May 2024. Bicester.
Last day of May, one pub down, surely an evening of Oxford ticking ahead, time to pick a hotel;
Not at those prices !
I tried Travelodge, and came up with a double room for £30.99 on the M40 services at Bicester.
Oooh, futuristic food court with Greggs, KFC and those inedible noodles.
Aficionados of Travelodge design will delight in this 1994 Cherwell classic, with 1350 metre long corridor and hot and cold water in all rooms.
One problem. You’re not getting public transport from here to any new pubs, but astonishingly a mile east of that KFC lies one of the best pubs in the country, one I’d been wanting to revisit for years,
and ALL you need do is find the secret gap in the barbed wire fence that separates the truck park from Stoke Wood.
The barbed wire was no challenge, the bitter cold on the eve of June was tougher. How do people in Oxon cope ?
Just over a mile through those woods and across the B4100 to Stoke Lyne (pop. 418, remember that number), a remote but wealthy little village,
with Norman church, suspicious sheep,
and one pub. You MAY have heard of it,
but if not, read on…
retiredmartin 
After years of attempting to be middle class we’ve recently accepted our failure and started using Travelodges. They’re alright aren’t they! Another few years and we’ll probably use the adjacent Marston’s pub rather than schlepp into town for murk at a micro.
(The Real) Mark
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They’re alright, Mark. Would be better if they gave free WiFi instead of making you pay £3, and they’re a rung below Premier Inn, though those are often near £100 these days, which is mad. More likely to see the Marston Carvery pub at a Prem !
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No, at a Premier Inn it’s most likely a Beefeater or Brewers Fayre ( or less likely a Table Table, Bar and Block, Cookhouse and Pub or Whitbread Inn ) but many of these are being closed and converted to more profitable letting rooms.
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It was a Marston diner at Gosport Premier Inn last night; it does vary across the country.
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Gone off Premier Inns.
Rooms invariably too hot with windows that don’t open and an A/C system that turns itself off during the night. Winter duvet on throughout the year is like lying under a bean bag.
And expensive. They got greedy after Covid.
Travelodge catching up fast.
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It does indeed vary across the country, Greene King’s Shire Horse where I had a meal with our daughter a fortnight ago being adjacent to the Stafford Hurricane Premier Inn.
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Yes, no opening windows, no bubble and squeak with the breakfast, no cask Doom Bar in the Beefeater, they’re not what they used to be.
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You tease.
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I’ve not been there but isn’t Peyton the Place for Hook Norton beer ?
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Indeed, as you will shortly see once I’ve whittled 30 photos down to 10. THE place for Hooky.
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The Tree Hotel on your potential hotel list, served a decent beer or two, and had the occasional beer festival, back in the day, Lovely little village (Oxford suburb), The Isis Farmhouse at Iffley Lock is worth a look, ex Greene King, now independent..
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Thanks, Matt, but at £99 for the Tree it’s a night in the campervan for me (though based on current Oxford parking charges £99 might be a bargain !).
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You never checked how much I would have charged you for B&B! Complimentary bottle of Bass, view of a car park, and a short walk to ‘Spoons (101st on TripAdvisor for quick bites in Oxford).
Actually, £30.99 to stay within walking distance of the Peyton Arms is a brilliant deal.
Not the easiest pub to get to in the county.
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Can I park my van in the gated drive of Nick mansions ? ;-0
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