One of Dave's summer trips to the UK allowed an opportunity for some Friday pubs. After getting on the train from Banbury by seconds, a more gentle walk to the Bear followed. Dave's bus was late, it would have been quicker to walk down Cowley Road. There were also a lot of foreign tourist idiots around, so we made relatively quick work of our pints outside and headed to the Old Tom.

I always like this pub but never visit frequently, so I had never sat in the courtyard before. It is a nice courtyard, very little in the way of plants, and high walls. Some areas are out of bounds. As usual for this place it was quiet and the beer was good, if a little boring in choice. They seem to have developed quite a strong Thai theme here.

A pub that I have visited even less is the Head of the River. I never used to come here, it was either empty or full of idiots. This time it was actually something in between. We got some quite nice beers, walked through the cavernous interior and enjoyed them outside, standing up. Not really conducive to staying any longer, which we didn't. Not even a view of the river could keep us there.

A much nicer pub with much nicer beer, although no garden, is the Royal Blenheim. Decent selection of beer so we took a while to select then sat in one of their nice booths to enjoy our choices. I think I had some sort of stout. Also known for its very small gents' toilet. A pub that comes into its own in the winter.

Cutting past St Peter's College we went to Beaumont Street to see what was there. Eschewing the George Street Social, we tried the newly established Pint hHop which was quite a smart venue in a converted building society. Plush downstairs toilets and kitchen as I recall. And indeed I will only every have recollections of this place because it has now closed - this may be because people have voted with their feet following a less than clear pricing policy. Some drinks were stealthily served in 1/3 and 2/3 measures rather than the arguably more common half and full pint gradations, much to Dave's annoyance. Needless to say it was empty in there.

Decent beer at more sensible prices was, and still is, available at Beerd a few doors up which has now thankfully reverted to being called the Grapes, a triumph for common sense. Traditional and cosy wooden panelled interior, this has always been a favourite even though it has got more crafty recently. Nice pies too.

Final stop of the day was the Oxford Retreat, a bit of a walk but sensibly near to the station. They have a garden which I don't recall using before, and it's actually improved a lot since previous visits with the quite strangely shaped and levelled garden including riverside seating being a point of interest. Not a great deal of beer available but what they did have was decent and we enjoyed it, so much so that it was another mad dash to the train which I made by seconds, again.