The White Rabbit, Oxford

The White Rabbit is tucked down an alley just off the main drag, and the car park has been turned into a long covered outside seating area. There were a few drinkers and diners sitting out here during a recent midweek early evening visit. The food is Italian and the cheapest dish is the small Margherita which is priced at £8.25. Inside the pub is a front seating area along the front windows to the right of the entrance and a U-shaped bar comes out of the right-hand wall. This faces seating to the rear and to the left where the whitewashed walls have been stamped with a rabbit stencil… I actually quite liked them, but would put them in my shed rather than lounge. No televisions spotted, but there was some background music playing from the likes of REM. Premium and craft keg were available and the five hand pumps were drawing White Horse Brewing’s Village Idiot, Loose Cannon’s Gunners Gold, Renegade Brewery’s Good Old Boy, Siren’s Liquid Mistress and North Cotswold Brewery’s Moreton Mild, the latter being decent and the cheapest non-Spoons beer of the day at £2 for a half. I thought the service was friendly, but I didn’t find the surroundings very comfortable so maybe this is one to visit for lunch when a pizza and pint can be enjoyed out the back.

Tucked away ,close to the coach station this is an old town centre pub which is now aimed at the student/young professional market.The interior off the narrow lane is traditional with three sections all served from the three sided square servery.The first section to the right is popular with diners choosing from a largely pizze menu,there is a mid pub snug with a huge table at the back,while down a step was a larger section ,but also used a lot by diners.Outside there is an impressively large covered beer garden with a lot of seating booths,also with most punters eating. The pub was packed at 6pm on a Wednesday and the muzak was certainly too loud.It's in the 2023 GBG and on my trip there wes a Locale selection of Chaddingtons Oxford IPA,Vale Metroland,Shotover Prospect (£3.80) and Loddon Dragon Fly (NBSS 3,£4 which is real value in Oxford).There were some interesting craft kegs. A decent if unexceptional ale range,but a hectic experience it may be better at a quiet time but still worth a real ale crawl visit.