Oxford’s classy & classic drinking holes

Boasting the moniker the “City of Dreaming Spires”, Oxford is a lovely place to visit and wander around. You could spend days delving into its prestigious university colleges, chilling by its manicured lawns and roaming its rustic meadows sliced by rivers and streams. You will need to break for refreshments from time to time, however, and these spots, exuding history and yarns about esteemed (and raffish) former patrons, are well worth seeking out.

THE BEAR

Several pubs claim to be Oxford’s oldest, but The Bear has credentials to roar about, claiming to have existed in the city since AD1242. Its present home, a whitewashed building where Blue Boar Street meets Bear Lane and Alfred Street, was built in the early 1600s and once known as the Jolly Trooper.

Low ceilings and creaking floorboards characterise this welcoming establishment, but most noticeable are the cut-off ties. Look up and around at the 4500-strong collection, which has grown over the past century and contains ties from various Oxford colleges, schools and sports clubs.

A string of famous faces have frequented The Bear, including it’s said, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Rob Lowe drank here when it was a filming location in the 1984 comedy movie, Oxford Blues. You’ll find a good selection of ales from Fuller’s, the London-based brewer that now owns The Bear, and you can order traditional pub food here too. If it’s too cramped inside, there is a covered and heated beer garden outside.

TURF TAVERN

Another potential place for a bite with your pint is the Turf Tavern, which is tucked down a narrow alley near the Bridge of Sighs, one of Oxford’s most photogenic landmarks. Tall folk will have to crouch a little as they weave through the stone-walled front bar areas, but there are modern spaces out back where you can relax, sit down and dine, or stand up straight, including in the patio courtyard-beer garden, which edges a chunk of Oxford’s medieval city walls.

Records show this was a malthouse as early as the 1300s, but it was in the 20th century that The Turf really made a name for itself as a pub. Some of Oxford’s renowned former revellers are celebrated on signs and boards, including Bill Clinton, who apparently once smoked (but didn’t inhale) illegal substances here, and Bob Hawke, who, decades before becoming Australian prime minister, downed a yard (roughly 1.4 litres) of ale here in a then-world record time of 11 seconds.

You may prefer to nurse your drink, and there is a diverse array of gins, ciders and beers to order, plus T-shirts for sale, sporting the Turf’s slogan “an education in intoxication”.

LAMB & FLAG

A favourite former haunt of authors CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien when they studied and taught in Oxford, the Eagle & Child is another city institution. But, now under new management, plans are afoot to revamp this 17th century pub, so it may not be open when you’re in town. Instead, consider shuffling across the street to the Lamb & Flag, which is even older (run as a public house since the 1570s) and was itself refurbished during the pandemic.

It’s lost none of its bygone charm, boasting inviting lounges with decor from different eras, including a rear room with leather sofas and a stone fireplace with a log fire. Bookish vibes drift through this pub.

The Inklings — a literary discussion group that counted Lewis and Tolkien as members — gathered at the Lamb & Flag. Other notable novelists to drink here over the decades include Graham Greene, PD James and Colin Dexter, the mastermind of Inspector Morse, with the pub also appearing in episodes of the Morse and Endeavour TV series.

MORSE BAR

If you’re a fan of Morse, there’s only one place you should start (or finish) a bar crawl, however, and that’s the spot tucked inside The Randolph Hotel, opposite the Ashmolean Museum.

The Morse Bar is a veritable shrine to the fictional Oxford detective and his creator, both of whom were fond of hanging out here. Dexter, who died in 2017, conjured some of the plots in this bar, which has changed a little since featuring in episodes of Inspector Morse and looks super-swish after a 2021 modernisation.

Chandeliers hang from its green and white-painted vaulted ceiling, and on the wood-panelled walls there are sketches and photographs of John Thaw, who played Morse on screen from 1987 until 2000 (he died two years later). Morse was a fan of real ale and whisky, and you can enjoy varieties of both here, as well as cocktails, wine, coffee, tea and more.

THE HEAD OF THE RIVER

The aforementioned addresses are especially cosy and enticing in the cooler months, but if you’re in Oxford between late spring and early autumn, you may be tempted to while away a toasty afternoon or evening on the terraces of its riverside watering holes. One alluring option is The Head of the River, a pub that also has a restaurant and rooms overlooking the River Isis as it flows beneath the 200-year-old stone-built Folly Bridge.

As you drink, you may see ducks, swans and humans boating past. There’s a pontoon by this pub where you can hire rowing boats and punts. Across the road by the bridge, incidentally, is The Folly, which has a restaurant, plus dining pods by the river. A plaque from the Lewis Carroll Society states that, on July 4, 1862, the writer (real name: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) first told the story of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland on a boat trip that began here (he was accompanied by Alice Liddell, the daughter of a friend, and the inspiration for the girl in his story).

You can book a range of river sightseeing cruises here, including for afternoon tea and evening cocktails.

+ Steve McKenna was a guest of Visit Britain and Experience Oxfordshire. They have not influenced this story, or read it before publication.

fact file

+ Oxford is about an hour from London by rail, with regular services to and from Paddington and Marylebone stations. See nationalrail.co.uk for times and tickets

+ To help plan a trip to Oxford and Britain, see experienceoxfordshire.org and visitbritain.com