The Berkshire Ale House (Morrells)
200 Abingdon Road, Oxford OX1 4RA. Tel. Oxford (01865) 242423.

Now The Crooked Pot. (2011-10-06)



    * Ridley's Snow Joke £2.30
    * "Morrell's" Graduate £2.14
    * Mixed grill £9.75 (1.ii.2000)

    * Wychwood Crop Circle £2.30
    * Fullers ESB £2.50 (8.viii.2000)

Mark Dickerson writes:
The sign by the door announces "Unspoilt By Progress" - a Banks's slogan - 
so the owners either can't remember what it used to be like or don't 
regard their changes as an improvement. Another NuMorrell's outrage, 
though more hospitable than before if you can stand the looped Whitney 
Houston muzak and piles of junk (often still with their price-tags). Beer 
selection good and well-kept; food pretty good; shame about the brand. 
(1.ii.2000)

Editorial note:
Before the revamp, it used to be like this:

This is on the corner of Abingdon Rd and Vicarage Rd, at the northern end 
of New Hinksey. The overwhelming impression is created by the muted 
turquoise light, the cane furniture and the blue baize snooker table, not 
to mention the extremely loud music.

It fails as a pub, but would do rather well if it were a mile and a half 
further north and a college bar. They do gigs in the backroom for up and 
coming local bands. The service is friendly. A big sign says "AIR 
CONDITIONED BARS" next to a large bit of ceiling machinery, and I see no 
reason to disbelieve it.

No angle, and in the Gents, the cubicle lock was jammed. (6.xi.1997)

Before they drained this quarter to make it habitable, the 
Oxfordshire-Berkshire border ran along the main course of the Thames 
(which has been changed by the action of man and the softness of the soil 
over the centuries), and this was the first inn on the Berkshire side of 
the border, hence the name.

Race night when I turned up most recently. I should probably describe one 
of these for people who've never been to one. I can only add to what Mark 
Dickerson writes above that there is a giant waffle made of wood on the 
ceiling, and, unusually enough, bar billiards. (8.viii.2000)