Now being converted into a Chinese restaurant. (31.vii.2000)

The Kings Arms (Vanguard)
272 Banbury Road, Oxford

Adnam's Bitter (cask) £1.60
Tetley (cask) £1.90
Wadworth 6X (cask) £2.10
Calder's Cream Ale £2.30
Guinness Stout £2.30
Strongbow Cider £2.20 (18.i.97)

The first thing you notice, other than the big neon signs in the window 
saying BUDWEISER and MICHELOB, is a mini version of those huge rotating 
poster sites they have in market squares and the main routes in in big 
French towns and cities, with adverts for spirits. Lots of Jack Daniels 
posters up all over the place, which is a good clue to the customer base.

It consists of girls in improbable shoes and young men with football 
shirts and earrings, who I think must have come from Cutteslowe. There is 
also a small contingent of presumably Cutteslovian men in their late 
thirties who wish to get a young woman in tow before the Friar Bacon comes 
to claim them.

I should mention that there's big signs saying "8oz rump steak with chips 
and salad £4.99" all over the place, and, disturbingly, three ales on tap 
and a smaller range of lager than you would suspect. Apart from the 
clientele, the overall feel of the place is something like a service 
station on the M5. It seems to have been built from scratch very recently, 
and there's three exits, which is altogether a good thing.
(Fieldwork: 1997-01-18)