Duke of Oxford, Weston Central, Weston Super Mare

A large, street corner pub that was surprisingly deserted on a recent Thursday evening visit. Going on previous experience, the opening hours can be somewhat erratic so perhaps that has led to a reduction in any regular clientele. It has had various names (The Pig & Truffle and The Three Queens are two that spring to mind) and colour schemes over the years which suggests that despite it’s prominent position in the town centre it is not a particularly successful venue. Inside the decor is an odd mix of old and contemporary. There are a few very old oak beams and support posts for example, but also freshly plastered ceilings with recessed down lighters. There was some exposed brickwork around, although for the most part the walls were plastered and painted cream with dark brown wood panelling on the lower part of the walls. Although all one open space, it’s divided in to two halves by a couple of steps and some balustrade. The upper half at the front of the pub is carpeted and tightly packed with tables and chairs, plus a couple of red leather sofa’s in front of a small fireplace. Many of the tables had a (very tacky) ornament of some type on – imagine if you can someone trying to make a small display of flowers out of pink and silver foil and you’ll have an idea what it was like. The lower half had wooden boards on the floor, little in the way of seating and was dominated by a pool table in the middle of the room. What may have been a small stage area was in one corner, and this had an extremely large speaker on it. There were also several more fixed to the walls, a few disco type lights around and what could have been a DJ console on the opposite side of the room, suggesting that at times it could be somewhat livelier than it was when we visited. There looked as though there may have been an upstairs area although this was in darkness, and presumably some type of terrace or patio as well since the smoking area was signposted as being upstairs. Food options were limited to things with chips such as Cod, Scampi, Ham & Egg, Burger or Sausage. These were all priced at £5.50. Beers on tap were Doom Bar and Butcombe whilst the solitary cider was Thatcher’s Gold.