The Head of the River, Oxford

Located, as it’s name suggests, in a prominent position alongside the Thames, this is a large pub with plenty of outside seating on a terrace at the front as well as accommodation on the upper floors. Internally it’s largely all one open plan room, although there is some partitioning and archways to break up the space a little. Décor wise it is fairly rustic I suppose, but also managed to look a bit artificial as well, almost as though someone has gone to a lot of trouble to make it appear rustic. Flooring is a mixture of flagstone style tiling and wood strip, with some chequered tiling around the bar counter. There was a decent amount of exposed brick walling including some attractive archways to the upper level, with cream plasterwork and blue/grey wood panelling elsewhere. Large windows facing the river made the most of the attractive outlook and some of the wood partitioning consisted of shelving that had been filled with a large quantity of old books, miner’s lamps and so on. A large exposed stone fireplace was an interesting feature, but appeared to be unused. Beers on tap were all from Fullers with their London Pride, HSB and the seasonal Red Fox whilst a fourth pump for Dark Star Hophead was presumably coming soon (or “Wish you were beer” as the small slate attached to the pump handle said). The solitary cider meanwhile was Cornish Orchard’s Gold. Prices seemed steep with a pint and a half coming in at £7.35, no doubt cashing in on the prime location.