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Bailiff's Tap, Banbury

Pub added by Komakino .
4 Southam Road
Banbury
OX16 2ED

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Reviews (Current Rating Average: 8 of 10) Add Review see review guidelines


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Moby Duck left this review about Bailiff's Tap

A good little micropub with engaging owners who were more than happy to have a good chat as Ray found out on his visit below. Marble Lagonda was in good form on cask after which I went for a keg beer from Hollow Stone, another excellent beer. Nice place.

On 16th June 2019 - rating: 8
[User has posted 1868 recommendations about 1841 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Real Ale Ray left this review about Bailiff's Tap

This was our first port of call on our visit to Banbury. It was good to get in here as soon as they opened, which gave a great opportunity to meet the owner and his Mrs. I really took to this micro straight away and we found it difficult to leave. The chat and banter was brilliant, and this was a Sunday lunchtime.
We went for the two beers on stillage, which were Acorn Summer Pale and Backyard Jackalope. Both beers were in top condition.

On 25th June 2018 - rating: 8
[User has posted 3378 recommendations about 3378 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Thuck Phat left this review about Bailiff's Tap

The place to head to if you're after quality ale in Banbury.
It's just out of the town centre and, despite initial appearances, consists of three rooms. The one you enter first is the bar, although there isn't a bar, with casks, kegs and cider boxes dotted around the small concrete floored, sparsely furnished room with whoever is serving standing up with a cash belt.
The chairs in the bar are all around the walls facing in so it is impossible not to become involved in conversation with the other clientele especially if the characterful and engaging governor is on.
The ale selection rotates with the governor being a beer enthusiast who has turned his hobby into an occupation. My first visit found Fool Hardy Russian roulette - excellent - and Tyne Bank Monument on cask with two keg offers which we didn't try. Subsequent visits turned up some interesting and very drinkable beers on both cask and keg across a variety of styles and strengths. I certainly never had a problem finding something good and would hope and guess that this is always the case.
Several evening visits here have all proved to be great fun with interesting and well kept beer and varied, very good company. My first port of call in Banbury without any real expectation of a second.

On 18th June 2018 - rating: 9
[User has posted 679 recommendations about 678 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about Bailiff's Tap

Initially looks like a typical micro-pub, with just a few chairs around the periphery, although with the two small rooms beyond it is almost a compact alehouse. Four real ales in different styles available on gravity, direct from the two-shelf stillage, with space for up to eight casks. Would very gone for any of them, but went for the decent Mallinsons Dana Centennial (£3.50). Also had three boxed ciders. Just a few locals in when I stopped by, but a very convivial visit.

On 21st April 2018 - rating: 8
[User has posted 8066 recommendations about 8066 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Bucking Fastard left this review about Bailiff's Tap

Located in a building with a listed frontage,you step into the stillage racking area with chairs around the periphery .The very welcoming guv'nor drew my pint and placed it down by a vacant chair and conversation flowed easily with both him and other drinkers who were already in.However if you want solitude,or when it's busy there is a long rear room with a mix of second hand pub furniture dotted about where you can settle down.
The owner explained that his target market was folk that had felt pushed out of pubs that have been transformed into gastro eateries,faux wine bars or ear splitting youngsters bars (there a lot of them in Banbury),so the atmosphere here will always be about conversation which is likely to wander off in a random direction.
The owner is a real beer hunter,and will travel around the country expanding his already vast knowledge of real ale and their brewers.Expect a rapid rotation of ale choice and styles ,his aim is to bring something that won't be seen elsewhere in the local real ale scene.The number of ales may well depend on when you visit as the busy times will be Fridays and the weekend,while on my Thursday visit only two ales were on with Byatts Vienna Pale and Platinum Blonde available and both in outstanding condition.
This is a must visit in Banbury and is tucked away from the main drag.I will most certainly come back ,expecting to find some really interesting real ale in friendly surroundings.Long may it succeed ,and it should be a shoe in for the next GBG.

On 12th January 2018 - rating: 8
[User has posted 2709 recommendations about 2709 pubs]


Please Note: This review is over a year old.


Komakino . left this review about Bailiff's Tap

A micropub opened up in a former Bailiff's office next to the Three Pigeons in early 2017. This is one of the most basic micropubs I've visited so far. You enter into a small, square room with three chairs against the window, six cooled barrels on stillage opposite and a pair of filing cabinets to the left holding packets of Walkers Crisps (images of each flavour stuck on the relevant drawer). No bar: you are welcomed, offered your choice and money is exchanged via a market traders' pouch around the servers' waist. Just the two on during my visit - Beartown Bear Ass and Salopian Prohibition, the latter in fine fettle. No WiFi (a sign proclaims 'We do not have Wifi: We talk to each other) and I was quickly offered a seat between two regulars and entered into a conflab. The premises does extend, rather Tardis-like, backwards albeit narrowly, with varied seating, both comfy and hard. From what I heard, it's a welcome addition to the Banbury drinking scene and there are already a fair quota of clips adorning the walls. Another credit to this burgeoning scene.

On 21st August 2017 - rating: 7
[User has posted 1074 recommendations about 1074 pubs]