never did find somewhere to do this:
"also looking for a pub/venue that is too quiet on a sunday afternoon and would welcome being taken over for dj sets (think: autechre-y, touch records, stars of the lid type musics), if anyone has any ideas?"
― djh, Friday, 4 February 2011 20:13 (thirteen years ago) link
Any thoughts on ...
bear inn far from the madding crowd harcourt arms king's arms lamb&flag mason's arms rose and crown royal blenheim turf tavern white horse?
― djh, Friday, 11 March 2011 20:48 (thirteen years ago) link
turf tavern: the secret pub that everyone in the entire world knows about.
― i love it when a suggest ban comes together (cajunsunday), Saturday, 12 March 2011 00:11 (thirteen years ago) link
i used to live above turf alley and EVERY SINGLE DAY some tour group would come by and the tour leader would be like, "this pub is a secret haunt, known only to oxford students!"-- yeah, uh, no. also i had the joy of being kept up at night by drunks on their way home, then woken up in the morning by recycling vans crunching glass and bar staff rolling kegs down the alley.
bear inn = never been there when not crowded, seems ok tho, apparently the pub quiz is all right?madding crowd = crowd is a mix of it people and thesps, always seems to be a dude sitting at the bar who's happy to recommend you a beerharcourt arms = lovely, quiet, reliable fuller's beerka = hellish when full, ok-ish when sparse, usually quite warm insidelamb&flag = average iircmason's arms = no idearose and crown = nice atmosphere, food used to be good and is now mediocre, i'm very fond but i'm not fooling myself it's excellent or anythingroyal blenheim = no ideaturf = well the beer's usually good but only if you like waiting a year to get servedwhite horse = pokey, good at non-peak hours
― HI DEGGERE (c sharp major), Saturday, 12 March 2011 16:41 (thirteen years ago) link
Best pub in Oxford IMO: Angel & Greyhound: http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/25/2575/Angel_and_Greyhound/Oxford
― Neil S, Saturday, 12 March 2011 16:43 (thirteen years ago) link
i have super good memories of the angel and greyhound, and being there with friends - and iirc it still has a bar billiards table! - but the beer isn't all that.
― HI DEGGERE (c sharp major), Saturday, 12 March 2011 16:45 (thirteen years ago) link
Depends how you feel about Youngs, but it's always well served in my experience. Anyone been to that new gastro pub on Iffley Rd? Can't remember its name...
― Neil S, Saturday, 12 March 2011 16:47 (thirteen years ago) link
is that the magdalen arms? i went there for a drink the other week, quite liked it - no idea about the food though.
― HI DEGGERE (c sharp major), Saturday, 12 March 2011 16:50 (thirteen years ago) link
It's recently (last year or two) been refurbished, previously it was one of the worst pubs in Oxford. That name sounds right IMO.
― Neil S, Saturday, 12 March 2011 16:58 (thirteen years ago) link
Have heard good things about the food at the new Magdalen Arms and read a glowing review in the Guardian (well, on its website, anyway), but not been myself. Keen to hear if anyone else here has eaten there.
Lamb and Flag is not as good as it used to be before it was co-owned by St John's College or whatever is the case now (I know they always owned the building but now the St John's logo is on all the menus etc, and even then it was nothing special, though it used to be a v convenient local for me
madding crowd = crowd is a mix of it people and thesps
ha, I was gonna say a mix of librarians and the music scenesters who are too old for the Star, but I guess that works out much the same (also as an IT person I guess I would not have been there if it didn't attract my own kind)
not much to say about the others as in most cases it's at least a couple of years since I went, I never ate there, and I am not a real ale drinker or really someone with a defined sense of what is or isn't a good pub
― dimension hatris (a passing spacecadet), Saturday, 12 March 2011 17:18 (thirteen years ago) link
Thought the Magdalen Arms was nice but not as great as the Guardian review suggests.
The beers are nice, the food could do with a little more finesse.
In Oxfordshire rather than Oxford, I prefer the Kingham Plough.
― djh, Monday, 14 March 2011 18:54 (thirteen years ago) link
bear inn being crazy underrated here - no right angles! Ties on the walls! It is a golden absurdity of a pub when it is not too crowded
― Gravel Puzzleworth, Monday, 14 March 2011 18:57 (thirteen years ago) link
but it is never not too crowded?
― HI DEGGERE (c sharp major), Monday, 14 March 2011 19:22 (thirteen years ago) link
Still pondering a good pub route through Oxford, ideally ending somewhere near the Ashmolean or along the Banbury Road (to catch the bus home) . . .
― djh, Wednesday, 30 March 2011 15:43 (thirteen years ago) link
starting where?
― and the hint of parp (ledge), Wednesday, 30 March 2011 16:11 (thirteen years ago) link
Who runs Madding Crowd now? Did I hear Noel died a few years back?
― portrait of velleity (woof), Wednesday, 30 March 2011 16:34 (thirteen years ago) link
o god i have reached the age of making old-man small talk about pub landlords
― portrait of velleity (woof), Wednesday, 30 March 2011 16:35 (thirteen years ago) link
Starting where? Well I'd be travelling in on the S5 which stops along the Banbury Road and then finally near the Randolph but my sense is that it can start more or less anywhere and that it is by the *end* of the evening that I need to be heading in the right direction.
― djh, Wednesday, 30 March 2011 17:17 (thirteen years ago) link
(Likely to happen on a Saturday evening, if that impacts on the choices).
― djh, Thursday, 31 March 2011 20:19 (thirteen years ago) link
Couldn't see the appeal of the Madding Crowd. Liked the Rose & Crown a lot (though suspect I would generally err towards the Gardener's Arms across the road).
― djh, Tuesday, 5 April 2011 19:28 (thirteen years ago) link
gardeners arms on north parade is good trad local pub. gardener's arms on plantation road (5 mins away) is kind of a hipster student place these days, but sufficiently far off the beaten track to still be great. i've always hated the rose and crown. rude self-important owner, dreadful staff, expensive even for oxford. the royal oak at the bottom of woodstock road is good outside of term time. city centre it gets a bit slim pickings imo. far from the madding crowd is my favourite. ugly building but great bar. summertown is crying out for a non-awful pub.
if you're willing to go into jericho options increase: the bookbinders is variable but cute. harcourt arms is the joint-best pub in oxford imo but is closed due to illness. john the owner fell down the stairs and broke his leg apparently : (
― caek, Tuesday, 5 April 2011 19:45 (thirteen years ago) link
Eagle & Child worth a mention, for its Inkies connection, and the fact that I worked as an all-round dogsbody in the kitchen there c. 1993!
― Neil S, Tuesday, 5 April 2011 20:55 (thirteen years ago) link
under new ownership (again) iirc
― caek, Tuesday, 5 April 2011 21:28 (thirteen years ago) link
What are my chances of getting a place at the Magdalen Arms at, say, 7-7:30 on a Tuesday or Wednesday evening without booking? I was hoping not to book so we could see what the menu is like and how packed it is and head somewhere else if it doesn't appeal.
(Also, anyone have any thoughts on the service? Bit wary of reviews on tripadvisor/dailyinfo, where half of them are v positive and half of them are v negative, mainly about very long waits and unhelpful staff.)
― dimension hatris (a passing spacecadet), Tuesday, 19 April 2011 12:48 (thirteen years ago) link
The service was fine when we went, despite it being a busy Saturday.
The food tasted nice but was a bit ... chucked on the plate and lacked finesse. Plus lots too many salad leaves. The massive sharing pies looked good value/fun for families. Didn't seem as good as some reviews (eg. The Guardian) have suggested but nice nevertheless.
― djh, Saturday, 30 April 2011 21:25 (thirteen years ago) link
i don't think there is better food, in a pub, in oxford. that's not as big as a statement as it could be, though.
― thomp, Sunday, 1 May 2011 22:21 (thirteen years ago) link
We went along but of the 5 main courses on offer one had sold out already, one was a not too interesting veg option, and the other 3 were sharing plates which nobody could agree on. So we ended up just having a drink.
Will try again some other time. Are there more options at the weekend, or is 5 about usual?
(Maybe next time I should make sure my party doesn't include one person who doesn't eat beef and one person who doesn't like lamb, which ruled out 2 of the 3 sharing dishes too.)
― russ conway's game of life (a passing spacecadet), Sunday, 1 May 2011 23:10 (thirteen years ago) link
(We went to the Nepalese restaurant in the pub on Howard St instead and had an enjoyable meal, though more because it was an interesting change than for any objective culinary qualities, which I am pretty much not qualified to judge anyway.)
― russ conway's game of life (a passing spacecadet), Sunday, 1 May 2011 23:12 (thirteen years ago) link
one person who doesn't eat beef and one person who doesn't like lamb
innocuous things that make me irrationally angry. srsly though who doesn't like lamb?!
― standing on the shoulders of pissants (ledge), Sunday, 1 May 2011 23:15 (thirteen years ago) link
i'm not a huge fan.
(+ apparently a lot of japanese people don't like it and think it smells bad?)
― górecki's zygotic mynci (c sharp major), Sunday, 1 May 2011 23:42 (thirteen years ago) link
Has anyone checked out Edamame, the Japanese restaurant on Holywell Street? Going there week after next.
― Yossarian's sense of humour (NotEnough), Monday, 2 May 2011 08:06 (thirteen years ago) link
it's been there for like 15 years, right? i like it.
― caek, Monday, 2 May 2011 09:26 (thirteen years ago) link
Yeh, it's been there for a while, I've just just never got round to it. My knowledge of Japanese food is embarrassingly slight, so I'm up for some yummy education.
― Yossarian's sense of humour (NotEnough), Monday, 2 May 2011 10:21 (thirteen years ago) link
good place, shut sometimes when students aren't in town.
― caek, Monday, 2 May 2011 13:27 (thirteen years ago) link
i've heard it is overrated due to the only other option in town being yo sushi; like, there's a queue outside on their sushi days, and stuff.
― thomp, Monday, 2 May 2011 14:42 (thirteen years ago) link
i am just generally pissed off with the general crapness of oxford food tho so assume everything is at least 25% better than i think it is or have heard it is
it's okay but it's not super special and a bit overpriced iirc (have not eaten there in 3 or 4 years). the sushi days are probably the best days to go, queue notwithstanding.
― górecki's zygotic mynci (c sharp major), Monday, 2 May 2011 14:45 (thirteen years ago) link
i've heard it is overrated due to the only other option in town being yo sushi
and Yo Sushi only opened 2-3 years ago, too. Could definitely do with another Japanese restaurant in town (ok, I mainly mean a sushi-serving one or at least somewhere I can get a katsu don, so not counting the Wagamama or Red Star noodle bars).
I like Edamame but Japanophile friend was grousing about how it wasn't all that - still definitely worth visiting at least once though
― russ conway's game of life (a passing spacecadet), Monday, 2 May 2011 15:03 (thirteen years ago) link
Hoping the Gardener's Arms rumours are untrue.
Any thoughts on the Harcourt under new ownership? (Have still not managed to drink in there).
Drank in the revamped pub just along from the Harcourt - name escapes me, maybe something to do with a printing press - and it seemed to be doing an okay job of keeping locals (ie. those that had drunk in the old pub) happy while attracting new people. Food menu seemed expensive unless it is very good.
― djh, Thursday, 29 September 2011 20:41 (twelve years ago) link
bookbinders
― caek, Thursday, 29 September 2011 22:36 (twelve years ago) link
john finally gone from the harcourt? is he ok? i know he tore a ligament or sth in his knee and was finding it very difficult.
which gardener's arms is in trouble?
― caek, Thursday, 29 September 2011 22:37 (twelve years ago) link
I think the landlord of the Harcourt had fallen down some stairs the first time I'd tried to go to the Harcourt (maybe around the time of my posts upthread). It closed but then re-opened fairly quickly with new landlords.
Gardener's Arms: the veggie one. Heard it was closing from a friend of a friend but it may be completely untrue.
― djh, Friday, 30 September 2011 19:15 (twelve years ago) link
yeah i posted about the stairs fall upthread.
are they confirmed new owners? john used to go on holiday about 2 weeks out of 8 or so and this couple would run it for him while he was away. not them?
― caek, Friday, 30 September 2011 20:37 (twelve years ago) link
pretty sure i read that it was new owners in the oxford times.
― djh, Friday, 30 September 2011 21:13 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/9059511.Jericho_pubs_re_open_for_business/
― djh, Friday, 30 September 2011 21:19 (twelve years ago) link
this article is SO MUCH arsewater, as you'd expect from its byline, but also I have had some pleasant meals and many drinks in this place (West Oxford is v short on decent pubs - Perch good but too far and too busy) and now, ugh, do I really want to give these people more money? am I being... silly?
http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/opinions/graymatter/9656241.The_Prime_Minister_surprises_us_with_a_visit_to_The_Punter/
PS if you are unfortunate in timing a visit you too could hear Mr Gray living up to any prejudices you may have formed on reading his columnPPS the food has not been as good since their previous chef/barman left anyhow
― instant coffee happening between us (a passing spacecadet), Wednesday, 18 April 2012 21:24 (twelve years ago) link
Quite often read the Oxford Times ... Gray Matters really is dreadful, isn't it?
― djh, Wednesday, 18 April 2012 21:28 (twelve years ago) link
I am not sure which of his two pitches is more enraging, "how I met someone famous in 1978 who was clearly fascinated by my wit and enlightening use of the subjunctive" or "how the rules of cycling/garden maintenance/refuse collection should apply to everyone except me because I am very important and might be in a hurry"
(or the restaurant reviews, in which he fits the former via a story about how he first met the chef while golfing with a Bee Gee, plus the latter with a paragraph about his selected mode of transport to his meal, rounded off with a thrilling observation that his wife and her mother quite liked their starters)
― instant coffee happening between us (a passing spacecadet), Wednesday, 18 April 2012 21:46 (twelve years ago) link
Any suggestions for a *Christmas Day* meal out in Oxford(shire)?
― djh, Thursday, 17 September 2015 20:20 (eight years ago) link
i went to the perch last weekend for the first time since the fire(?)/change of ownership. it's set up like a restaurant now. i mean it's kind of cheesy but it was better than it used to be! not sure if they're open on xmas day though.
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Thursday, 17 September 2015 20:22 (eight years ago) link
I am close to the harcourt arms, will go tonight
― droit au butt (Euler), Tuesday, 27 October 2015 10:21 (eight years ago) link
Drank in Beerd (formerly The Grapes) today. Bemused to find drinks served as two-third pints rather than pints. Can see that would make sense for ridiculously strong beers but ... it just irritated me.
― djh, Sunday, 14 February 2016 22:29 (eight years ago) link
http://www.zhengoxford.co.uk/index.html
^ Here was amazing, this evening.
― djh, Friday, 29 July 2016 20:33 (seven years ago) link
Beerd is fortunately now back to being the Grapes again and pintage is restored!
2/3 & 1/3 measures are the order of the day in The Big Society (formerly the Elm Tree, and briefly a Chinese restaurant) and Brewdog (formerly The Corridor, and before that The New Inn - v popular with people in bands). In Brewdog I will let this aberration pass seeing as the beers are mostly stupid percent.
Coming back here chiefly to say, we have a NEW Oxford FAP planned! At a revived Oxford pub!
Thread here!
― Grandpont Genie, Monday, 29 April 2019 05:48 (five years ago) link
why didn't that work? still hate bbcode
try FAP Oxford
Not an Oxford question just chucking it here rather than starting a new thread. Day off and I'll be travelling *from* Oxford.
Any Bath, Cheltenham or Cirencester recommendations?
― djh, Wednesday, 8 November 2023 21:58 (five months ago) link