The invaluable opinion
of the Good Beer Guide (by now getting back into our
good graces):
"This is a quaint pub arrived at via narrow,
winding pathways (opposite Blackwell's music shop).
It dates back to the Thirteenth Century and is old
fashioned and poky inside. At its best on a hot summer's
day, there is a quaint beer garden outside which gets
very busy. The atmosphere is warm and lively, though
you may have to wait some time to get served. Flowers
Bitter, Boddingtons, Headbanger, London Pride, Old
Speckled Hen, and probably one or two guests plus
handpumped Weston's scrumpy cider, six fruit wines
and mead; mulled wine in winter."
A strong recommendation
is to go with some good friends, buy half a pint of
everything they have, then share the drinks all round.
In that way you can try a little bit of everything
without getting completely schnookered.
Just so you know: This
is a Hogshead pub!! A chain! And it is really, really
good.
I had considerable
difficulty getting a decent photograph of this pub,
since it is surrounded tightly on all sides by venerable
college buildings and parts of the old city walls.
While its foundations are Thirteenth Century, much
of the building itself was put up in the 1700s. However,
its qualification as an ancient pub is still intact,
as there has been a continuously licensed establishment
on this site for over five hundred years, regardless
of the walls and windows!
Not all the patrons
are in the pub for the beer and the company; several
are in here because The Turf has become a tourist
psuedo-attraction. I inquired as to the origin of
the unusual pub name, and found that it has some history
amongst the gambling and horseracing communities.
It used to have the much more appealing name of 'The
Old Spotted Cow'. Such a high price to pay for progress.
The Turf features
repeatedly in literature associated with Oxford, and
more recently has been seen on television in Inspector
Morse, a British detective series, no longer in production,
sadly. We did notice that there was no piped music
and no games machines. Out on the patio, they have
braziers to warm people in winter. (Or, as my sister
Victoria informed us, pricelessly, "And there
are brassiers outside to keep you warm!")
The KnoWhere Guide contributes
this regarding Oxford:
"If you are not one of them (an Oxford student)
you are definitely excluded. It is very us-and-them,
more so today than ever before. In fact you are not
just excluded but thrown down into a cold fascist
underbelly of dead end jobs, no opportunities and
really poor facilities experienced by the English
underclass. Oxford the City is really behind the Oxford
University which totally dominates and is the raison
d'etre for the town, a declining cold little agricultural
city with backward rurals all around lack of trees
make it a cold and windswept place uncomfortable within
reach of Birmingham and Slough. The lower middle shop
assistant and petty clerk class and restaurant washer
up types seem to be particularly unpleasant and nasty
in this city."
Okay. So you have an opinion.
We found it quite interesting and pleasant to visit
actually.
