Donnington Arms, Oxford

On a recent Thursday evening I had a lengthy crawl around Cowley and for each review I’ve written I could have mentioned what a dump this area is. However I have saved this for the Donnington which was the worst pub of my crawl, which is a huge achievement in this godforsaken place. The left hand-side of the pub is a Nepalese restaurant and the L-shaped right is a pub with pool table and dartboard. I spotted two hand pumps, one was unused and the Fullers London Pride was off. So from the standard keg range I ordered a half of Fosters, but was served a pint by the exceptionally rude barman who I took to also be the owner. I stood at the bar and after a couple of minutes listening to the warbling of an entitled drunken student I decided to leave, never to return.

Located in the backwater that is the Iffley Triangle, this is a 1930s’-built pub with attractive Halls Oxford Brewery ironmongery above the door; of late, it has been transformed into part pub (to the right) and part Nepalese restaurant to the left. The main room still exhibits some interesting period details, such as the original 1930s’ doors, but otherwise it’s bare boarded, with conventional furniture, a white colour scheme above plum coloured Anaglypta to the dado, with a dark wood field panelled bar, Victorian-style brass ‘n’ glass lighting and décor by way of prints of Nepalese scenes and a pool table to the rear; customers early evening comprised just one middle aged gent, namely me. There’s no real ale here, just three unused pumps thereafter Stella, Fosters and Kronenbourg at a very reasonable £2.00 the half, served by an otherwise absent barman, who vanished from the bar after serving me. I suppose that the one half of the Donnington still qualifies as a pub – you can certainly drink without eating – but it’s a bit of a dispiriting affair, especially when you consider that the far superior Magdalen is just around the corner; the Kathman-du attitude to service also needs improving.

Official site of Donnington Arms - everest-nepalese.co.uk

Official site of Donnington Arms - everest-nepalese.co.uk

Now partly branded as a Nepalese restaurant that appears to retain a bar area seemingly unchanged from when it was a pub (‘Donnington Arms’ still appears on the exterior wall of this section). Closed Saturday afternoon so I wasn’t able to venture in to see whether you could just get a drink but peering through the window found two pumps with a single Pride clip.

Part of this pub is now The Everest Nepalese Restaurant At The Donnington Arms. One half is given over to a restaurant, but the other half is a public bar complete with dartboard. The restaurant and bar are treated as totally separate areas.