The Port Mahon Ale House (Morrells)
82 St Clements, Oxford OX4 1AW. Tel. Oxford (01865) 438018.

When it had been first redone in February 2000, they had a rather
ambitious program of nine real ales and a real cider, but no folk music.  
The bottled Black Sheep in the fridge was a safe enough bet, however. I am
pleased to report, however, that the number of ales has been scaled back
to a more manageable half dozen, the amount of custom has shot up, the
folk club has returned and Bloomsday is still celebrated on June the
16th.

However, the real cider has gone, and in keeping with the other Morrells
ale houses, we have, for instance, a bicycle with front rod brakes, a step
ladder, historic beer bottles, models of those birds I can't remember the
name of but look like avocets, and LPs stuck to the ceiling.

Discovery of the week is that they have an interesting range of country
wines, including birch and dandelion, at two pounds a pop.

The name commemorates a battle in the Napoleonic Wars that happened off 
Port Mahon on Minorca (not Mallorca, as a correspondent in Spain points 
out. The sign used to be of an old sailing ship off the Minorcan coast, 
but it's gone now. (18.vii.2001)

Old review
----------

Before the day before yesterday, this was a heavily folk music oriented
pub under Irish management. They had Famous Oxford Irish People like
Bernard O'Donoghue turning up on Bloomsday and everything. The day before
yesterday, however, the old landlord walked out, and a manager was
installed by New Morrells.
 
At the moment, it's a two bar pub, a public bar on Jeune Street with a
pool table and a darts board, decorated with old maps of the British Isles
and Oxfordshire, and a lounge bar with a fire on St Clements decorated
with those brass plates with ships on them. Two casks set into the wall,
one labelled Morrells 5401 and the other Morrells 5041. There used to be a
huge collection of jugs hanging from hooks in the ceiling, but they've
gone now. (9.xii.1999)