Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
are some of the most historic and atmospheric in the country (and London is only an
hour away if you crave clubs).
THE PERFORMING ARTS
Highly acclaimed orchestras playing in truly lovely settings mark the
Music at
Oxford
series (www.musicatoxford.com), based at the
Oxford Playhouse Theatre,
Beaumont Street (
&
01865/244806;
www.oxfordplayhouse.com). The season runs
from October to early July. Tickets range from £10 to £40. Many performances are
held in the Sheldonian Theatre and Christ Church Cathedral, particularly attractive
locations (p. 217 and p. 214). The box office is open Monday to Saturday from
9:30am to 6pm (or until half an hour after the start of an evening performance) and
on Sunday starting at least 2 hours before a performance.
New Theatre
(formerly the Apollo), George Street (
&
01865/320760;
www.
newtheatreoxford.org.uk; or Ticketmaster
&
0844/8471585;
www.ticketmaster.
co.uk for tickets), is Oxford's primary theater. Tickets range from £10 to £50. A con-
tinuous run of comedy, ballet, drama, opera, and even rock contributes to the variety.
Both the Welsh National Opera and the Glyndebourne Touring Opera appear here
regularly. We highly recommend that you purchase tickets in advance, though some
shows may have tickets available the week of the performance. The box office is open
Monday to Saturday from 10am to 8pm (to 6pm if there is no evening performance).
THE PUB SCENE
Pubs lie at the heart of Oxford social life. Almost every pub in the center has a long
(and notorious) history, usually linked to the university or a specific college (see “Pubs
with a Pedigree”, below).
At the
Eagle and Child,
49 St. Giles St. (
&
01865/302925
), literary history
suffuses the dim, paneled alcoves and promotes a sedate atmosphere. In the 1930s
and 1940s it was frequented by the “Inklings,” a writer's group that included the likes
of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. In fact,
The Chronicles of Narnia
and
The Hobbit
were first read aloud at this pub. Known as the “Bird and Baby,” this hallowed ground
still welcomes the local dons (it's actually owned by St. John's College). It's a must-see
for Tolkien fans; the rooms are daubed with extracts from his work (some original),
but remember that you won't be the only tourist here, and it's otherwise a fairly quiet,
ordinary pub. In contrast, the
Head of the River,
Abingdon Road at Folly Bridge,
near the Westgate Centre Mall (
&
01865/721600
), is a lively place offering tradi-
tional ales and lagers, along with good sturdy bar food. In summer, guests can sit by
the river and rent a punt or a boat with an engine. The congenial
King's Arms,
40
Holywell St. (
&
01865/242369
), hosts a mix of students, tourists, and professors.
One of the best places in town to strike up a conversation, the pub, owned by Young's
Brewery, features several of the company's ales on tap, along with visiting lagers and
bitters that change periodically. The tiny
White Horse
, 52 Broad St. (
&
01865/
204801,
www.whitehorseoxford.co.uk), squeezed between Blackwell's bookstores, is
always a good place to soak up the collegiate atmosphere. It's one of Oxford's oldest
pubs, dating from the 16th century, a popular feature in the
Inspector Morse
series
and renowned for its real ales (try the Wychwood Hobgoblin). Most Oxford pubs
open from around 11am to midnight.
THE CLUB & MUSIC SCENE
In the 1980s,
Freud Café,
119 Walton St. (
&
01865/311171;
www.freud.eu),
turned an 18th-century Greek Revival church, stained-glass windows and all, into a
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