But it’s easy to write and think in
clichés about Oxford. After all, we all know Oxford, don’t we, even those
who’ve never been there. In a nutshell, it looks pretty and reeks of privilege. Come
on, we’ve all seen Inspector Morse.
Of course, as well as taking an inordinate amount of time to solve
needlessly complicated crimes, Morse is also known for his love of a pint of the right
stuff. Real ale features heavily in Morse’s Oxford, which surely holds out the
promise that the city will be a grand day out for any beer guzzler. The first hour and a
half of any episode, up to the point when Morse realises that he’s been on completely
the wrong track all along, is generally taken up with much moodying around in beer gardens
or cosy snugs while the hapless Lewis is sent to get them in, again.
And there are rewards for the committed beer hunter. Sure, there are lots
of tourist pubs catering exclusively for lardarse bad taste Americans. And catering is the
word. Central Oxford must be the world capital of overpriced bad pub fish and chips.
Prices reflect this market, with the aim being to extract as many crisp tourist dollars as
possible. Plus (in case you weren’t aware) Oxford is a student town, and studentdom
naturally brings with it crap bars, theme nights and dumb drinks.
When composing the Cambridge beer guide we could not resist comparing the
two varsity cities. Oxford is more obviously connected with London. Between it and London
are capital satellite cities and commuter belt. Oxford is London removed. The Thames which
connects them is an important symbol.
Nevertheless, stick with it. There are historic pubs, friendly pubs,
locals pubs and pubs where a pint is all that matters. After all, intellectualism and
boozing tend to go together, and eggheads and middle class radicals have to have somewhere
to unwind.
At least I think so. A confession is overdue. I have been but once to
Oxford, many years ago, and the memories are so wraithlike as to be worthless. I have the
dimmest of recollections of a small backstreet pub that I rather liked and eating in a
grim food place that I hated, but that aside, nothing. This guide therefore consists in
the main of a cuttings job gleaned from other sources, with due apologies for its
inadequacies.
What I do remember is everywhere I went drinking Morrell’s. This was
Morse’s fuel. Sadly, those days are over. In an act of chronic shortsightedness, a
faction at this once fine Oxford brewery got greedy and decided that the best way they
could make a stack of money was, err, close down the brewery and sell off the site. Smart
long-term business plan, eh? A couple of centuries of brewing tradition was therefore sold
down the river for the sake of property prizes and the value of a city centre site,
leaving the city of Oxford, incredibly, without a single brewery. Morrell’s ales are,
I understand, now brewed under licence elsewhere, which is a sure guarantee of dubious
quality, and is usually the first step towards a complete disappearance of the product,
while the company itself now operates as a pub business only. How sad. You'll see the
beers around, so sip with sadness a pint of Varsity, probably the best of a now truncated
range.
It’s been a less than rosy time for Oxfordshire breweries in general.
The nearby Morland’s of Abingdon, best know for its Old Speckled Hen, was taken over
by crap large regional brewer Greene King, which immediately closed the brewery down and
transferred production to less than nearby Bury St Edmunds. Some beers have already been
cut, and when these things happen there are usually more to follow. The last brewers in
Oxford itself were two brewpubs in the Firkin chain - the 2000 CAMRA Good Beer Guide
listed Philosopher and Firkin (what else?) on Cowley Road and the Fuggle and
Firkin, Gloucester Green in the centre - but after yet another takeover brewing has
now ceased in all Firkin pubs, which are hurriedly being repackaged as
sub-Wetherspoon’s houses. Which is, clearly, a Firkin shame. Still, if you want to be
sure of food, might be worth a visit.
Nonetheless, including the Philosopher and Firkin above, our veritable
bible lists 13 pubs for Oxford, and a number of these are in the centre. These are:
The Hobgoblin, St Aldates Street. Alright, a chain pub, but
Hobgoblins seem at least to be permitted to develop their own character and some of them
– for example those in Bath and High Wycombe – are quite good. Usually a dingy
interior, student-focussed promotions and rudimentary food. Wychwood brewery which runs
the chain is at least a local Oxfordshire brewery, and the pubs tend to sell guests as
well as their beers, so this may be your best chance of tasting something reasonably
local. Should be a decent pint, and is said to be a rare outlet for mild in the area, with
their own M40 Mild. Brakspear's of Henley on Thames and Hook Norton, with their brilliant
Hook Norton Old Hooky, are other Oxfordshire breweries whose products you may find around
the city.
Jude the Obscure, Walton Street, is just a cracking name for a pub.
Beers are facsimile Morrell’s, and the pub is said to be popular with all ages, if
smoky. Sounds like my kind of place, were it not for the promise (threat?) of poetry and
folk music. Run!
Turf Tavern, Bath Place, off Holywell Street. And speaking of
names, which of the Clarets faithful could ever resist a pub called this? Okay, it’s
a Hogshead, but one reputed to be better than most, with some history kept intact and the
excellent Archer’s Golden along with a good range of guests promised. This has been
an Oxford CAMRA Pub of the Year, so can’t be bad.
The Wharf House, Butterwyke Place, is said to be the only real free
house in Oxford, and promises Hook Norton Best Bitter, guests and, if you want to give
yourself a bad head, real cider.
The Wheatsheaf, off an alley from the High Street, may well be the
city centre backstreet pub I recall, offering guest beers along with a fairly plodding
Whitbread selection, while the White Horse, Broad Street, is by Trinity College and
is said to be small and prone to overcrowding.
There are one or two chain pubs, but remarkably, a check of the
Wetherspoon’s directory yields no listings for Oxford. Can this be true? You’d
expect them to have several. Is this the only city in England not to have one?
Also in the centre, next to the modern Westgate Shopping Centre on Castle
Street, the Castle, while not GBG listed, is said to be a promising stop. And as
for the Eagle and Child, St Giles, I just like the name.
Practical orientation: Best trains from Paddington are the 18 and 48
minutes past. The journey takes about an hour on these. There are many other trains, but
slower, often involving changing at Reading. The station is a short walk from the centre.
Walking in a more or less straight line, you come to Broad Street, which runs onto
Holywell Street, and just south of this the High Street, on either side of which are the
bulk of the colleges. St Aldates Road runs south from the centre from a junction with the
High Street, down across the Thames, with Butterknowle Place on the north bank and Western
Road just south. Walton Street runs north as a continuation of Worcester Street through
the Jericho district. Got that? If you're tempted to cab about a bit, bear in mind that
Oxford centre is prone to nightmare traffic congestion.
For much of this additional pub information, I am indebted to the local
Oxford CAMRA branch site (www.kernighan.demon.co.uk/camra).
Regular readers – if such a beast exists – will by now be
familiar with the old ‘football ground in nice city’ routine. Take you colleges,
your quads and your (nearly did it again) spires, and much good may they do you, but the
football ground is miles away. As tends to happen, the ground sits in a suburb, in this
case in Headington, east of the centre. Hey, what do you want? If it was in the centre
they’d have knocked it down and built a supermarket by now. The outskirts of Oxford
are the parts that you don’t hear about (although the Blackbird Leys estate is
renowned as a world centre of excellence for handbrake turns), and it is from these that
the club draws much of its support. Students, with their usual disinclination to engage
with the local community, will not be prominent.
If you get to the end of the High Street and then from a roundabout chose
St Clements Street, which becomes Headington Road, which becomes London Road, you will end
up at the ground. If you follow the signs to the John Radcliffe Hospital, you'll also be
okay; it's right behind the ground. It's a tricky one to get right from that roundabout,
mind. All three roads that run off it have drinking options. St Clements Street gives you
the Angel and Greyhound, a Young's pub. Cowley Road offers you the aforementioned
Philosopher and Firkin. Iffley Road takes you to the Fir Tree Tavern, run by
Morrell's and offering weekend food including proper pizza. Life is full of tough choices.
The away end of the ground itself is reputed to have one of the worst
views in football, with a huge fence obscuring much of the view, although apparently the
seated section isn’t bad. If you don’t get there early, you will not see much.
Still, its name, the Cuckoo Lane end, is one of English football’s more evocative
ones, along with the Allotment End at Cambridge and of course our own, occasionally
lamented, Beehole Lane End. The terrace has an odd slope, such that from where you stand
the left end is much higher than the right end. The ground itself is the usual lower
league collection of sheds; although Oxford for a while played in the top division,
it’s hard to imagine now. That was before the fat crook Maxwell left them for bigger
fish, and pretty much pulled the plug. The collapse of his empire after his death has left
Oxford perennially cash-strapped and occasionally on the brink. Still, even last year they
were ensconced in division one, and after early season relegation worries looked pretty
assured of avoiding the drop. You may remember them playing Chelsea in the cup and being
controversially held to a draw at the death when they should have won, but the replay went
a long way towards propping them up. So confident were they of safety that they flogged
their main asset, Dean Windass. At least they moved swiftly to secure a replacement. Step
forward Michael Williams! They duly went down. Struggling this season to avoid turning bad
fortune into freefall, their highest hope must be to reinstigate their rivalry with
Swindon next year.
Probably the most significant playing link between the clubs is Billy
Hamilton, who saw out his career with them as injury took its toll. One current player of
note is of course, the first Steve Davis, who gave such fine service for Burnley around
the turn of the nineties but who has had a wretched time with injuries lately.
Oxford are keenly aware of the need to move, and of course actually
started work on a new ground before the cash ran out. At Minchery farm, next to a sewage
works on the outskirts of Oxford (shades, or rather smells, of Reading), stands the
rusting frame of the stadium. Work is currently hindered because the success of the
redevelopment hinges on leisure facilities being included on the site, and this requires
an alcohol licence, which is currently being opposed by Morrell’s, who hold licences
in the area. More of their friendly community spirit to the people of Oxford!
For more background, see probably the pick of the unofficial Oxford sites,
Ox Tales (www.oxtales.com).
So for now, it’s still the Manor Ground. Oxford are clearly worried
by the invasion of the Claret hordes, as despite their need for dosh they have stressed
that no away support will be admitted without a ticket, even if not all are sold.
As for near ground pubs, a trawl of Oxford sites, while providing me with
a good summary of the problems above, yielded little news of pubs. Other sources could
variously offer the White Horse, a big pub close to the ground on the corner of
London Road and Headley Way, the Britannia, on London Road outside the home terrace
- cautioned against in some places - the Royal Standard, close to the Britannia,
the Quarry Gate, Wharton Road and the Black Boy and the Bell, both
Old High Street.
A better bet while still close to the ground would appear to be the Butchers
Arms on Wilberforce Street. Off London Road, take Kennett Road, across Bateman Street
and keep going. This is Oxford CAMRA’s 1999 Pub of the Year, and is said to be a
welcoming backstreet community pub, and football friendly too. Regrettably, beer is by
Fuller’s, a London brewery I’m not fond of, although I may find that a bit of
time spent looking through their collection of football match tickets takes my mind off
it. They also hold occasional pig roasts. Honestly.
While en route to the ground in Headington, don’t forget to look out
for the giant plastic shark sticking through the roof of a house. You may have seen or
read of the eccentric man who makes battle with the council by means of such extraordinary
adornments of his dwelling, and this is where he lives.
A more complete picture will be formed on our April 2000, and this guide
amended accordingly at some point thereafter. Our visit marks a special occasion, as our
longstanding member and vice chairman Woody marks his 1000th Burnley game
– all while living in the South East. We are intending to commemorate this monumental
occasion in the only way we know how – by visiting all 13 CAMRA listed pubs. I
particularly look forward to Marlborough House, Western Road, even though it's
miles out, mainly because the building I work in is called Marlborough House and it will
make a nice change to want to go there.
And whatever result we get here, it can’t be as bad as the 5-0
thrashing we caught on our last visit.
