A growing directory of what we have researched so far. Filter by how solid the story is.
Claims to date from 1242. This building was a 1606 ostler's house, first recorded as a pub in 1774, and took the Bear name after the original was demolished in 1801.
Down the old Hell Passage, outside the city wall, a fragment of which survives in the beer garden. Tax records for the site go back to 1381. Bob Hawke set a yard-of-ale record here in 1963. Bill Clinton's visit is legend, not confirmed.
Bought by All Souls in 1466 and rebuilt as a tavern around 1500. Real 15th-century timber studding survives. The exotic-animal collection and the tunnel to the Mitre are unverified.
Opened in 1607, opposite the Bodleian, and has not moved, closed or rebranded since.
Oxford's smallest pub, in a 16th-century building on Broad Street. Owned by Exeter College until 1980. Churchill and Clinton visits are legend, not confirmed.
John Davenant ran it from 1603 and Shakespeare stayed here on his London to Stratford journeys, according to the antiquarian Anthony Wood. Shakespeare was godfather to Davenant's son William. The rumour that he was the boy's father is only a rumour.
A cobblestone cross on Broad Street marks where Latimer and Ridley were burned in 1555 and Cranmer in 1556. A stake fragment and charred bone were found on excavation. Latimer's "light such a candle" line first appears in Foxe's 1583 edition, so we call it probable, not certain.
Built in 1889 for a city brewery. In 1835 St Ebbe's Street had five taprooms and this is the only one left. The original tiled floor survives.
George Street had six pubs in 1895 and two remain. Rebuilt in 1879 and almost unchanged from 1973 to 2008, while every other business on the street turned over.
The Inklings met weekly here from 1933 to 1962. The sign dates to 1684, but the current building is from about 1840.
Closed as of our last check, with a restoration planned. Verify before visiting.The Inklings moved here after 1962, and the meetings ended with C. S. Lewis's death in 1963. Owned by St John's College, whose students it helped fund.
Closed permanently in January 2021.Built in 1869 for the workers at Oxford University Press next door. Filmed as the "Bookbinder's Arms" in the first Inspector Morse episode.
Built in 1904 by the waterman Tom Tims, who died in 1908 before his family could move in. His initials are carved into a boat-and-fish panel.
A ferry crossing was recorded here in 1279, the oldest verified date on our whole list. The ferry ran until 1971. Cromwell's 1646 visit is local tradition, not confirmed.
A thatched 17th-century building on a site with centuries of pub history. Lewis Carroll is said to have been a regular, and St Margaret's Well nearby is the likely basis for the treacle well in Alice.
We are still checking the building's fire and restoration history.A Colin Dexter favourite, and a setting in Brideshead Revisited. Claims to be the oldest riverside inn are unverified, and we treat them as carefully as the Bear's.
A wharf and warehouse from 1638 that became a pub in 1977, with a working winch still on the terrace. The Folly Bridge and Friar Bacon's Study story is not fully written up yet.