16. A couple of early autumnal ales in Eynsham, Saturday 28th September 2002

With the nights closing in, but the sun still remaining out, David Wacey and I decided that a few early autumnal ales were still on the cards before a meeting in the pub in the evening with Clare, Emma, Rose and Giles. Meeting at 12.30 at the Department of Earth Sciences, we resolved to cycle across Port Meadow to our first port of call, the Perch at Binsey which, in all my 10 years here, I had never been to. It was not a bad pub, and had a splendid beer garden containing punters lapping up the late summer sun. However, the bar was particularly slow with lots of people trying to pay for fodder with Switch and we had to wait for a couple of halves of Adnams [London Pride and Old Speckled hen also on offer]. After consuming these ales and gently cycling down Binsey Lane, the next stop was the Fishes at North Hinkey which is also a good pub, and, happily for one that's owned by Morrells, allowed us to choose Ruddles in favour of ubiquitous Greene King IPA. Again we had a good seat in the beer garden which had two Aunt Sally pitches, though it did also have a kids' playground.

After using pliers to adjust my errant fly, we cycled out of town, pausing at the Seacourt Bridge in Botley. This is a locals’ boozer which has a feel of the East End about it as testified by a gruff man who served us heady halves of Banks Bitter [should have had the IPA]. It was also noted that The Whole of the Moon by the Waterboys was playing on the jukebox. With little else to redeem itself, we set off on the 3 or so miles to Eynsham, reliving a journey that we had made exactly one year before. This time, just over the pointless toll bridge, we found the Talbot at Swinford was open, so we elected to go in. We were certainly not disappointed as the Arkells Kingsdown [malty] and Summer Ale [hoppy] were excellent. Added to this was a cosy seat inside which would have been good in the Winter, and the gents toilets not only dispensed air freshener upon entrance to the generously sized cubicle, but there were also some excellent risque pictures of ladies on the walls.

Refreshed, we pushed on into Eynsham to the Red Lion where we were served mediocre IPA by a moody girl. Eynsham's inbred population also seemed to be having some sort of convention there. 50 yards up the road was the Jolly Sportsman which despite its name is not a gay pub. Some rustics drinking keg ales were apparent since there were no hand-pulled beers.

The barmaid at the Swan Hotel was much nicer, and the Courage beer was better too, though there was evidence that other beers had been on of greater note [one from a brewery in Wem]. Some elderly pickled onions bobbed around in a jar at us behind the bar. Excellent bar snacks such as pickled eggs and pork scratchings redeemed the otherwise dire Star which appeared to have no seats and lots of pissed locals. Another welcome surprise was the appearance of Wychwood Hobgoblin on draught and the news that Spurs had lost. The toilets were appalling. Leaving the milling hoards, Dave and I cycled to the main road for a swift half at the Evenlode Hotel. It's a nice clean bar and its 6X and Flower's IPA are well kept and cheap, but I've no idea why anyone would go there apart from dining purposes.

Heading rapidly out of Eynsham, I espied the Queen's Head down a side street so we did an emergency stop and dived down to sample it. The surroundings were most cosy, ideal for getting shitfaced in one evening, but the beer was restricted to Green King IPA though there was evidence that Bombardier was available. Much railway memorabilia adorned the walls. As the light was beginning to fail, we made haste to the White Hart at Wytham via a lengthy though pleasant cycle along the Thames.

As we approached the White Hart, I saw from a distance that the sign no longer had a picture on it which was a bad omen - it has now been transformed into a very expensive foody place, probably quite nice if you like that sort of thing, but has lost many of its ales doing only Hook Norton and Staropramen. Leaving quickly, we then stopped in Wolvercote at the Plough which is another foody pub and was heaving. Fortunately since its make over, there are now separate bars for food and beer so we didn't wait as long for our Bass as we might have done. Electing to stop at the chippy in Wolvercote, we weighed up our options and decided that there was time for one more before meeting up with Rose, Giles, Emma, Clare and now Sharon at Worcester college bar. Shunning Lower Wolvercote's two village centre pubs, we paused at the Plough in Upper Wolvercote for couple of halves of Bombardier [I think Green King offerings and/or possibly Pedigree were also on], whilst sitting in fine armchairs. However, I feel that this one is also quite foody too.

By this time we had to be at Worcester, so we skipped the Woodstock Arms and Anchor and instead consumed poor Guinness and Tetleys at Worcester, watched over by miserable Marion who wanted us to go in the corner as more important conference guests were due. They eventually turned up in the guise of thirty-somethings in suits, and proceeded to act like wankers around the table football table, so we left to go to Raoul's. Now this is not a pub and there is no beer and it was full up. It may, just may, be OK if there are less people in there any you wanted to drink expensive cocktailed in the company of trendy people. A slightly rushed end to the proceedings, but I feel that there is one more cycle crawl left before the clocks change and winter sets in ...

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Dan Lovegrove
dan@doctor-lovegrove.com

Last updated 1st October 2002.