Still trying to leverage the year's tally of pubs upwards, Dave and I popped into Oxford one Wednesday evening in November to make this happen. In customary fashion I met Dave in the Lamb and Flag, where I had been told that that they had Vale Porter on. And an excellent pint this was. To make the evening complete we even managed to park ourselves in the 'Laughing Seat' that overlooks St Giles which added to the enjoyment of our excellent pints. The only seat in the pub that is more sought after is the table near the bar in s shallow bay that overlooks the Lamb and Flag Passage. More often than not, someone is in this bit.

Moving on, we decided to go to Copa and even sample some continental beer. Dave had a Leffe Brun whilst I had a very nice half of De Koninck. I slag this place off, but on a quieter night such as this it's actually pretty good. Surprisingly we had not made a pilgrimage to the Gloucester Arms in 2006 but put this right on this occasion where we managed to get the entirety of the awkwardly sized room that is too big for one table but too small for two rows of tables at the side of the bar. The Glouc was its usual self with sets of headbangers minding their own business under the heavy metal poster bedecked ceiling and a general friendly atmosphere all round. Not many students either, certainly not obvious ones. The beer they keep is pretty good too, and I had a tasty Spitfire whilst Dave had a bargain pint of Tetleys at £1.80.

It was a European night though, now that the European Cup has lost some of its knock out rounds, not a 'Wonderful European Night' as Brian Moore used to say. Nonetheless, this still provided an excuse to pay a visit to the split level Eurobar where continental types would hang out swarthily. Stella have foisted an extended range on the UK and this gave us the opportunity to sample the dark and chewy and expensive Stella Bock in the pleasant surroundings. Reasonable but I am not clamouring for a return just yet. Near to the station is the White House which has undergone a minor rebranding of half of the premises to call itself the Red Room or something similar. We made sure that we stayed in the unchanged part (even the Gents toilet the resembles the bedroom of a teen age boy from the 80s is intact) to have a pretty good couple of halves of London Pride. The low tables are a bit of an irritation however.

The Kite across the way was the same as it has always been, a cosy local's pub with a bit of beer on, so we stayed for a whole pint of Greene King LBW, an excellent offering. Finally, a visit to a pub that we haven't been to much, the Honeypot. When we first visited a few years ago we were dismayed that it might have sold out and become a bit of a trendy young professionals' boozer. Not so! Although the trendiness remains, there is still room for life's simple pleasures and they do a very good bit of Timothy Taylor Landlord on draught. The clientele is not as poncey as it could have been either!