The Kings Arms, Oxford

Didn’t have a lot of hope for this one when approaching along Broad Street and was expecting the usual Youngs inner city type sterile gastro food orientated pub, but found a much better pub than I was expecting. This was possibly helped by the fact that we did get some table space in one of the very pleasant smaller snug rooms towards the back of the pub. As mentioned by previous reviewers, it’s quite a large pub internally, but divided into several distinct spaces , with two serving bar spaces and additional separate rooms. The front bar is comfortable but not the best space in this pub and the smaller rooms at the back have much more atmosphere and house a display of pictures of old customers who have visited down the years, including of course, Morse and Lewis. Named after King James 1, who was closely involved with the adjacent Wadham College, at various times over the years it’s been a coaching inn and a hotel, and the back bar, known as "The Office" was a male only bar until the fairer sex were allowed in after a redecoration after a fire in 1973. A decent beer choice for a Youngs pub with seven beers available, which were four Youngs with the usual protagonists and three guest ales. The couple we had were well kept and I could not fault my St Austell’s Tribute, except for the fact that it was bloody expensive and this must be one of the most expensive pubs in OX1. A decent food menu is available, but we didn’t eat here so I cannot pass comment on that. It has been a Young's pub since 1991, when it was their first acquisition in Oxford.