mostly saying what others have said. for east oxford pubs, the star is great, the fir tree is dingy and great, the rusty bike is great and solid food as well. the half moon completes the list of good east oxford pubs. never liked the library myself. the magdelen arms knocks everywhere else out the water for food tbh. the center isn’t a complete write-off for pubs, the bear is class, eagle and child is alright, kings arms is decent, turf is good, head of the river is great if it’s sunny.
for food, marios is the standard for pizza, pomegranite is solid lebanese, dosa park is good for…dosas, for vegetarian stuff the magic cafe or the nosebag.
for coffee you can’t go too far wrong but if you want to sit with a laptop ricks is the best atmosphere-wise. peloton is solid, missing bean if you’re in town has some nice tables outside these days and the coffee bangs, george street social is good as well.
if you’re into wandering round and thinking about things, i’d say osney is an interesting residential area, port meadow is worth the walk up, jericho is a great example of gentrification before it became a word, you can sneak into most colleges just by walking in confidently, christchurch meadows is cool, the kidneys and astons eyot are cool if you’re in the east bit and need green space. best walk for me is from the head of the river pub up the towpath to donnington bridge, and then back to the centre down cowley road.
