Odd to say, but I’m glad to have a break from telling you how good Sheffield is (and it is) and get back to moaning about the state of beer and pubs in Oxon on a weekend.
But first, in response to countless requests, here’s that Banbury tart from the Chipping Norton post. I had no idea Banbury tart looked like a Cornish pasty either.
Yes, it made it home to the plate.
I wasn’t going to write about the eponymous Salford Inn, but Pubmeister hasn’t visited yet and he needs to be warned. It looks OK, apart from the atrocious sign, a topic Duncan knows a lot about.
Salford is a tiny village, somehow packing in a church, phone box, war memorial, overgrown tennis court, a phone box (with defibrillator), and a pleasant pub with polite staff and roaring fire.
But hardly any customers. At 1pm on Saturday lunchtime, two old boys at the bar drinking lager, two beers on the pumps. Ruddles and Green Jack. What’s wrong with Hooky ?
The Golden Best (“That’ll be £1.90, altogether“) had clearly been on for a few days and was starting to “fizz”. It wasn’t totally undrinkable, but I couldn’t drink it. On the usual principle of never taking back a half in a village with a gibbet on the village green, I snuck out when they weren’t looking.
If a third of your custom on Saturday lunchtime is pub tickers you’re in trouble. Use it or lose it Salford.
Ten miles north-east, past the Rollright stones (now a micro pub) and Hook Norton (now Hook Norton), Bloxham has an edge-of-Cotswold appeal on its main street.
A rambling public school (whose school boys ought to learn to walk quicker),
the gorgeous looking Joiners Arms that looks like it ought to be a Donnington house,
and the Red Lion , yet another from Oxon’s collection of “How did that get in the Guide pubs“. The pub sign is, again, a giveaway;
Again, it’s clearly the vast range of exciting beers that has propelled the Red Lion into the Guide.
The Young’s Ordinary looked a bit better but again lacked freshness (NBSS 2.5). I really wish I’d been allowed to go for the Marstons 61 Deep on keg like the diners would have done if they weren’t drinking lager. At least this place was packed.
I’m afraid the interior was so dull I couldn’t bring myself to take a photo from my perch at the bar. Use your imagination.
But finally, in Bodicote and the Plough, an example of how to do it.
Starting with the sign;
A real Oxon local, with horse brasses, over-excited locals and professional drinkers at the bar.
A rather magical drop of Wadworth 6X (NBSS 3.5), just as it was down the road in Adderbury this year.
As you can see, some quiet pubs on Saturday lunchtime in Oxon, reflected in beer quality. I noticed two mainstream bitters on keg (Bass and Marstons), clearly a worrying trend.
On the plus side, Witney up next.
retiredmartin 
Other than signs what other exterior indicators are there of an impending bad pub experience?
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“Dining with rooms”, large words painted on exterior walls, a Maidenhead postcode…
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“Pub and Dining”, “Pub and Kitchen”, “Dining with Rooms” and large words definitely. At the other end of the scale, broken glass outside the pub, net curtains and adverts for karaoke/drag acts.
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Adverts for drag acts probably not an indicator of Magic Rock and Moor Beer on cask, but may a good indicator of a “lively” pub ! See Reading estate pubs.
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How could I have forgotten “Child/Family Friendly”?
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Nothing wrong with children in my world; better than a pub full of middle-aged men. But that would be a micro pub rather than a pub. 😉
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All interesting comments. The reason I asked is how often I am fooled by the façade. I could not come up with criteria that worked for me.
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I find it best to be wise after the event, Dave.
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Great line.
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Never knew there was a Salford in Oxfordshire. Then again, there’s a Barnsley in Gloucestershire.
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That Barnsley quite posh, I think. Also a Hyde near Stroud.
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Probably a tree name – sallow the old form of willow
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And a Swindon in Staffordshire. With two pubs. https://whatpub.com/pubs/DUD/2047/green-man-inn-swindon https://whatpub.com/pubs/DUD/4402/old-bush-swindon
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hill of pigs
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Now, now.
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That’s why there are a few. But the second part is a residual Celtic substrate whereas the first part is Anglo-Saxon which possibly dates the two settlements to the same period of westward expansion?
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This one read like a storybook, with various trials and tribulations leading up to a happy ending at The Plough. Is that photo Bloxham’s main street?! It very nearly looks like a footpath– I love it. 🙂
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That’s the crooked little street up from the main street to the Elephant & Castle and some lovely stone houses, Mark. Lots of lovely streets in Bloxham.
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Been to Barnsley in Gloucestershire but not yet Salford in Oxfordshire. You haven’t really sold it to me though! Good job things improved.
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I could gloss over those experiences but it would give a very false impression of pub ticking wouldn’t it ?!
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Quite right to tell it as you find it.
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I think there’s a duty to find the positives in any place or pub, as you seem able to do 😉
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“For Fox sake, why Green Jack”
That one when right over my ahead when I just looked at the photo (blush).
“here’s that Banbury tart”
And here’s me thinking that would be the ‘fine lady’ in the Banbury Cross nursery rhyme. (heh) 🙂
Cheers
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Witney.
Isn’t that where a former Prime Minister left his child behind in a pub garden ?
Can’t think of his name off-hand.
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I very much doubt David actually graced any of the hard-drinking Witney locals when there were “dining with rooms” places in the countryside !
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was this pub: https://ploughatcadsden.co.uk/
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That sign for The Plough looks very weather beaten, I seem to remember visiting it in the mid 80’s when it brewed its own ale including a very fine porter and wasn’t owned by Wadworth, FYI the Banbury Tart is shaped like a Forfar Bridie 😉
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I wondered why that Bodicote Plough seemed familiar. One called No.9 sticks in the mind. http://beerme.com/brewery.php?464
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I have done two pubs in Bloxham,the Hook Norton pub was not open which was a shame.
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Hook Norton pubs are normally unspoilt, some of them are out in the sticks though.
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There was a third pub in Bodicote I think that is now Spice Room?
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That was/is the Bakers Arms, may still be referred to as Bakers.
The Indian (well Bangladeshi) place a 100 yards from us is still called the Slap Up by most villagers 25 years since it was a pub!
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bus goes past it whenever i go to the health club
have never been there
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