80.
Saturday in Marston,
One of the key aims for 2005 is to make
sure that one's 'Bread and Butter' pubs get done. These are pubs that you feel
you can put off because they are quite nearby, then
come December, have run out of time to do. Dave and I thought that we should
get some of these done as an excuse to test out his new bike. Earlier in the
day, we had visited the Dew Drop Inn, Summertown for some ales
whilst watching the football. Although it's not a particularly nice pub, they
do keep their beer well and have a good selection, so it is always worth a
visit. In addition to the usual Courage Best, Pedigree and Adnams
(Broadside), they also had Timothy Taylor Landlord and Bishop's Finger, both of
which slipped down very well whilst hurling abuse at Cristiano
Ronaldo.
After getting the bikes fixed up that
afternoon, we decided that the Marston pubs would be
fun for a couple of hours. Cycling around the Marston
Ferry Road, our first stop was the Jack Russell, a slightly forbidding looking
building, which has been renovated a little since our last visit and has a nice
clean shiny wooden bar. Not much else has changed, and our beer selection was
limited to Greene King IPA or Morland Original, which
tasted OK but not great. The toilets, a wonderful quadrant of enamel trough,
also remain as they were - I expect that they are subject to a preservation
order or similar.
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A private party was underway at the
Somerset, so we had to sit in the library room. This is actually a very nice cosy place to be, with leather peripheral seating, and I
wouldn't mind spending some time in here. Adnam’s
Broadside and Banks Original were on draught, though the 9.1% Banks Barley Gold
(£1.72 per bottle) and Newcastle Brown (£2.20 per bottle) did tempt
me and represented a better deal than crap like bottled Bud. Just up the road,
the Friar is also a cosy pub with two rooms, though
there is poor circulation space around the bar. Some sort of loner was
occupying the area with the comfortable chairs, so we had to drink or 3B on
wooden chairs instead. Again, another good local pub for
chilling out in. The beer selection may be limited, but the bar snacks
are very good and, being Marston, there are chocolate
bars for sale.
It was time to go somewhere with a
distinct possibility of some rough chavs, so we
elected to have a swift half in the Cavalier on the Northway
estate. Unsurprisingly there is no beer, but there were some very
tattooed individuals enjoying some lager. The two keg beers were Tetleys and Brew XI. I wisely resisted calling it Brew 'xi'
as in the Greek letter in case people thought that we were smart arses. We went into the larger sports bar with two pool
tables, though it has to be noted that the smaller lounge bar has a completely
different atmosphere and one could reasonably enjoy a stay in there. Both populations
get to use the extremely large gents toilets pictured below, enough L-shaped trough for at least 8 blokes.
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Returning to more civilised drinking, and the deathly quiet Three Horseshoes
in Old Marston. It had probably been open for well over an hour, but I am sure that
we were the first people to venture in that evening. It is a very cosy pub, with comfortable seating around the edges and an
outside toilet. On another day they would have had the draught Robinson's
Bitter on, but we had to make do with keg 6X, which itself was actually very
good. I think that it is worth a revisit one day, though if its trade continues
to be that poor, its days might be numbered.
The Victoria Arms is popular with drinkers
who travel by punt, but the pub remains decent all year round and was playing
host to some quite refined middle-class drinkers when we paid a visit. They
have a variety of Wadworth’s products, which
are kept exceptionally well. For example the Bishops Tipple and Old Father
Timer were excellent and I am sure the Henrys IPA and 6X are equally as good.
There are enough old bastard chairs to keep anyone happy, though Dave and I
stayed at the bar as there was a very good barmaid on who was well dressed and
had good hair but didn't quite make the grade on account that she had a very
miserable expression the whole time we were there.
Three barmaids greeted us at the lively
Bricklayers Arms back in the centre of Old Marston, a
pub with distinct zones of pikeys and old people out
for beers. They also do some reasonable real ale in the form of London Pride
and Young's Bitter. Some local double act called 'Sunfly' were providing
the music which added to the atmosphere, though the lack of seats meant that we
were not keen to stay longer than absolutely necessary. Still, it's a decent
little pub.
Final pub of the day was on the way home,
the Red Lion in Marston. Because a party was going on
in one side of the bar, it was very busy, but this added to the atmosphere
which was very good natured and friendly. It is a traditional, local village
pub, with quite a bit of clutter around the place, though is nice and amenable
to settling in when less busy. They did a good pint of Morland Original too, and have a great selection of bar
snacks, and even preserve a little hatch for off-licence
sales. Also noticeable was a blonde barmaid with
pleasant demeanour which also provided a useful
incentive to stay. So much so, that we nearly forgot the time and only just got
back for Match of the Day!
Dan
Lovegrove
dan@doctor-lovegrove.com
Last updated 17th January 2005.