Oxford pubs and restaurants

bookbinders

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?

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.

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?

pretty sure i read that it was new owners in the oxford times.

http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/9059511.Jericho_pubs_re_open_for_business/

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 column
PPS the food has not been as good since their previous chef/barman left anyhow

Quite often read the Oxford Times ... Gray Matters really is dreadful, isn't it?

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)

Any suggestions for a *Christmas Day* meal out in Oxford(shire)?

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.

I see the Oxford Mail is suggesting The Black Boy (Headington), Weston Manor (Weston On The Green) and Majliss (Cowley Road).

Anyone been to the Oxford Arms in Kirtlington?

I know this isn't tripadvisor but why not try: to get to Oxford from Cambridge, is it better to go back to London, or is it better to take a bus or other transport directly from Cambridge to Oxford? I hope the latter but from net perusal I'm more confused than before.

& from Oxford to Coventry : any idea whether this is better by train or bus? so confused.

I'm very out of date on this stuff, but -
the Oxford-Cambridge coach ride is a bit of a pain (quite long, is all), but I wouldn't go in and out of London to dodge it. Coaches are comfortable and regular iirc.
I think I'd take the Oxford-Coventry train if you aren't broke. It's an easy journey.

yes money isn't too much of an object here. a long coach ride is ok. it seems like there ought to be a good rail connection between the two, but privatized transport ends up having its own inscrutable logic.

there used to be a direct train I think. Be prepared to see more of Bedford and Luton than you might have desired on your coach trip!

I have only ever been to London (and that but once), so this trip to the UK promises loads of novel fascinating provincial details.

there used to be a direct train I think. Be prepared to see more of Bedford and Luton than you might have desired on your coach trip!

Approximately a billion roundabouts too iirc. There was a direct link pre-60s; supposedly one reason Bletchley Park was where it was was because it was roughly halfway between the two on that line. I think there's talk of reviving part of the line too, but that doesn't help Euler right now either.

I agree with woof, I would probably take the coach (X5?) to Cambridge and the train to Coventry. Admittedly I haven't tried either method of getting to Cambridge but I've taken the train from Oxford to Birmingham a few times, which stops at Coventry iirc, and that's been reasonably quick and convenient each time, though be warned that trains in this country are expensive and get very full around commuter times.

NB I am possibly unusually averse to changing trains; a single cross-London change on the way to Cambridge shouldn't actually be that complicated and it would save you 1.5 hours (looks like 2.5 hours instead of the 4-hour coach journey), but if it's a busy time the tube will be completely packed, so be prepared to stand in someone else's armpit and for everyone (poss. including yourself) to curse you if you have luggage. Someone else might know if there's a better way to get from Paddington to King's Cross to change trains.

No, I'm with you, I would much rather take the extra 1.5 hours sitting and reading on a coach than doing a cross-London hop, even a short-ish one.

take the bus. they have wifi these days. london is shit.

I have to get to Cambridge from London also, but I'm taking the Chunnel over so I gather I can just walk across the street to change trains in order to get to Cambridge.

I'm used to long commutes these days; Paris is expensive like London. but our trains are cheap at least if you have a monthly pass (which employers have to pay at least 50%, yay socialism). and comfortable and reliable enough, unless there's a strike. so you can just live further away and commute into the city.

I'm more worried about the Eurostar's reliability for this trip tbh.

fwiw seems like the closure of the oxford/cambridge line predates privatisation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varsity_Line

"gardeners arms on north parade is good trad local pub."

still good? staying quite close to this for the next few nights, have tonight free, never been to an english pub

belly currently full of BEANS! first english breakfast too, in a cambridge college

If you've never been to an English pub go to the rose and crown opposite. Or for a longer walk, the harcourt arms.

I did go to the rose and crown after all and had a nice time.

beer seems very expensive here compared to other beer countries like say germany, at least the "real ale" I was drinking. but it was very good. hoping that others will be buying after my talk today.

wifi on the X5 was very good. ride itself was nondescript, had been hoping for some shenanigans like you get on usa greyhound trips (e.g. people fucking, brandishing weapons) but nothing. did see a lot more of milton keynes that I needed to.

rose and crown is a v expensive pub but beer in the uk is certainly more expensive than germany, it's true

royal oak tonight b/c it's across from the philo building, very nice. I like Oxford.

This thread inspires a wave of nostalgia for Ask A Drunk. We drunkards would have made a proper hash of it.

royal oak tonight b/c it's across from the philo building, very nice. I like Oxford.

That used to be my playground, do they still have a bar billiards table? (It's like pool but smaller and with the holes in the middle of the table.)

no they removed bar billiards some time in the last 5 years (was the default speaker drinks place after astro talks during my phd, and i was there last month)

if you are right there then do go to the harcourt arms. new owners but still the best pub in oxford imo. and then the bookbinders arms is a couple of blocks closer to the canal.

the gardners arms on plantation road (not the one on north parade) is also worth the trip.

I am close to the harcourt arms, will go tonight

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.

http://www.zhengoxford.co.uk/index.html

^ Here was amazing, this evening.

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!

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?