The Rickety Press , Jericho, Oxford

A bit unusual this one - an Arkells house having an identity crisis and being all crafty. Three of the Arkells cask, that I wouldnt touch if I had crawled across the desert and a back wall of keg craft. I think they were all from a single brewery - Dodo Pub Co. Regardless, I had a cask cider. Typical pubby intertor - with exposed floorboards, a long L shaped bar, through a couple of knocked through rooms. Outside seating on wobbly benches in the hastily pedestrianised street. Worth checking out but the other two locals - Bookbinders and Harecourt Arms are better.

The former Radcliffe Arms is something of an oddity: it's a sort of hipster pub selling the likes of pizzas and burgers, and for all the world would look more at home on Upper Street in Islington or somewhere around Hoxton or Shoreditch - it's completely out of place in a sleepy Jericho backstreet. The crowd is young and trendy, the floor bare boarded, the colour scheme is dark blue/grey and there are oversized industrial metal lamps over the bar with other filament lamps dotted around. There are stalls for some of the tables with ugly sauce bottles on them and cutlery stored in what look like empty baked bean cans - the sort of thing you see on tables in GBK. Music played at a volume which was less than comfortable. Ales: just two: Arkell's 3B and Moonlight which was ok but a bit boring. This place is barely what I'd call a pub any longer and the limited ale choice doesn't help. The Harcourt Arms across the road is a better bet.

The sort of eclectic pub you might expect to find in Jericho, with enthusiastic staff who cared about the beer - checking a slight cloudiness - but they were certainly in good order (Cask Marque listed). Food largely burgers and pizzas, but home made and very good. Watch out for offers to avoid the pricing however.