3 h

By walk

Evening

About this activity

Get to know more about Oxford and its drinking culture on a 3-hour+ guided walking tour of the city's pubs.

Our tours cost marginally more than competitors, because our group sizes are considerably smaller. We average 2 persons only on tours.

This tour is a nighttime social event as well as a guided walking tour, and it happens to visit some pubs but it is not a pub crawl, nor is it specifically about the pubs. Instead, you will hear about some of the more raucous student antics stories and urban legends, plus the history of the famous university town.

Find out which pubs Bill Clinton and Inspector Morse liked to spend time in, and which pub is reputed to have more brain cells per square inch than any other pub in England! Then enjoy a complimentary drink at one of the bars.

Oxford's colleges are closed at night, but you will pass by many of them on your route. The pubs that you visit are subject to change, but are also open to negotiation, so if you have any preferences simply inform your tour guide.

The default start time for this tour is 5pm. Alternative start times may be available but not guaranteed, however please make known your preference at the time of booking.

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Included

Professional guide

Not included

Alcoholic drinks (available to purchase)
Food and drinks
Gratuities

Additional

Confirmation will be received at time of booking, unless booked within 1 day of travel. In this case confirmation will be received as soon as possible, subject to availability
Important: Minimum age is 18 years and, if you look like you are aged under 30, you must carry valid photo ID to prove you are aged over 18. This must be a photo driving license, a passport, a proof of age drinking UK ID card, or a military ID card. The date of birth must be visible in English. Without this proof of age, pubs can oblige you to leave their premises
Please note: although we have public liability insurance, any damage to property or accidents to persons, as result of your being intoxicated, are not covered by any PLI. This tour encourages sensible drinking. It is not just a pub crawl; while it visits an average of three pubs in three hours or more, it also introduces Oxford city and university sightseeing spots
Entrance to colleges is NOT generally included on this tour, as the colleges close at 5pm. However, you will see many of the historic colleges and city sights during the tour
PLEASE ARRIVE ON TIME:
INFO FOR DRIVERS AND PARKING:
If you are driving, then please allow extra 30-60 minutes over whatever time you think it will take you to get here. Oxford is NOT car friendly and it is congested roads and hard to find parking spaces....unless you park at the sign posted 'park and rides' on edge of town on any major road into the city and hop on their buses into city centre. The park and ride buses leave every 15 or every 30 minutes and take anything from 10 min to 30 min (depending on traffic) to reach city centre. So if you are going to drive, then please assume you should be aiming to park your car about one hour before your tour starts.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT:
We actually recommend instead using the much faster and reliable train services but again please aim to arrive about an hour or earlier before your tour starts as trains can be delayed and the train and coach station are about 15 minutes walk from our meeting point. There is also the coach service from London called the Oxford Tube which leaves every half hour or more but it can take much longer than its advertised 105 minute journey time. It drops you off either at High street Oxford or Gloucester Green coach station. It's quicker to ask to get off on High street near Carfax tower, then it's a 10 minutes walk to Broad street.
Wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Service animals allowed
Near public transportation
Transportation is wheelchair accessible
Surfaces are wheelchair accessible
Most travelers can participate
This is a private tour/activity. Only your group will participate

Features

Tourism

90%

Cultural

75%

Nightlife

30%

Reviews

5.0

2

B

Barry S

5 | 2017-06-06

This was a super tour for us. This tour costs more than the other pub tours on offer but it was worth it. The tour is configured for no more than six people unlike other pub tours and we were lucky as for us it turned out to be a private tour. Also, we were pleasantly surprised, although the description does not indicate this, our guide picked up the drinks tab so I got to taste test three different ciders as my wife tried three different ales. Because it was graduation night, the pubs often attended by students were very busy -- so the guide chose a couple of 'town-locals'. When we encountered too much of a crowd at the third pub, our guide revised things and we went to the Oxford Union club -- since our guide is a masters student at Oxford. That got us into an entirely different environment and we quietly sipped our drinks the cider at the club is NOT as nice as the ciders at pubs though -- it isn't their forte, and chatted for quite a while about Oxford, our travels, his travels and things in general. A very genial evening indeed. At the end, our guide walked us back to our AirBNB apartment which was rather a nice touch.

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