The Flavour Pilgrims

Oxford pub history, with the legends marked.

You are standing outside a pub with a date over the door. We check it against the records, then tell you what is proven, what is legend, and what we are still chasing.

See the walks Browse the pubs
The Radcliffe Camera in Oxford at night, its windows glowing beneath a full moon.
The Radcliffe Camera, by moonlight

The Bear Inn says

1242

The records show

1774

First recorded as a pub, then called the Jolly Trooper. The real medieval Bear stood on the High Street until 1801.

The tie-clipping tradition is real, though.

How we mark claims

Tourist-board copy repeats whatever sounds good. We label every story so you know how far to trust it.

Verified
Backed by records such as census returns, listings, archives or excavation.
The Royal Blenheim was built in 1889 for a city brewery.
Legend
A good story with no reliable evidence, or evidence against it.
The tunnel from the Chequers to the Mitre.
Still searching
A lead we are following that is not confirmed yet.
Whether Abingdon's Ock Street Horns link to the town's ox-roasting custom.

Four ways in

Start wherever you like. There is no right order.