McCafferty's at The White Hart, Bicester

The White Hart is now an Irish themed pub that also goes by the name of McCafferty's Bar. There’s seating under the front windows either side of the central entrance and on the right wall is a small stage where I expect live diddly music is played. A highly polished wood floor runs towards the rear past an L-shaped serving counter up the left where standard keg is available alongside Staropramen and two hand pumps that were drawing GK IPA and Sharp’s Doom Bar. Up the right-hand wall, opposite the counter, are some small tables and a couple of barrel tables. On the rear wall is an exposed stone fireplace and around to the left rear is another serving counter on the left-hand wall that is lined with bar stools. In here is a highly polished flagstone floor that leads rearwards to a stone tiled seating area with high tables. There was a boisterous local crowd in during my recent early Tuesday evening visit, half Irish and half English. I liked the atmosphere and the service was polite, this would probably be my Bicester pub of choice for watching football which is shown on televisions throughout.

The White Hart is also signed as McCafferty's, and is very much now an Irish-style pub but is also unexpectedly large in inside. Elongated but quite narrow L-shaped main bar with another, slightly smaller, rectangular one offset slightly and extended further back with another seating area at the rear. The bars also have the low ceilings of an old building and have dark furniture and dim lighting so probably little different whether during the day or in the evening. With cask ale advertised, I found Greene King IPA (£3.60) and Doom Bar available on handpump. Mostly standard keg offerings.

Facebook page of McCafferty's at The White Hart - www.facebook.com

Official site of McCafferty's at The White Hart - bicester.mccaffertysbars.com

Facebook page of McCafferty's at The White Hart - www.facebook.com

Official site of McCafferty's at The White Hart - bicester.mccaffertysbars.com

My first stop on a Monday afternoon visit to Bicester was this Irish-themed pub which is deceptively large. I wasn't expecting much of this Greene King pub. But it ended up being my favourite pub in Bicester. The Irish barmaid took my temperature on arrival. With Greene King IPA & London Glory being the ale choice, I swerved these and fancying a soft drink, opted for a Coke. What made this pub for me was the friendly welcome from the barmaid. She went out of her way to chat and showed a genuine interest in why I was there. She even gave me a full guided tour of the pub, which was appreciated given most staff are reluctant to encourage any movement around the pub. The pub essentially has 3 bars. You pass from the front bar into an even larger room offset to the left-hand side. Beyond that is a further space and another bar used for live music. At the rear is a large outdoor space, strangely featuring replica shop fronts. Certainly a large pub with a few elderly locals, who clearly appreciate the pub to make it their regular haunt. I don't usually rate pubs based on the friendliness of the staff. But on this occasion, the White Hart stood out from a pretty average bunch based on this criteria.

Traditional looking pub in an old building which looks quite tidy from the outside. An upside down L shape interior that goes back a long way. Quite dark inside. The exposed stone walls and herringbone flooring add some charm to what looks like a recent refit. Pretty busy, seemed a hit with the younger locals. Disappointingly there was Just GK IPA available which was average.

Called in dinner time 9th July not a lot in but seemed a nice pleasant pub staff chated to us had a pint of Tetley White Hart its just normal tetley bitter with the pubs name on bit warm worth a visit