No Propping Up the Bar - please remain in the vicinity of your table.

Back in the pub!
If my counting's right (and I wouldn't bet on that) pubs have been closed for 105 days.  
It's a whopping 16 weeks since I wobbled out of the The Plough in West Hanney, the last pub I visited before lock-down.

For investigative purposes - and definitely not because we were chafing at the bit, desperately eager to get to the bar - we set out on 'Super Saturday' to see what was going on along Oxford's Cowley Road.

First stop was The Library (182 Cowley Road, OX4 1UE).
A quick glace at TripAdvisor sees reviews for the Library headed "Hipster Paradise" and "Too Much Riff-Raff". 
I certainly veer into the riff-raff category rather than hipster, particularly with my uncontrolled four-month mop of hair.
But, dodgy barnet and all, we were given a warm welcome.

The 'new norm', for the time being, is being met on the way in, shown to your table, where drinks orders are taken and the contactless card machine is delivered for payment.

All a bit different to the last time I was in here, squeezing through to the bar, then taking my pint into a crowded basement where we were watching local bands.

The Library  just has the one handpump for cask ale, but it's generally a reliable local beer - on this visit a Loose Cannon 'Abingdon Bridge'.

So, where to next?

The original plan, before we were waylaid by the Library, was to visit The Star on Rectory Road.  A pub that doesn't do food and has a decent sized garden seemed a good bet.

 

More of the same here: meet and greet on the way in, slips of paper on which to provide your contact details, some arrows on the floor to show us the way through the pub, and service at the table.

We opted for a bench out in the back garden and ordered a couple of lovely pints of XT '3'.

There were plans mooted to open pub gardens back in June, whilst keeping indoor spaces closed, but we were about to experience the downfall of that idea - the British weather.

Pub garden life.  Was that a spot of rain?

We moved to a table indoors, which was quiet, with sitting in the garden definitely the appeal for many on this first day of re-opening.  Out in the garden you can kinda pretend that nothing has changed, but indoors the out of action pool tables, socially distanced seating and the perspex screens shielding the bar are a reminder that these are no longer the care-free heady days of February.

Propping Up the Bar no longer allowed.  I need a new blog title.

Then it all went a little bit wrong. 

We called into the St James Tavern and managed to get a table, but were beaten by technology.  Ordering was by scanning a QR code on the table but with the pub wi-fi working at a snails pace, the app to order was only 6% downloaded after 5 minutes. 

Was this really all worth it for a pint of Timothy Taylor Landlord?

No.

So instead we headed right to the top of Cowley Road with the view to visit Cowley's Wetherspoons, The William Morris (59a Between Towns Road, OX4 3LR). 

Wetherspoons have some amazing and lovely buildings throughout the country.
This isn't one of them.

The system was a little different here - we were able to pick the table of our choice, there was no requirement to use the App, and bar visits permitted.
But I can't say I was thrilled when I got there to be faced with the choice of Abbot Ale or Doom Bar...

As with many of the chain pubs, this is big enough for social distancing to work without much having to change.
There were a lot of tables of folks who looked like they'd really missed this.  And security having to intervene when a fella starting hurling wheelie bins across the street outside, having lost all his money in the games machine.  He could probably have done with the pub being shut a bit longer.

It's all a bit odd, but it's great to see pubs open again.  Fingers crossed that punters will be sensible, doom-mongering predictions of second waves won't come to fruition, the pubs will be able to start turning a profit, and I'll have something more enticing to pick than Abbot or Doom Bar next time round.

Support your local & take care.