Cowley Road
The Big Society (95 Cowley Road, OX4 1HR - web)
🍴 Food served 🔆 Outdoor seating
Once a traditional Morrell's pub called the Elm Tree, now it's more of a bar/social club, popular with students. Table tennis provides an usual pub game in the space to the left of the bar. There is also table football, DJs at certain times and a menu of reasonably priced comfort food.
The real ales disappeared some time ago. You've now got a choice of around 5 draft lines including German lager and pale ales from the likes of Meantime and Siren. For some inexplicable reason, they insist on serving the beer in chilled glasses, even in the middle of winter.
The Black Swan (Crown Street, OX4 1QG)
Greene King
⚽ Sports on TV 🎸 Live Music 🔆 Outdoor seating
Lively back street pub with a loyal local following. No real ale available here. Giant speakers which surely rival those of the nearby Academy music venue - a friend who lived close by confirmed that they could indeed make a hell of a racket, one way or another, in the Black Swan.
Brewdog Oxford (118 Cowley Road, OX4 1HU - web)
🍴 Food served 🔆 Outdoor seating
Oxford's branch of Brewdog opened back in 2017, although it's relatively small 'n' basic compared to many of their other sites.
There's a bit of booth seating, lots of high stools and tables, plus an outdoor terrace on which to watch the madness of Cowley Road pass by.
All the usual Brewdog touches: industrial decor, neon lighting, beers advertised on a lit board above the bar and a decent rock soundtrack.
With Oxford being rather lacking on the craft beer front, this is your best bet for something off-the-wall and stupidly strong.
The City Arms (288 Cowley Road, OX4 1UR - web)
Stonegate
🍴 Food served ⚽ Sports on TV
🎱 Pool Table 🔆 Outdoor seating
St Clements
A compact area with five pubs, plus some nice cafes and eateries, just across Magdalen Bridge, a few minutes walk from the end of the High Street.
The William Morris
(Between Towns Road, OX4 3LR- web)
Wetherspoons
🍴 Food served all day, including breakfasts
Not the prettiest of buildings that Wetherspoons are located in.
The front section of the Cowley Spoons is brightened by the large window, but the rear section is grimly dull and dismal. There's a short staircase leading you from the back into the shopping centre.
You will of course find all your favourites on the good value food menu, as well as plenty of drinks deals. I've always found the choice of ales here a little underwhelming - there doesn't seem to be that much call for guest beers from the Cowley regulars.
Once a traditional Morrell's pub called the Elm Tree, now it's more of a bar/social club, popular with students. Table tennis provides an usual pub game in the space to the left of the bar. There is also table football, DJs at certain times and a menu of reasonably priced comfort food.
The real ales disappeared some time ago. You've now got a choice of around 5 draft lines including German lager and pale ales from the likes of Meantime and Siren. For some inexplicable reason, they insist on serving the beer in chilled glasses, even in the middle of winter.
The Black Swan (Crown Street, OX4 1QG)
Greene King
⚽ Sports on TV 🎸 Live Music 🔆 Outdoor seating
Lively back street pub with a loyal local following. No real ale available here. Giant speakers which surely rival those of the nearby Academy music venue - a friend who lived close by confirmed that they could indeed make a hell of a racket, one way or another, in the Black Swan.
Brewdog Oxford (118 Cowley Road, OX4 1HU - web)
🍴 Food served 🔆 Outdoor seating
Oxford's branch of Brewdog opened back in 2017, although it's relatively small 'n' basic compared to many of their other sites.
There's a bit of booth seating, lots of high stools and tables, plus an outdoor terrace on which to watch the madness of Cowley Road pass by.
All the usual Brewdog touches: industrial decor, neon lighting, beers advertised on a lit board above the bar and a decent rock soundtrack.
With Oxford being rather lacking on the craft beer front, this is your best bet for something off-the-wall and stupidly strong.
The City Arms (288 Cowley Road, OX4 1UR - web)
Stonegate
🍴 Food served ⚽ Sports on TV
🎱 Pool Table 🔆 Outdoor seating
The City Arms has had one of its summer refurbishments in 2024, ready for the new intake of students to discover it in the autumn.
It seems to have been smartened up a fair bit and feels less like the grungy pub it once was. The prices sure aren't about to help conquer the student debt either.
TV screens are situated throughout, including in the outdoor seating area, making this a good option for catching big sporting fixtures. The real ale hand pumps are gone. The best options on our last visit were several session strength 'craft' beers from Siren, Beavertown, and Northern Monk.
The Cowley Retreat (Cowley Road, OX4 1UE - web)
Punch Taverns
🍴 Food served 🔆 Outdoor seating
A typical modern pub refurbishment - spacious with a variety of different furniture although for me it fails to achieve the 'homely' feel that they boast on their website.
The outdoor terrace to the rear is a big draw - decking with plenty of wooden benches and trellises above for climbing plants to grow on, which is undoubtedly a winner in warm weather.
You'll probably find a Doom Bar on the hand pumps here, along with Purity Ubu and some kegs that claim to be craft. They are promising to work with the local breweries and micro's, so I do need to call back in and see what's on.
James Street Tavern
(47-48 James Street, OX4 1EU)
Greene King
🍴 Food served (French orientated street-food)
It seems to have been smartened up a fair bit and feels less like the grungy pub it once was. The prices sure aren't about to help conquer the student debt either.
TV screens are situated throughout, including in the outdoor seating area, making this a good option for catching big sporting fixtures. The real ale hand pumps are gone. The best options on our last visit were several session strength 'craft' beers from Siren, Beavertown, and Northern Monk.
Punch Taverns
🍴 Food served 🔆 Outdoor seating
A typical modern pub refurbishment - spacious with a variety of different furniture although for me it fails to achieve the 'homely' feel that they boast on their website.
The outdoor terrace to the rear is a big draw - decking with plenty of wooden benches and trellises above for climbing plants to grow on, which is undoubtedly a winner in warm weather.
You'll probably find a Doom Bar on the hand pumps here, along with Purity Ubu and some kegs that claim to be craft. They are promising to work with the local breweries and micro's, so I do need to call back in and see what's on.
James Street Tavern(47-48 James Street, OX4 1EU)
Greene King
🍴 Food served (French orientated street-food)
🔆 Outdoor seating
The Library
182 Crown Street, OX4 1UE - web
Free House
🕒 Check opening hours - generally opens late afternoon onward
🍴 Food served (limited times) 🔆 Outdoor seating
There's something that I quite like about the Library. From outside it's unassuming, looking more like a terraced house than pub. There's a basement bar where live music events take place and the audience are right on top of the bands in an intimate space.
The front bar has a handful of high tables and stools to perch on, further tables are in a rather dull extension before you reach the concrete yard with covered and heated benches.
There is just one real ale hand-pump, but the beer on this is constantly changing and usually features small local breweries. This is supplemented by craft keg and a range of bottles in the fridge.
The Star
21 Rectory Road, OX4 1BU
Free House
🕒 Check opening times - generally opens at 2pm or 4pm dependent on day of week
🔆 Garden
A cracking traditional boozer that hasn't been modernised and tinkered with in the way that most in nearby Cowley Road have. It's a bit battered around the edges, but that adds to the charm, with a soundtrack of indie tunes, three regularly changing real ales, some decent craft keg picks, plus bottles in the fridge. My 2024 pick of the pubs in East Oxford.
Out back is a lovely peaceful (depending on your fellow pub-goers!) leafy beer garden.
Although they don't serve food, I'm informed that you can bring your own.
Situated in a side street just off Cowley Road, the James St Tavern underwent a refurbishment in the Spring of 2019.
Prior to this it had a rather ramshackle feel to it.
Now you'll find polished wooden floors, neat furniture, a bit of neon signage and a smart modern decor.
Prior to this it had a rather ramshackle feel to it.
Now you'll find polished wooden floors, neat furniture, a bit of neon signage and a smart modern decor.
To the rear there is plenty of outdoor seating, with lots of this being sheltered.
The menu serves up French Street Food, which is something a little different. There used to be a number of hand pumps on the bar here, but this has been reduced to 2, serving 1 beer (Black Sheep Best Bitter) on my visits.
The Library
182 Crown Street, OX4 1UE - web
Free House
🕒 Check opening hours - generally opens late afternoon onward
🍴 Food served (limited times) 🔆 Outdoor seating
There's something that I quite like about the Library. From outside it's unassuming, looking more like a terraced house than pub. There's a basement bar where live music events take place and the audience are right on top of the bands in an intimate space.
The front bar has a handful of high tables and stools to perch on, further tables are in a rather dull extension before you reach the concrete yard with covered and heated benches.
There is just one real ale hand-pump, but the beer on this is constantly changing and usually features small local breweries. This is supplemented by craft keg and a range of bottles in the fridge.
The Star21 Rectory Road, OX4 1BU
Free House
🕒 Check opening times - generally opens at 2pm or 4pm dependent on day of week
🔆 Garden
A cracking traditional boozer that hasn't been modernised and tinkered with in the way that most in nearby Cowley Road have. It's a bit battered around the edges, but that adds to the charm, with a soundtrack of indie tunes, three regularly changing real ales, some decent craft keg picks, plus bottles in the fridge. My 2024 pick of the pubs in East Oxford.
Out back is a lovely peaceful (depending on your fellow pub-goers!) leafy beer garden.
Although they don't serve food, I'm informed that you can bring your own.
St Clements
A compact area with five pubs, plus some nice cafes and eateries, just across Magdalen Bridge, a few minutes walk from the end of the High Street.
Angel & Greyhound (30 St Clements, OX4 1AB - web)
Youngs
🍴 Food served, service times vary 🔆 Outdoor seating
Well worth a visit if in the area, this pub is named after the nearby meadow alongside the River Cherwell. It has just the one room with a raised seating area to the right and the bar to the left. Tables out the front allow for watching the coaches pass along the busy stretch of road, or there is a preferable quieter garden at the back.
2024 changes are afoot, with the Morgan Pub Group (who run The Grapes in the city centre) set to take over from Youngs.
🍴 Food served all day
🎸 Live Music
Straddling the junction between Cowley Road and Iffley Road on the Plain, you'd be hard-pushed not to notice this pub. Probably even more so when it was painted yellow and turned into the awful Edvard Munch 'The Scream' theme back in the noughties. It's also been a Hobgoblin, as well as hosting The Point club in it's upper rooms where Coldplay and The Strokes once graced the stage. It got a face-lift in 2016, with typical modern, stylish pub interior design. The beer range can sometimes offer up something a little different for the area.
The Half Moon (17-18 St Clements, OX4 1AB)
Greene King
🕒 Limited opening hours
🎸 Live Music
A trad two room boozer, which hosts popular live music nights and opens late into the evening.
It's undergone a refurbishment in May 2019, since which I'm yet to revisit.
I'm making the assumption that this hasn't been smartened too much as the back-to-basics simplicity of the place is what gave it it's charm.
The Old Black Horse (102 St Clements, OX4 1AR)
Free House
⚽ Sports on TV 🔆 Outdoor seating
Looks appealing from the outside with its Tudor-beamed frontage and leafy front garden. Inside though it is pretty small and modernised - a locals bar with no real ales on offer.
Port Mahon (82 St Clements, OX4 1AW - web)
Greene King
🕒 Restricted opening hours on weekdays
🍴 Food served 🔆 Outdoor seating
An interesting pub - the oldest main part is located six steps above street level, as though it's the only building along St Clements that prepared for the River Cherwell bursting its banks. The extension at the side is back down at street level though, so you climb the steps to the front door then descend a staircase to get to the side room. The bar serves both areas with the staff having to navigate steps between them also.
Youngs
🍴 Food served, service times vary 🔆 Outdoor seating
Well worth a visit if in the area, this pub is named after the nearby meadow alongside the River Cherwell. It has just the one room with a raised seating area to the right and the bar to the left. Tables out the front allow for watching the coaches pass along the busy stretch of road, or there is a preferable quieter garden at the back.
2024 changes are afoot, with the Morgan Pub Group (who run The Grapes in the city centre) set to take over from Youngs.
🍴 Food served all day
🎸 Live Music
Straddling the junction between Cowley Road and Iffley Road on the Plain, you'd be hard-pushed not to notice this pub. Probably even more so when it was painted yellow and turned into the awful Edvard Munch 'The Scream' theme back in the noughties. It's also been a Hobgoblin, as well as hosting The Point club in it's upper rooms where Coldplay and The Strokes once graced the stage. It got a face-lift in 2016, with typical modern, stylish pub interior design. The beer range can sometimes offer up something a little different for the area.
The Half Moon (17-18 St Clements, OX4 1AB)
Greene King
🕒 Limited opening hours
🎸 Live Music
A trad two room boozer, which hosts popular live music nights and opens late into the evening.
It's undergone a refurbishment in May 2019, since which I'm yet to revisit.
I'm making the assumption that this hasn't been smartened too much as the back-to-basics simplicity of the place is what gave it it's charm.
The Old Black Horse (102 St Clements, OX4 1AR)
Free House
⚽ Sports on TV 🔆 Outdoor seating
Looks appealing from the outside with its Tudor-beamed frontage and leafy front garden. Inside though it is pretty small and modernised - a locals bar with no real ales on offer.
Port Mahon (82 St Clements, OX4 1AW - web)
Greene King
🕒 Restricted opening hours on weekdays
🍴 Food served 🔆 Outdoor seating
An interesting pub - the oldest main part is located six steps above street level, as though it's the only building along St Clements that prepared for the River Cherwell bursting its banks. The extension at the side is back down at street level though, so you climb the steps to the front door then descend a staircase to get to the side room. The bar serves both areas with the staff having to navigate steps between them also.
And further toward to the SE outskirts of Oxford......
The Cricketers Arms (102 Temple Road, OX4 2EZ)
Greene King
🍴 Food served 🔆 Garden
Tucked slightly into the Temple Cowley backstreets this is a locals pub with the standard Greene King beer choice. It's a classic post-war pub design, with a bar at the front and lounge to the side - a very similar lay-out to the nearby Prince of Wales and Jolly Postboys.
It has a good local following, with sports on the TV at the front and a good garden to the rear.
The Longwall (Garsington Road, OX4 2JZ)
Beefeater
🍴 Food served
Temple Cowley
Greene King
🍴 Food served 🔆 Garden
Tucked slightly into the Temple Cowley backstreets this is a locals pub with the standard Greene King beer choice. It's a classic post-war pub design, with a bar at the front and lounge to the side - a very similar lay-out to the nearby Prince of Wales and Jolly Postboys.
It has a good local following, with sports on the TV at the front and a good garden to the rear.
The Longwall (Garsington Road, OX4 2JZ)
Beefeater
🍴 Food served
A purpose-built Beefeater pub attached to a hotel complex by the Oxford ring-road.
The Marsh Harrier (40 Marsh Road, OX4 2HH - web)
Fullers
🍴 Food served - pizzas and Sunday lunches a speciality 🔆 Garden
Fullers
🍴 Food served - pizzas and Sunday lunches a speciality 🔆 Garden
A pleasant and welcoming pub just off the far end of Cowley Road by the Cowley Marsh recreation ground.
The pub has a bar, large table and darts board at the front, with tables to the side stretching back to the garden entrance.
The food is popular here with fantastic pizzas as well as a varied selection of dishes on the menu. Fullers 'London Pride' is always available with a changing beer alongside.
The pub has a bar, large table and darts board at the front, with tables to the side stretching back to the garden entrance.
The food is popular here with fantastic pizzas as well as a varied selection of dishes on the menu. Fullers 'London Pride' is always available with a changing beer alongside.
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The Original Swan
188 Oxford Road, OX4 2LF
Arkells
🎱 Pool Table ⚽ Sports on TV
I long assumed that this large corner pub on the junction of Oxford Road and Between Towns Road was closed. The front door is unused and I believe that the large front bar is rarely in use. Entry is through a back door via the car park, which brings you to a lounge bar with TVs and a pool table in the centre of the room.
There's no real ale - Arkells bitter is dispensed on keg only.
188 Oxford Road, OX4 2LF
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| My keg bitter in the Original Swan |
🎱 Pool Table ⚽ Sports on TV
I long assumed that this large corner pub on the junction of Oxford Road and Between Towns Road was closed. The front door is unused and I believe that the large front bar is rarely in use. Entry is through a back door via the car park, which brings you to a lounge bar with TVs and a pool table in the centre of the room.
There's no real ale - Arkells bitter is dispensed on keg only.
The Prince of Wales
Horspath Road, OX4 2QW
Greene King
🍴 Food served 🎱 Pool Table ⚽ Sports on TV
Horspath Road, OX4 2QW
Greene King
🍴 Food served 🎱 Pool Table ⚽ Sports on TV
Very much a locals estate pub. It's a large building with a quiet lounge to the side and bar at the front behind the bay window.
On our visit there were a line of local punters, including the postman in his shorts, propping up the bar and working their way through pints of fizzy lager.
The real ale on offer is usually Greene King IPA, but on this visit it was a seasonal St Georges offering - which tasted exactly the same as GK IPA.
On our visit there were a line of local punters, including the postman in his shorts, propping up the bar and working their way through pints of fizzy lager.
The real ale on offer is usually Greene King IPA, but on this visit it was a seasonal St Georges offering - which tasted exactly the same as GK IPA.
The William Morris(Between Towns Road, OX4 3LR- web)
Wetherspoons
🍴 Food served all day, including breakfasts
Not the prettiest of buildings that Wetherspoons are located in.
The front section of the Cowley Spoons is brightened by the large window, but the rear section is grimly dull and dismal. There's a short staircase leading you from the back into the shopping centre.
You will of course find all your favourites on the good value food menu, as well as plenty of drinks deals. I've always found the choice of ales here a little underwhelming - there doesn't seem to be that much call for guest beers from the Cowley regulars.
Florence Park
The Jolly Postboys (22 Florence Park Road, OX4 3PH - web)
Greene King
🍴 Food served 🔆 Garden
A success story - it was touch and go for many a year as to whether the Postboys would stay open. But it has been given a new lease of life in 2017. Gone is the pool table and a couple of locals drinking Carling to be replaced by canteen-style tables, a menu of quality pub food, pastel shades of paintwork and a couple of guest ales on the bar.
Plus coffee and cakes on a cake-stand as the pub attempts to appeal to all.
Greene King
🍴 Food served 🔆 Garden
A success story - it was touch and go for many a year as to whether the Postboys would stay open. But it has been given a new lease of life in 2017. Gone is the pool table and a couple of locals drinking Carling to be replaced by canteen-style tables, a menu of quality pub food, pastel shades of paintwork and a couple of guest ales on the bar.
Plus coffee and cakes on a cake-stand as the pub attempts to appeal to all.
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Is their any cask Arkells in Oxford ? I'd have been tempted by a trip to sample it as Swindon is a bit thin for 3B.
ReplyDelete3B generally on cask in the Rusty Bicycle in East Oxford, just off the top of Cowley Road. Or the Rickety Press in Jericho. Not sure of the volumes of cask either of those get through.
DeleteDo let me know if you're down this way!