Oxfordshire Pub Round-Up

For a final post of the year, I figured I'd look back to some of the Oxfordshire pubs visited in the summer months.
I may have grumbled at the time about the restrictions imposed on a visit to the pub...  Little did we realise how glorious those summer days were, before we stumbled onward to lock-downs, tiers and substantial meals.

Let's start with the counties latest Community pub - a sure-fire contender for the Good Beer Guide 2022, if there is one.

The White House (Grove Road, Bladon, OX20 1RQ - web)
The campaign to save this pub saw 430 people, including locals and folks from further afield, purchasing shares in the White House when Greene King decided to sell the property.  

The pub has links to Winston Churchill, who was born a short distance away at Blenheim Palace, drank here, and is buried in Bladon's church cemetery.
We sat in the 'Churchill Bar' just to the right of the entrance. 
We didn't scribble '...is a racist' on the portrait. 
We did enjoy a lovely pint of White Horse ale.

Jumping back a little to September, we spent a day in the northernmost reaches of the county, making the most of a lovely bit of beer-garden weather.  Catching a train to Banbury we proceeded to walk up the Oxford Canal to Cropredy, which has two pubs to visit.

The Brasenose Arms (Station Road, Cropredy, OX17 1PW - web)
The Brasenose is famous for being the birthplace of the Cropredy Festival, when members of Fairport Convention met here in the early 70's to plan a music festival.

I've not knowingly ever listened to a Fairport Convention song.

We got a brief glimpse inside, as we following the route to the bar and back out into the large back garden.
Welcoming pub.  Great ale.  And a South African dog in a window.

Next to the church is the village's second pub, The Red Lion, where we enjoyed a decent pint of Butcombe Original and a sandwich in the garden to the rear.

A pleasant walk across the fields took us to Cropredy's neighbour, Great Bourton.

I'm reliably informed by the Hook Norton website that only two other villages in England have church bell towers sited away from the church itself.
And there it is below - expertly photographed with the pub sign in the foreground, if I say so myself...

The Bell Inn (Manor Road, Great Bourton, OX17 1QP - web)

This Hook Norton Brewery pub was rebuilt in the 1920's and doesn't look especially pub-like from it's exterior.  It featured another pleasant little beer garden though, and drinking some Hooky when in this neck of the woods is obligatory.

The Bell, Great Bourton.

We continued our north Oxfordshire ramble from Great to Little Bourton, which has a roadside pub called The Dirt House (Southam Road, Little Bourton, OX17 1RH).

I was insistent that we had to visit a pub called the Dirt House.  Mrs PropUptheBar remained unconvinced.
In my mind, the Dirt House should be a seedy establishment, with Motley Crue hanging out there.  Except it wasn't - it was smart and modern, with a friendly welcome and a decent pint of Fullers 'London Pride'.

The Dirt House.

Hopping away to a couple of pubs just to the NE of Oxford itself, both on the wonderful Green Belt Way path that circumvents the city.
Along this route you'll find the peaceful village of Beckley.

The Abingdon Arms (High Street, Beckley, OX3 9UU - web)
The pub has a blue plaque due to being frequented by Evelyn Waugh.  Which makes a change from Tolkien or CS Lewis, although I bet they both drank here at some point - they drank everywhere!
This is another Community-owned pub, which is thoroughly pleasant inside, but the back garden is the real winner.  As the village of Beckley sits on an elevation, there are great views from here across Otmoor.

Listed in the 2020 Good Beer Guide, the Abingdon Arms has slipped out of the 2021 edition, which is a shame, because the pint of Little Ox 'Yabba Dabba Do' that I had here was superb.

Leaving Beckley southbound on the footpath, it's just over a mile to the next village, Stanton St John, where you'll find the Talkhouse...

Talkhouse (Wheatley Road, Stanton St John, OX33 1EX - web)

This featured one of my gripes of the Covid-pub-world - the ridiculously long-winded one-way system.  Out through the garden, along the road and back in through the front door to go to the loo.  One of several one-way systems encountered this summer which ensured you passed many more people following the rules than if you just took the direct route.

On the whole, beer quality was great in the summer, thanks to clean pipes and sensible reduction of cask ales available for limited customers.
But sadly the London Pride at the Talkhouse had undoubtedly been sitting in the barrel over a couple of early week closed days.  It was pretty awful.

Look here comes the barman, asking how the beer is.  Here's your chance...
"How's the Pride?"
"Fine, thanks."
Heck, I'm rubbish sometimes.

The bar at the Talkhouse - nice display of taps along the wooden beam.

Finally, for the last pub of the post, a trip down into the South Oxfordshire Chilterns.

The Highwayman Inn (Exlade Street, Checkendon, RG8 0UE - web)
A current regular in the Good Beer Guide, this country pub is in good walking country.  You can get disorientated in the woods, or lose the path in the posh College grounds heading back toward Woodley, both of which I managed to do.  Need to improve the map-reading.

If you want a proper rustic country pub experience, then the fantastic Black Horse, a mile or so away, is the best option.  The Highwayman meanwhile, dates back to 1625, but has a smart modern feel with most of the interior set up for dining.
There is a small bar area to the right of the front door, with a stone floor and too many scatter cushions.  Ales on the bar were from West Berkshire and Loddon, with my pint of 'Hullabaloo' on good refreshing form after all the walking.

And that - for the time being - is that.
For anyone who's stumbled across the blog, read any of the mistake-littered nonsense that I write, or just looked at the pictures, thanks for the visit.
Let's hope that 2021 brings much more cheer and the chance to prop up the bar again.

In Fear of the Tiers

A serious post, for a change.
Today, the Government announced which tiers each region of the nation would be in when we come out of Lock Down.

And here in Oxfordshire we're in Tier 2. 
Which sucks.
Although obviously a little less than the millions stuck in Tier 3.
As far as the pubs go, Tier 2 means only those selling 'substantial meals' are able to open, and may only serve alcohol alongside that meal.

Yep, I can travel into town on a stuffy bus, go shopping, go to the gym, get my nails done, and be one of 2,000 spectators watching Oxford United play.
But no way can I be trusted to sit and have a beer in a pub unless it's accompanying a meal.

In fact, the only places in Tier 1, where we can head to for a couple of pints without eating are Cornwall, the Isle of Wight and the Isles of Scilly.

This is a massive blow to pubs, many of whom will not be able to viably open unless they're in Tier 1 (and even then, 'viably' is questionable).

Is that substantial enough?

Wet-led pubs are often key to their local communities; social hubs helping the well-being of those suffering with the isolation of lock-down.

There's a big difference between these community pubs and the city centre bars that the media head to when they want footage of people being irresponsible.

Back in September, Nick Forbes, leader of Newcastle City Council - an area particularly hard-hit at the time, stated that "The evidence we've found from local testing is that it's spreading in three main areas - in pubs, in people's homes and in grassroots sports".

Not garden centres and yoga classes. 
Not artisan coffee shops and dogging.

Nope - grassroots sports and pubs were to blame.

The spread in people's homes appears to be universally agreed upon.  Sports - grassroots and professional - have been given a reprieve.
But pubs have seen a tightening of restrictions.

Pubs have consistently been the scapegoats throughout this pandemic. "The evidence" has been repeatedly asked for and never provided by the powers-that-be.

Yet from the 24th September we endured tighter rules: the much derided 10pm curfew, table service and mandatory mask-wearing when not seated.
My initial reaction was that I no longer wanted to visit the pub with these new restrictions. 
But two days later I was in the Kings Head in Bledington.  Seems we adapt pretty quickly, especially when we want a pint.

Signs, signs, everywhere there's signs...

But the latest restrictions of Tier 2 and 3 throughout the country make me worry just how much use I'll get out of my 2021 Good Beer Guide.
I can only hope that great pubs, who've put so much effort and money into making premises safe, are able to survive through this rotten winter.

I can't help but conclude that our politicians don't understand or care about the nation's pubs.
We keep on hearing how important Christmas is, with all the stops being pulled out to 'save it'.
But y'know what?  For me, a pint of Plum Porter and a chat in the Royal Blenheim are way more important than any overblown commercial holiday.   

I really hope infection figures lead to a loosening of these restrictions, and some relief for publicans and brewers and everyone associated with the industry.

I want to blog about pub crawls, not pub closures! 

Bath Pub Explorations

Wednesday 4th November - the countdown had started to pub door closure at 10pm, with 'Lockdown 2' about to kick-in.  
Wanting to make the most of the day, I set off into Somerset to visit the city of Bath.

With all it's wonderful architecture and the golden Bath stone looking glorious in the sunshine, you may ask why I started the day in a dull modern leisure complex.
£3.98 for breakfast and a pint...that's why.

The King of Wessex (5-10 James Street West, Bath, BA1 2BX - web)
Yep, it's a pretty identikit modern Wetherspoons, in a complex that also includes an Odeon and Nandos.  But it's not quite as bad as suggested by Trip Advisor user Suejtay who proclaims "this has to be the worst weatherspoons (sic) ever".

Suejtay obviously hasn't been to Cowley.

The press widely reported on Spoons selling their beer at discounted prices to prevent having to pour stock down the drain come lock-down.
Most of the casks had been drunk dry already, but they still had a Box Steam 'Ghost Train' left, at a bargainous 99p a pint.
Add this to a Rishi discount for the breakfast and you had a happy pub ticker, early doors in The King of Wessex.

Spoons Brekkie

It was around a 10-minute walk into the centre, where my next pub of the day was tucked down an alleyway.  I'd read that the Couer de Lion was "probably the smallest pub in Bath, and always busy", so wanted to get there as soon as possible after the 11am opening time to ensure getting a table.

Coeur de Lion (17 Northumberland Place, Bath, BA1 5AR)
There were a fair few folk for such an early hour, but most of them had opted for the outdoor tables in front of the pub.  Good for getting a seat inside; bad for getting a picture of the wonderful stained glass window.
There was a choice of two Abbey Ales brews on the bar: 'Bath Best' or 'Bellringer'.
I grabbed a pint of the Best and settled on the red cushioned bench seating at the edge of the small charming bar.

Hotel California played quietly in the background, whilst the chap at the next table told the landlady "Howard's been barred from the Green Tree".
But he was very diplomatic when asked what for, answering intriguingly that he'd done "that thing again".   I shall never know what Howard did wrong.

Backtracking a short distance, it wasn't long at all before I was sitting inside another Beer Guide entrant...

The Salamander (3 John Street, Bath, BA1 3JL - web)

This is a lovely backstreet pub, a 1950's coffee house that became licensed in the 60's.
By far the friendliest staff of the day, without knocking those anywhere else.
From the couple of Bath Ales beers that were left I picked the 'Prophecy', light and easy-drinking and on great form.

I could have revisited the Raven, but the 30-second stumble down the road from the Salamander would have been far too easy.  I needed a bit of a stroll, so headed uphill, passing some of Bath's elegant architecture on my way to the Heritage-listed Star Inn.

The Star Inn (23 Vineyards, Bath, BA1 5NA - web)
Situated in a Georgian terrace, the Star first became licensed in the 1760's.  It was refurbished and extended in the 1920's and little has changed since then.
It's an absolute delight of small rooms, partitioned with wood panels and featuring basic bench seating around the sides and proper pub stools.
I sat in what's known as the Glass Room, a cosy spot with fireplace and fold-down shove-ha-penny board, settling down with a pint of Bass served straight from the barrel.

Another dose of fresh air and sunshine, as I made a 15-minute walk, crossing the Avon on my way to another of the cities Good Beer Guide entries.

The Pulteney Arms (37 Daniel Street, Bath, BA2 6ND - web)
It was fortunate that I didn't leave the Pultenay Arms 'til later, as I discovered they were about to close early for lock-down at 3pm. 
One customer left in a huff when he learned the Peroni was sold-out, not accepting that any other beers still available could match the Italian fizzy magic.
The lack of Peroni didn't put me off, I was quite content with my second Box Steam beer of the day.  'Soul Train' this time, supped in the corner, whilst the Righteous Brothers, Manfred Mann, and The 5th Dimension provided the soundtrack.

Walking back toward the centre along Argyle Street, I popped in to crafty Beercraft (3 Argyle Street, Bath, BA2 4BA - web) for a quick half of something hoppy and murky and to weight the backpack down with a couple of bottles of beer and Somerset cider.

I take this picture every time I visit Bath...

Five venues in, and with a plan for a last blast before closing-time at the Royal Blenheim back in Oxford, it would've probably been best to call it a day in Bath.
But I had one last stroll through the quiet touristic historic streets around the Abbey and Roman bath houses, stumbling across the Crystal Palace pub by accident.

Well, it's another 2021 Beer Guide tick, so why not?...

Crystal Palace (10-11 Abbey Green, Bath, BA1 1NW - web)

Possibly named to commemorate Bath City's 1931 FA Cup victory over Crystal Palace.
Possibly not.
A Fullers house, this is in a charming location on a leafy square.  The interior is smart and modern, obviously a popular spot for a pub lunch and bottle of Chardonnay.
I seem to have had a lot of 'London Pride' this summer, and that was the only ale on offer here.  But it was a decent pint and just £2 as they tried to clear their stock before closing for the month at 10pm.

What a wonderful trip to Bath - looking unbeatable in the Autumnal sunshine.
What a shame that I can only browse wistfully through the new Good Beer Guide, planning where to go next, whilst stuck at home during next month of lock-down.

Windsor Pub Explorations

Swans.  That's what I'm going for to catch the eye at the top of the blog post covering a late-October trip to Windsor.
Pub cats are always best, but I've seen few in the past months and pub dogs have been elusive and camera-shy.

It was May 2019 that I was last in Windsor. 
This time around I had a couple of different pubs to tick off, as well as walking around the streets of the regal town in the Autumnal sunshine.

The first stop of the day, after a stroll along the riverside, was the local brewery taproom.
Yep, decent swan picture, lacklustre brewery picture...

Windsor & Eton Brewery Taproom (1 Vansittart Estate, Duke Street, SL4 1SE - web)
Visit on the weekend and you can grab a table among'st the brewery kit.  But as we called in on a midweek lunchtime the brewery was in full work-place action and taproom visitors are consigned to four tables to one side of the shop.
So, okay, not the most atmospheric place to drink, but there's no denying that the 'Knight of the Garter' was in as good a condition as you'd expect a few meters away from where it's brewed.

Making my bag a little heavier with a few bottles of 'Scumbag Maggot', we left Windsor and Eton Brewery and walked through the side streets back toward the centre.

Mrs PropUptheBar has developed an uncanny knack of finding craft beer emporiums wherever we go.
I would have walked straight past the blackboard advertising A Hoppy Place, but she spotted it at a distance and demanded a diversion from itinerary to drink something stupidly strong.

A Hoppy Place (11 St Leonard's Road, Windsor, SL4 3BN - web)
This is located in a narrow shop unit, with fridges along one side, bar at the back and a handful of tables down the middle.
I've always found it a little odd drinking in a shop - never a substitute for a great pub - although this delivered an impressive choice of beer and cider, with friendly and enthusiastic staff.

It may have been far too early in the day, but I inevitably picked the strongest beer on offer - a Neptune Brewery 'Triptych BBA Wild Turkey' stout.  Great stuff.

Not the prettiest - but they'll do you a same day beer delivery.

Walking around Windsor I'd pointed out a number of lovely looking pubs to Mrs PropUptheBar including the floral displays on the frontage of the Two Brewers by the south gates of the castle. 
And then I took her to the thoroughly dull modern concrete building that houses Acre... 

Not the prettiest, but handy for the bus stop.

The Acre (Donnelly House, Victoria Street, Windosr, SL4 1EN - web)
This was formerly the Liberal Club, and whilst it still incorporates this, it's now open to the public.
It was Happy Hour, with pints of Windsor & Eton 'Conqueror' coming in at a wallet-friendly £2.00.  Which was nice.
But the handful of happy hour punters sat facing a giant screen showing the 24-hour news channel.  C'mon, there must be some sport on somewhere.  Or 'Nightmare Neighbours Next Door'.  If anything is going to thoroughly dampen happy hour it's sipping your £2 pint in front of the news in 2020. 

Pub Life in the Acre.

Just a little way up the road, I made a re-visit to the Corner House (22 Sheet Street, Windsor, SL4 1BG).  This is a great pub with an extensive choice of cask and keg beers, as well as giving us the chance to order some lunch to fuel us for the rest of the day.

That'd be the bar, at the Corner House.

Last time I was in Windsor, I described "chaotically crowded pavements".
Couldn't really be much different today...

Queen Victoria enjoys the peace & quiet. 

The final pub of the day involved a fair walk away from Windsor, as we planned to tick off a nearby Berkshire GBG entry.
This involved crossing into Eton, then following the Thames Path, before branching off to Eton Wick.  It was further than it looked...it always is.

A walk of two halves, this wasn't a route I'd describe as pretty once we crossed the motorway into the extended developments of commuter-belt housing that makes up 'greater' Slough.
Just past the village green, we spotted the Barleycorn pub, with another, The Kings Head, almost next door.

The Barleycorn (151 Lower Cippenham Lane, Chippenham, SL1 5DS - web)
This is an unspoilt drinkers pub, with tatty furniture and a general feel that nothing much has changed in the past 30-years.
The beer guide advertises 7 beers usually available but, as is the norm in Covid-ridden 2020, this was reduced to just a couple on our visit.  I ordered an enjoyable pint of Loddon 'Ferryman's Gold' and sat to the side by the pool table, where nothing happened at all during our visit. 
That's shoddy pub blogging, isn't it?

My 2021 Good Beer Guide popped through the letterbox a couple of days after making this trip.  A fashionable late delivery to OX4.
A Hoppy Place makes it's debut appearance, but I'd missed the opportunity to visit new entries The Windsor Trooper and The Swan at Clewer Village.
So that'll be next year's trip to Windsor, when it remains to be seen if the camera-toting tourists have returned to the streets in front of the castle.

Halloween Post - The Ostrich, Colnbrook

Getting into the spirit of Halloween, I figured I'd feature a pub that's purported to be one of the most haunted of the country.  

Some would say that tackling Slough and calling in to their Wetherspoon's is scary enough by itself.

After a pint in Spoons, I caught bus 81 for the 3-mile ride to Colnbrook.  This is a village, of a sort, with some 6,500 residents, but in reality it's been swallowed up by the urban expansion of Slough.  Seventeen miles from London, Colnbrook was once a stopping point on the coaching route from the capital to Bath, and it's to an historic coaching inn that I was headed.

Ostrich Inn (High Street, Colnbrook, SL3 0JZ - web) 
The Ostrich tends not to get mentioned in lists of oldest pubs, but it's said to date back to 1106, with the current, picturesque, timber-framed building being constructed in the 16th century.  

More attention is directed to the supposed gruesome past.
T'was a time when a fellow named Jarman was landlord of the pub and, along with his wife, came up with a wicked scheme to supplement their inn-keeping income.

Should a particularly wealthy traveler stay, they'd ply him with food and strong liqueur, before allocating the Blue Room.  Here the four poster bed was adapted so as to tip the unwitting comatose inhabitant through a trapdoor into a pot of boiling liquid, killing them instantly.  The Jarmans would nab all the valuables and dispose of the body in the nearby brook.

There are a couple of accounts of how the nefarious inn-keepers came to be caught.  One claims a victim hopped out of bed to use the chamber pot and, whilst doing so, was alarmed to see the bed tip-up. His shouts alerted fellow guests to the murderous scheme. 
Alternatively, the alarm was raised when a visitor called Cole was reported missing, having last been seen at the inn, leading searchers to discover his body in the local brook.
Bang-to-rights, Jarman was said to have boasting of killing 60 persons at the inn before he was hung.

The murders feature in a 16th century novel 'Thomas of Reading' by Thomas Deloney.
As the book appears to be fictional, it kinda suggests the story has created the legend around the pub and may not be entirely true.
I'd put in my own two-penneth-worth, by suggesting there would be much less troublesome ways of murdering your guests than undertaking the tricky carpentry work to create a tipping bed mechanism.

It's pretty much obligatory to have a ghost if you're one of the countries oldest pubs, let alone if there are such grisly tales attached to the premises.
Hence staff have told tales about feeling a presence in the cellar, a ghostly Victorian woman has been sighted, and one landlord recounted how "Strange noises, ghostly figures and objects moving by themselves are all in a days work if you re employed at the Ostrich Inn".

Decidedly un-spooky dining room.

I discovered an annual list of the UK's top 100 haunted places. 
The Ostrich Inn was No.66 in 2019, but has slipped down to No.80 in 2020. 
Who would have guessed there was such a ranking system, let alone the competitiveness between the spirits to maintain their annual place!

Other than the wineglasses and serviettes of the dining room pictured above, there is a outdoor patio to the rear and some casual tables around the bar, on which I plonked myself.

Appropriately for an old pub, beers came from Britain's oldest brewer, in the form of Shepherd Neame 'Spitfire' or 'Bishops Finger'.
With the sun shining through the windows, there was no sign of the ghost of the devilish Jarmon or his victims, leaving me to relax and enjoy a reasonable pint.

At the end of day, I do love an historic pub.  The more I read about the ghostly elements and tales attached to the Ostrich Inn, the more skeptical I became.  But these great old buildings and stories surrounding them (true or not) are one of the elements that make pubs great.