century. It is close to the canal. The landlord is, or at least used to be French and the menu reflects that and used to have some moderately racy French photographs in the toilets, somewhat tamed down when last I visited. Another one, which takes a bit more of a walk down the Thames towpath, is the Perch. It's got a garden tucked just back from the west bank of the Thames on the opposite side to Port Meadow. Whilst the thatched, "plaster-rubble" building dates "only" from the 17th century, there's has, reputedly, been a drinking establishment on the site for at least 800 years. I used to go to some of these pubs after a ride with friends from Maidenhead, which built up a thirst. We usually ended up eating fish 'n' chips at the Eagle and Child, and it's sad to see the place in that state. It had a fairly tastelessly annexe at the back, made from a small glass-roofed rear courtyard, but the front of what must have once been a very small pub is clearly very old. In October 2023, it was announced that the pub had been bought by the Ellison Institute of Technology, who are building a campus in the city. The Ellison in the title is Larry Ellison, famous for having founded the Oracle Corporation and a rapacious appetite for buying tech companies. The campus is being designed by Norman Foster, or at least his practice and they will also be redesigning the Eagle and Child, apparently still as a pub. There is clearly no shortage of money, but what's going to become of the pub, we have yet to see.

[@AnyoneForToast]

I've started reading Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet three times, but never got more than about halfway through. Strange really, as it actually seems rather good. I remember hearing that he wrote it as a result of some kind of bet, or dare type thing after being accused (by one of his contemporaries) of being unable to write science fiction.

[@TweedyPubs]

I read the Narnia books as a child, and liked them, but unlike Tolkien I doubt they would transfer well to re-reading as an adult. I think C.S. Lewis probably was broadly a good writer, but yes I can imagine the fantasy genre was something he wasn't really entirely comfortable with, and perhaps as you say he felt he had a point to prove.

[@TheEulerID]

C.S. Lewis had a hatred of the writing, or rather the underlying philosophy of the writing of H.G. Wells, not helped as the latter was, at least most of the time, a committed Christian whilst the latter was a confirmed atheist Darwinist. C.S. Lewis coined the word "Wellsianity”, and it was much discussed within the Inklings. S.C. Lewis perceived Wells's philosophy as being one of progress through science and rationality, including of ethics, something with which Lewis disagreed profoundly. He saw older truths. His "Ransom Trilogy" comprising "Out of the Silent Planet", "Pelandra" and "That Hideous Strength" was his response to, especially, the "War of the Worlds". In the trilogy, it was the human beings that first invaded Malacandra, a planet occupied by ancient creatures. It was some of the humans, and especially the token scientist, who were to carry out aggressive acts, believing in the superiority of their own ways. Perelandra, the second in the series and is the inhabitants' name for the planet called Venus. Being Lewis the trilogy was, of course, replete with Christian symbolism. The trilogy is, in its own terms, and excellent piece of writing, but it is meant to convey a message, and that was very much an opposition to H.G. Wells, and others of his mindset. I have to come down of the side of Wells for the not very good reason, that he attended the same college as I did, albeit it was then known as the Normal School of Science.

[@AnyoneForToast]

@@TheEulerID I really should finish 'Silent Planet, and the rest of the trilogy. I admit it is mostly hearing that his writings are so closely bound to Christian theology/allegory that has put me off. I accept that this does not necessarily mean that his novelism is bad. I should actually read Wells (and others) as the old movies I have seen can surely never do the original intentions justice. I may have to pop down to Waterstones (or more exiting, a secondhand bookshop) soon.

[@TheEulerID]

@@AnyoneForToast I have read the Ransom trilogy, albeit that it was a long time ago. I recall that some aspects annoyed me rather, but not enough to stop me going through the whole series. Among other things, those are three cracking titles.

[@infoscholar5221]

I've always heard London is one of the most expensive cities to live in, in the world. But mate. Beer is just as expensive in Chattanooga, Tennessee, or Huntsville, Alabama, Or Atlanta Georgia, three cities of which I live in riving distance.

[@Howie57]

I sit in the same place in the white horse ....right at the back

[@matthall143]

I believe Inspector Morse drank at the White Crown!

[@Howie57]

Myleast favorite is the 3 goatsheads

[@bregawn]

Suspect you fell asleep on the train home

[@kevanhubbard9673]

Or the relative merits of cask vs keg!

[@Howie57]

St Aldates tavern...formerly the bulldog

[@liamkatt6434]

Yes I prefer Oxford to Cambridge pubs. Probably get bashed by a load of boxing blues one night.

[@samuelrowley4994]

Ideas for the next video, stop filming that bench, stop filming the car park, stop filming a tree, start film the facilities pal 🤣🤣🤣

[@domfxlive]

good job on avoiding Wetherspoons haha, cheap but bad pub

[@Howie57]

Head of the river....expensive

[@Sharon_Mc]

🇬🇧 The Head of the River. I went there last Wednesday. The meal was enormous. Which pub do you recommend when I next visit Oxford ?

[@CheeseBae]

I'm American and I'm going to ruin all your favorite pubs by showing up and requesting a Bud Light with my awful accent.

[@TweedyPubs]

@@CheeseBae 😂 You remind me of an old friend - that isn't you Ben is it?

[@PloyphailinEkaphan-mh9cb]

Thankyou for review these pub look great but sadly no customer in there Am don't think english people are good financial situlation All the same overs the world Because other country making"Badly"war😠Am not happy with that too😠Stop the war now you should know what happen with other crisis?¿

[@felixarbable]

turf is absolute shite compared to 20 years ago