Duke of Monmouth, Oxford

Another pub dating from the 1930s and still displaying its attractive H O B (Halls Oxford Brewery) monogram to the front at top right, though this is now a GK outlet, one which I visited once in the summer of 1994 after watching a cricket match somewhere even further out in southern Oxford, impossible though that may seem. The interior is essentially a made over affair, carpeted with a tiled bar apron, a shiny white tiled bar back, a colour scheme of white and grey, filament bulbs in wire cages, multiple games machines, mixed though traditional furniture, black and white prints of Oxford from yesteryear, annoyingly loud pre-match commentary from the multiple sports TVs, ugly laminated menus and condiment bottles on the tables, all absorbed by local, undiscerning customers; in all but name it’s part of GK’s Hungry Horse format, though nothing like as bad as their White Horse on Headington Hill. A predictable ale line-up amounted to GK IPA, Abbot, Top Dogs (a Greene King/Nethergate conspiracy) and Tribute at a very reasonable £2.15 a half and good. This pub is ok for a beer, some sport and a burger, but otherwise it’s a bit of a dispiriting affair; the charms of central Oxford are just a short walk from here.