good/bad things about Oxford

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There seem to be a few folks from the town on here and I might be moving there for a year...

― dave k, Wednesday, 9 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

good: music scene (though it might implode soon...), lots of pubs

bad: shops, town vs. gown

i know there are more...

― jellybean, Wednesday, 9 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Shifty Disco!

― electric sound of jim, Wednesday, 9 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

what's going wrong with the music scene? do they have bowling alleys and pinball?

― dave k, Thursday, 10 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Good: Tom lives there.

Bad: Tom lives _there_.

― alext, Thursday, 10 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The once way system south of the centre is bad. The Pitt Rivers museum and Browns cafe in the covered market are good.

― alix, Thursday, 10 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Oxford is a student town - you will get more out of it if you are a student or of student age. I live right on the bus route to London and 90% of my friends live there so apart from DJing at a club and going to the pub with Steve I've not really thrown myself into the city's nightlife. It's OK apparently - I don't get the impression that the club scene is particularly exciting but there seem to be a fair number of indie bands bobbing about. The pubs are of erratic quality but some are good and there are plenty of jukeboxes, always a plus in my book. There are quite a few cheap and OK restaurants in town (bonus of high student pop'n). There is no good record shop. The Cowley Road is the best bit I think.

― Tom, Thursday, 10 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

There is no good record shop.

A crime indeed. There was the one I stopped in back in 1992 to the east of the town center across the river, but it was lonely and presumably no longer exists.

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 10 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

there used to be a v.good burger takeaway (= indie not prefab corporate) on cowley road: admittedly this is 20 yrs ago

also a good chinese called DELICIOUS HOUSE (which for some reason amused me, tho not as much as SILVER GOLD in Penton St in Islington)

― mark s, Thursday, 10 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Alas Ned it is no more. There is now Polar Bear records which is a bit wack.

― Tom, Thursday, 10 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

but the fact that there isn't a single decent record shop in oxford is also a good thing.. otherwise i'll spend far too much money.

when the decent indie shop, chalkys, was around i used to go there every week and buy at least one record

― jellybean, Thursday, 10 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I was going to write a big rant about how the Oxford music scene isn't as good as it used to be and nobody in the sceeeeeeene loves me WAAAAH is it because my hair is so unpunkrock and eee not the same since Manic Hedgehog and Green River closed I remember when it were all mud and cattle and then some geezer came along and said that the kids wanted to LEARN, it was all the rage in France apparently, hoods and gowns and degrees and stupid names for things, sounds just like the masons, blimey, I knew no good would come of it, etc etc. But then Peelie played Vehicle Derek and I can't bring myself to, how could I be rude after such a slice of genius? Vehicle fuckin' Derek! We love Spunkle. I need to get that Vehicle Derek album. And I really like saying Vehicle Derek. (Smock, etc.)

(I still carry my Chalky's discount card around in the hope that it will bring me some kind of oldskool local cred. Fairly obviously, it doesn't. I always assumed that being sneered at at gigs was just because I wasn't oldskool enough, but since half of the current in crowd have been here less long than I have I now realise that it is in fact just because I'm the biggest dork in the world.)

I will attempt a more helpful answer at some point, but I may not be the best person to ask because I haven't been around in Oxford much since March and I was heartily sick of it then. I miss it now, though. Sort of.

― Rebecca, Thursday, 10 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Oxford United's new stadium is open at one end, yet there isn't a 25% reduction on ticket prices. In addition, car parking is inadequate, so people park all along the grass verges right back to the dual carriageway. One good thing about Oxford itself is that there's a lot of greenery very close to the centre.

― Peter Miller, Friday, 11 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Good point mr miller, there an awful lot of greeness relatively close to the middle of town. the worst thing about oxford is that most gigs start at effing 7.30, which is CLEARLY RUBBIDGE, and then finish by like 10. also the fact that seemingly only bands that come from oxford play in oxford (sinc ethe point shut we seem to have completely fallen off the national circuit), which is kind of ok as there are quite a few good ones at the mo, but does lead to a certain parochialism (sp?), despite the fact that Oxford thinks of itself as metropolitan in virtually every other sense ...

The best things are the vast number of pubs, despite not finding my *perfect* local yet (but then i suppose that is a lifelong quest), and the chicken donner nanns (like a chicken donner, but in numnum nann instead of rubbish old pitta) from kebab kid, also the fact that Cowley road is top fun.

― CarsmileSteve, Saturday, 12 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I like gigs that start and end early. In London everyone plays the adolescent game of "Who's the coolest" in the guise of "Who can stay out the latest without any discernible acknowledgement of the well- known fact that after a certain [early] hour it is IMPOSSIBLE to get home"

― dave q, Saturday, 12 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I'm disillusioned with non dance gigs. No gig over here is cheaper than 20 pounds and rock bands bore me live. I'm young and restless.

― Ronan, Saturday, 12 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

ahh but mr carsmile. it just depends what gigs you go to. on friday night i ended up at a gig where they couldn't shut the band up, and they were playing till the wee late hour of 11.45!

and then there are the gigs at the cellar that go on till about 2 in the morning..

― jellybean, Saturday, 12 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

hmm, well i never seem to go to any of these nunu, the zod's the worst for it, especially on week nights. although having said that when cannon played at songs of praise they didn't come on til after 11, which conversely was far too late (and then they were rubbish anyway, but there you go...)

― CarsmileSteve, Sunday, 13 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

good:SUSSED!

still lots of good pubs.

Curry houses on Cowley Road.

bad: the three pubs which USED TO HAVE LOCK-INS are now UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT!

the "ikeafication" of quite a few pubs e.g. the Oxford Blue and the Goose (formerly Brewhouse) now both full of bright lights and pine furniture.

the closure of some classic music venues (Elm Tree, the Point).

the hordes of language school kids in summer.

― MarkH, Wednesday, 16 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I like the Goose because it's called the Goose and has a huge picture of a goose on it. Had it replaced any other pub except that horrible horrible one I would be more concerned, but that particular venue is cursed and has been vile whoever runs it.

― Tom, Wednesday, 16 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Good: Hi-Lo Jamaican Restaurant
Bad: Every single record shop

― RickyT, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The best Goose pub is the one on Brixton High Street you LUNIZ. I haf nevah seen such cheap beer (and admittedly so many tramps).

― Sarah, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Good: Punting and splashing about on the Isis.

Bad: The prospect of contracting Well's disease as a result of splashing about in a rat infested river.

― Jonnie, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I still reckon Oxford is crap for punting especially compared to Cambridge as the Isis takes you into deep dank mosquito-infested jungle whereas the Cam goes round the back of colleges with lawns and stuff and is prettier. I only ever went punting twice in Oxford and was not mightily impressed.

― Emma, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I haven't been punting in Cambridge but it does sound far nicer than just floating around next to a pub which is kind of what happened when I last went in Oxford.

― Jonnie, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

yes, the ideal punting experience would be in Cambridge, but punting in the Oxford way, i.e. actually standing in the punt and not at the wrong end on the flat bit where you're in severe danger of falling in.

― MarkH, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I like the Apocalypse Now aspects of punting in Oxford. Plus when the Amrican idiots end up in deep water and have to paddle for dear life before they end up down the weir.

― Pete, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Best thing abt punting in Cambridge = not going along Backs but towards Grantchester instead, getting drunk and shouting abuse at every posh house you pass (ie all of them) because one of them might have Archers in it.

― Sam, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Archers the vile peach schapps, Archers the everyday story of country folk or Archers who do archery?

― Emma, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

or Archers who lie in court?

― chris, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

mm, punting to Grantchester, parking the punt and going into the PUB. then getting back in the punt and going back - except that by this time you are full of BEER and have to keep stopping the punt and going for a wee in the fields.

i am GRATE at punting!

― katie, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Of course Archer now known as "peach" to his colleagues.

― Sam, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

(I rowed a rubber dinghy when I was six)

― Sarah, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

While at my mum's over Xmas I went through some of my dad's old reel- to-reel tapes and found that we still have the live edition of Hancock's Half Hour where Bill Kerr talks about punting down the Cam but gets the line wrong, Spooner-style.

― Marcello Carlin, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Tom, the goose is absolutely terrible, you silly man. it was better when it was a firkin, which tells you how bad it is. even the seats outside are rubbish. no one has mentioned the turf yet, which is a top summer pub when not full of confused tourists who think they're in someone's back yard, or flour/egg/milk/etc covered STYOOODENTS who've just finished their exams...

― CarsmileSteve, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

the turf was a great place for underaged drinking, however everyone does that, and now I go there and feel old, cos I see people from school who were 2 or 3 years younger than me. The best pub in oxford is probably the Jude, it has a quiet bar and a noisy bar, so if you want to chat you don't have to yell so much..

― jellybean, Thursday, 17 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The King's Arms is great: lots of little rooms and dark corners, a quiz machine, a non-smoking room for those who care about such things (we all have friends who do), Youngs Special, the guest beer is often Smiles IPA which brings back fond memories of Bristol. Lots of wuvly old photos on the walls. And good food.

― MarkH, Friday, 18 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The Turf was great when I used to go to Oxford a lot more than I do now, I was especially proud when I set the highest score on the triv game in there.

― chris, Friday, 18 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Since this has gone slightly pub-based, has anyone been to the new Trout yet? The heart and soul of it (and the old bar) has been torn out! It's not the same now, since it looks like a wine bar or something and you go have to go through Berni-inn style doors now and not by the river and oh, it's just so different. And I don't even drink.

One of the best things about Oxford for me is, well, a secret. I'd tell you, but it's MINE!!!

n.b. I'm confused about the earlier post about my band(s).

― Jim of Spunkle and Vehicle Derek, Friday, 18 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The King's Arms? Are you sure? It was horrendous when I was there. And my parents took me to lunch there once and it was crap. The Turf on the other hand is a fine establishment particularly after one incident involving huge quantities of real scrumpy when it practically witnessed a Queen's orgy...

― Emma, Friday, 18 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

seven months pass...

i should revive this thread since i'm moving there in a week and still don't know anything about it!

― dave k, Monday, 9 September 2002 21:05 (twenty-three years ago)

they did a master translation of the bible.

― anthony easton (anthony), Monday, 9 September 2002 21:19 (twenty-three years ago)

Eli Manning.

― James Blount, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 06:44 (twenty-three years ago)

SS20 is in Oxford.

― g-kit (g-kit), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 09:27 (twenty-three years ago)

what is ss20? who is eli manning? i suppose we may as well stick to good things on this thread since it's not like i can do anything about living there at this point.

― dave k, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 09:41 (twenty-three years ago)

ss20 = skate shop. a right good one.

― g-kit (g-kit), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 10:01 (twenty-three years ago)

SS20 don't sell Converse Allstars and neither do any of Oxford's other skate shops so I SULK at them. But then I don't actually skate. A walk down the Cowley Road visiting Music Box (if it's open, I have never quite worked out their opening hours, they seem to be basically when the owner feels like it, which may not be useful but is fairly cool), PMT, Oxfam's record and book sections, SS20, Polar Bear records and a quick dawdle staring at the Zodiac box office posters is always a fun way to waste a couple of hours.

(Hey, g-kit, get more diskant types to do gigs in Oxford, because we love you. Well, I do. Admittedly perhaps the fact that I was a fairly large percentage - esp by mass ha ha ha - of the last Gringo gig's audience is putting you off, though allegedly I singlehandedly [ulp, oh dear] spent more on the merch stand than the entire Derby gig turnout put together so maybe not, and then I hardly ever make it into Oxford these days, since I have discovered that I quite like being reclusive, especially with the weight and being sneered at by local bands three years younger than me issues already mentioned on this thread.)

Sorry, Dave, I'm not being very helpful. Maybe http://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/ would be worth a look. If you're interested in gig listings then check out http://www.oxfordmusic.info/ too.

Hmm, mid-September... are you going to be a student? If so, you probably won't get too stranded, you may not even feel the need to venture far into the rest of the city, and if you're at Oxford Uni then you might want to take any free booklets that OUSU gives you vouchers for at freshers' fair; while they're not absolutely vital or worth paying full price for, they do/did have a handy guide to the local shops, pubs and restaurants. Then again you can usually google that kind of information and then feed the addresses into http://www.streetmap.co.uk/ or http://uk.multimap.com/ if you don't know where they are.

― Rebecca (reb), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 16:50 (twenty-three years ago)

how come there are so many homeless people in the centre of oxford?

― fields of salmon (fieldsofsalmon), Tuesday, 10 September 2002 17:23 (twenty-three years ago)

cool, thanks for the help rebecca. i'll be a grad student there, though i'd rather not be too tied down to university life.

― davek, Tuesday, 10 September 2002 18:07 (twenty-three years ago)

My friend Nick Thomas has got a play on at the Old Fire Station next week. It is called Sweet Ladies. Nick is a very good thing (on balance) and has been extremely thin for a great number of years and in the Seventies he wore cravats and called himself ‘Bufo’ and he smokes his own weight in tobacco every five months. The End.

PS He will be profiled at enormous length in The Oxford Times this Friday by the mighty Hugh Vickers, Titan Of Our Age.

― Rex, Wednesday, 11 September 2002 02:56 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

hurry i have 10 minutes at the virgin store cybercafe and i want to know where are the good record stores in oxford!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 29 April 2004 12:11 (twenty-one years ago)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 29 April 2004 12:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Amst I fear you will be disappointed. My Oxford-knowing friends assure me that decent record stores out that way are a thing of the past.

― Tim (Tim), Thursday, 29 April 2004 12:14 (twenty-one years ago)

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 29 April 2004 12:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Are you coming to London?

― Tim (Tim), Thursday, 29 April 2004 12:16 (twenty-one years ago)

it's true they're not much cop - Avid on gloucester green is your best bet, if only because it's got a decent sized bargain basement.

― pete b. (pete b.), Thursday, 29 April 2004 12:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Near The Goose pub, Gloucester Green. Just off Green St. Can't remember what it's called. Holla.

― ENRQ (Enrique), Thursday, 29 April 2004 12:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Don't bother with Oxford, nip on over to Reading and go to the FOPP record store there!

― C J (C J), Thursday, 29 April 2004 13:07 (twenty-one years ago)

There are no decent record stores in Oxford. though if you make it down the Cowley rd there's a 2nd hand record store called Vinyl Frontier, which is usually overpriced. But someone I know managed to find a rare 1978 no wave compilation for under £10, just cos the owner didn't know how rare it was.

― jellybean (jellybean), Thursday, 29 April 2004 13:23 (twenty-one years ago)

"Are you coming to London? "

tammarah and th' day aftah

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 29 April 2004 17:52 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

Why is living in cowley so bad and hated? Should I do this? I can't really afford Jericho.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 07:32 (twenty years ago)

this is a funny thread to read, i didn't know abt ft or the ilx lot while i lived there. i djed this one indie night one time, i think it may have been sussed. i never really understood the cowley thing. i lived round there for a year, worked there for another. maybe it's an indie thing.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 09:27 (twenty years ago)

otm

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 09:28 (twenty years ago)

the famous beat cafe has closed, i hear.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 09:31 (twenty years ago)

I remember one time there seemed to be tons of students in the 'area' by the old fire station. I know Oxford has lots of students, but I mean Lots. It turned out that the word had got out that Supergrass were filming a video in their home town.

They weren't.

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 09:42 (twenty years ago)

I don't see why living in Cowley should be so very bad and hated as it has things like proper greengrocers and interesting shops and suchlike (though mind you i never seem to go there as I live in what apparently is jericho), plus it has the UPP which appears amazing.

― spontine (cis), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 14:32 (twenty years ago)

jericho is infinitely better, much as the pheenecks is better than the upp. oxford students tend to think cowley is a bit edgy, i guess.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 14:39 (twenty years ago)

COwley has the best interesting restaurants and certainly the best off licences in Oxford. Back in my day the UPP was called the PPP (The Penultimate Picture Palace) which suggests they had a time machine or something.

(It was briefly squat cinema called the Section 6 Cinema where you would bring beanbags and watch Cockwork Orange because you thought it would be cool and not crap and a rubbish reason to get the Scla closed down I am sounding too old and will stop here.)

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 14:52 (twenty years ago)

i watched 'a clock work orange' in an engineering lecture theatre. not comfortable.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 14:53 (twenty years ago)

The curries aren't as good in Jericho hence Cowley Road = a lot better. That bangers&mash restaurant's in Jericho tho, and my housemate says it's brill, although he hasn't been able to get a seat in there since it started winning awards and things.

― Come Back Johnny B (Johnney B), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 16:03 (twenty years ago)

the last time i went to that bangers and mash place it was easy to get a table

maybe ilx xmas dinner time?

― jellybean (jellybean), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 16:16 (twenty years ago)

That's a good idea, a damn good idea.

― Come Back Johnny B (Johnney B), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 19:47 (twenty years ago)

That's a great idea!

I bought a blanket in Cowley today, it has won me over.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Tuesday, 29 November 2005 23:55 (twenty years ago)

Photarsh, one time home of Miss British Pulchritude.

― Aimless (Aimless), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 00:09 (twenty years ago)

and free parking in the city centre during weeknights and Sundays through December!

(and hey, I live in Bicester, so from here, Cowley looks like it's paved with gold)

― carson dial (carson dial), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 00:24 (twenty years ago)

Greg, are you asking about the Cowley Road or Cowley itself? Most of these answers seem to be about the Cowley Rd (indie, offlicences, restaurants, UPP), which is by no means bad and hated, I'd have thought - more the assumed home of any 20-something, at least of a post-studenty/indie nature. (I'm often glad of that assumption to hide that I'm from out here in the sticks.)

Whereas actual Cowley / Temple Cowley is quite a different kettle of fish, I think; it's mostly quite a poor area, and feels a bit cut off from everything further west. Bad and hated? Most people I know seem to think of it as too far out and maybe a bit rough and not consider living there at all, but then it's not the kind of place that has a lot of houseshares going.

I have never lived there though (I think of it sometimes, as at least it's on bus routes and so on, but I think I'd feel a bit out of place and un-central there) and have mainly only been out that way for the big superstores on Between Towns Road and by the ringroad, so what do I know? Exactly.

― a passing spacecadet (reb), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 12:43 (twenty years ago)

i worked out in temple cowley for a year, or on one of the business parks enclosed by it. built where the car factories used to be. cowley used to be a major industrial zone. oxford goes on for miles after cowley road ends, in that direction.

i guess blackbird leys has a rough reputation, but that doesn't extend to cowley as a whole. it's just a slightly run-down suburban bit of the midlands with very little relation to the visited parts of oxford.

no students that i knew lived there, but there's some brookes accommodation not *that* far away (a little to the north, between temple cowley and headington).

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 12:48 (twenty years ago)

I just had this sudden flash of horror that I probably got your name wrong, or at least was presumptuous in my abbreviation of it. Sorry, Gravel.

Oh, and damn the guys at the Council for charging Avid Records three years of backdated extortionate rent and giving them a couple of months to find all several grand of it just so they could clear them out and we could have ANOTHER coffee shop instead.

Er, hello! Again! Sorry. [makes yet another mental note to cut down on caffeine, relurks]

― Rebecca (reb), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 12:55 (twenty years ago)

just damn the council. for everything. all councils, the fucks.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 12:56 (twenty years ago)

I didn't know that's what happened with Avid. That's rubbish - I love that shop. Council managed to annoy me again this week by closing the recycling tip at 5. It's only for domestic use, not business, so why is it only open when domestic people are at work? Amateur.

I love in Temple Cowley (up by H0ll0way? About 5 mins walk from The Swan) and it's lovely - the house is great and it's really close to a bus-stop. The buses are actually pretty good IN Oxford, so there's never any problem getting to/from anywhere at pretty much any time of day or night.

― Come Back Johnny B (Johnney B), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 13:14 (twenty years ago)

Nono rebecca, I really like it when people call me Greg! It is totally the name I go by.

(I'm looking at somewhere on James Street today - walking up Cowley Road to get to seeing somewhere else in Real Cowley reminded me how much I love that Oxfam/Honest Stationary/Tesco/Polar Bear run around there)

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 14:31 (twenty years ago)

i used to work in the social services building there, above blockbuster. can't say i miss it overmuch.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 14:33 (twenty years ago)

James Street Tavern is superb for footy, and on sundays they do a fry-up and a pint for a fiver, or at least they used to, don't know if they still do.

― Come Back Johnny B (Johnney B), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 14:36 (twenty years ago)

Johnny, last time I went to Avid the sign on the door said their last day was this coming Saturday, if you want a last look, but it'd already been moved back twice so maybe it's had another extension.

(I guess Theorry's post means "complaining about the council: find other targets please, and stop sounding like a grounded teenager" and it is a fair point, but forgetting to increase the rent for three years and then claiming 42 grand all at once, according to the shop owner in the Oxford Mail, for three years' worth of 50% increase? Ugh. But then I'm only going by one side of the story.)

Any good places/agencies to look for bottom-rung IT work (no fixing hardware or expecting me to know about networking) or generic temp office work? Nothing below my league, most things above my league, etc. Last-ditch attempt because I don't know what else to do...

― Rebecca (reb), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 16:36 (twenty years ago)

au contraire!

i cdn't be more serious!

ref: THE FUCKING PAVING OF THE CORNMARKET UGH

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 16:38 (twenty years ago)

Any good places/agencies to look for bottom-rung IT work

champion always deliver. office on cornmarket, kinda above mcdonalds/barclays.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 16:38 (twenty years ago)

I've been trying to avoid living on the Cowley Road, cos if I did I wouldn't get any work done...

― jellybean (jellybean), Wednesday, 30 November 2005 17:43 (twenty years ago)

The James Street place was the worst flat I've EVER SEEN, holy shit, the landlord didn't even turn even turn up to let me in until I'd spent forty minutes waiting in Tescos and calling his (off) phone.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 1 December 2005 00:22 (twenty years ago)

Dailyinfo is a great thing about Oxford, come to think of it. I guess I take it too much for granted.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 1 December 2005 00:23 (twenty years ago)

Thanks for the champion tip milton! I have had some luck with Hays and Brook Street, both on High nr the covered market (Hays infact offered me something on the day I signed up (!) but my references weren't picking up), I'll sign up with champion tomorrow. (I'm in the same boat as rebecca).

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 1 December 2005 00:25 (twenty years ago)

Rebecca, there's LOADS of office temp work around. What agencies have you tried? I'm not sure about specialist IT ones tho -

― Come Back Johnny B (Johnney B), Thursday, 1 December 2005 09:24 (twenty years ago)

office angels nr the union hooked me up a few times. reed on high street is more 'toney' but didn't deliver so much. champion are a bit skanky, but they got me work when i needed it.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Thursday, 1 December 2005 09:26 (twenty years ago)

I'm going to Oxford for the first time ever this weekend. What should I make sure that I see?

― Marcel Gallingez (Marcel Gallingez), Thursday, 1 December 2005 09:31 (twenty years ago)

DTMs

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Thursday, 1 December 2005 09:32 (twenty years ago)

Does anybody actually go to DTMs any more? I thought it was all the Park End Club or The Bridge these days.

― C J (C J), Thursday, 1 December 2005 09:40 (twenty years ago)

Oh for pitys sake, don't send visitors to those hellholes. What's wrong with the Zodiac for bounciness?

If you've got tourist type things in mind there's that bus-top thing which you can get on and off of which is supposed to be quite good, and check out the colleges for impressive architecture spinning to infinity.

RE rubbish building - ref. Cowley Road works for a proper botch job. If you make downward slopes, water will collecdt at the bottom - obvious. If you have water collecting, you need a drain - obvious. Not obvious to the council, for now there are enormous big holes that fill with water whenever it rains, and it's been BUILT that way! Rubbish.

― Come Back Johnny B (Johnney B), Thursday, 1 December 2005 09:46 (twenty years ago)

if i were visiting in winter, i'd try to get lost somewhere, in the crazy medieval streets. and go to christ church meadow, late in the day.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Thursday, 1 December 2005 09:52 (twenty years ago)

That's true - Oxford's big enough to get lost in, but not big enough to get REALLY lost in. Check out the Ashmolean (sp?) as well - more impressive architecture, and shrunken heads!

― Come Back Johnny B (Johnney B), Thursday, 1 December 2005 10:01 (twenty years ago)

the shrunken heads are in the pitt rivers museum but shit -- go there, it's awesome. parks road.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Thursday, 1 December 2005 10:18 (twenty years ago)

Oh yeh - go both, they're both cool.

― Come Back Johnny B (Johnney B), Thursday, 1 December 2005 10:19 (twenty years ago)

The Egyptian Room at the Ashmolean is fab.

Don't bother with the Oxford Story museum place, it's not worth the ££.

― C J (C J), Thursday, 1 December 2005 10:29 (twenty years ago)

The paving of Cornmarket = The Painting Of The Forth Bridge. When they finish, they start all over again.

― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 1 December 2005 10:40 (twenty years ago)

Thanks for the agency advice; I imagine I'll be trying them out in January. Not used any in ages, I've worked here for four years (and still acquired no CVable skills) and I'm a bit out of the way for agencies, living in the middle of nowhere with no car. I was with Reed for a while but they didn't find me much.

Pitt Rivers! Allow longer than you think you need because it'll take you a while to stop looking at the Natural History bit (which is not as good, for me at least, but you have to walk through it) and go into Pitt Rivers itself.

Has anyone been to the Museum of the History of Science? I keep meaning to and forgetting.

― Rebecca (reb), Thursday, 1 December 2005 16:59 (twenty years ago)

go on saturday! they've got a day of stuff on the theme of stars (http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/star/) I was going to help out, but they don't need my help this weekend :(

I love that place, especially the basement.

― jellybean (jellybean), Thursday, 1 December 2005 18:32 (twenty years ago)

oh yeah..

so should we meet up and eat bangers and mash then?

― jellybean (jellybean), Thursday, 1 December 2005 19:43 (twenty years ago)

I can't do this weekend! :(( Grandmothers be demandin'.

Hays are doing ace atm, they found me something else today! Obviously I then spent an hour asking for directions around oxford business park. I ws really hyped about being an Office Angel but they took my CV and said "we'll call you" in a totally "we won't call you" way and then didn't call me :( I guess just sign up for all of them really...

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 1 December 2005 20:17 (twenty years ago)

I saw the excellent "Bye Bye Blackboard" exhibition recently at the Museum of the History of Science.

http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/blackboard/introduction.htm

― C J (C J), Friday, 2 December 2005 09:21 (twenty years ago)

Does The Coven still exist? (nightclub, not witchy gathering)

― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Friday, 2 December 2005 09:49 (twenty years ago)

i think ya have 'the coven II' nr the FE college. goff-dance.

― Theorry Henry (Enrique), Friday, 2 December 2005 10:05 (twenty years ago)

five months pass...

bad things = THOSE FUCKING YUPPIE FLATS

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1785580,00.html

i usedta work on gt clarendon st, and from the upper floors you could see the orrible yuppie dormitory developments to the north, but now they're getting *everywhere*. of course, none of the people i worked with in oxford could afford to live in the city, and that's not going to change...

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 07:55 (nineteen years ago)

Welcome to the world of free market capitalism.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 08:08 (nineteen years ago)

well, presumably the elected council or whatever had to approve this shit, so it didn't have to go down this way -- obviously oxford needs more housing, but affordable housing would be better. it's not like the whole of the area round the canal south of park end road hasn't been done up!

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 08:11 (nineteen years ago)

Pullman's got enough money. Why doesn't he buy the canal?

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 08:13 (nineteen years ago)

I'm going tomorrow with the kids - it's half term so no doubt it'll be hell-ish but anyway...anyway good to eat that's not totally child unfriendly?

― Ned T.Rifle (nedtrifle), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 08:20 (nineteen years ago)

those new houses are frankly quite ridicuous. They've built a house for 8 flats at the end of our road, and the fit them all in the rooms are tiny. I think they asked for £250,000-£300,000 for each of the flats.

The saddest thing is that there are people desperate enough to buy them.

― jellybean (jellybean), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 09:56 (nineteen years ago)

If you go up by the prison which is now a hotel (worth sticking your head in), the new restaurants just by there are all very child friendly. Tootsies does good proper burgers, and you can't go wrong with Carluccio's.

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 10:00 (nineteen years ago)

I thank you.

― Ned T.Rifle (nedtrifle), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 10:01 (nineteen years ago)

Blimey, Tootsies and Carluccio's - it's all changed since our day.

(xpost x 2)
Or people sad enough to buy them. Laura and I used to go through the (then) new developments behind Park End Street, by the Morrell brewery, as a shortcut when coming back home from doing the shopping, and we kept commenting on the presumed dreariness of people prepared to live in such flats (and not very big ones by the look of them).

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 10:04 (nineteen years ago)

People be paying crazy prices to live walking distance from the train station and the countryside and in a fashionable suburb.

― caek (caek), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 10:09 (nineteen years ago)

haha i know a virtually parodic yuppie guy who lives near the old morrell's brewery. the flats there cd be anywhere.

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 10:10 (nineteen years ago)

caek -- well, yeah, but it won't stay fashionable, and it would be better if it weren't happening.

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 10:11 (nineteen years ago)

Well, when we were there we always lived within walking distance from the train station and we didn't pay crazy prices, except maybe at the We-tgate Hotel shop.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 10:11 (nineteen years ago)

Couldn't agree more, but it's no surprise that the prices are, even by Oxford standards, a bit crackers.

Exactly which boatyard is this? Is it that enormous shell of a building at the bottom of Juxon St, etc., or that little bit further down the towpath round the back of the Bookbinders and St Barnabas Church?

I live in Summertown at the moment which is bleak and expensive. Moving to Cowley Road in August, which is not bleak, but getting increasingly expensive. £1050 for a three bedroom house. Bah.

― caek (caek), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 10:16 (nineteen years ago)

Also, if they're planning on walking from the train station along the canal in the evenings, they better be packing their rape alarm.

― caek (caek), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 10:17 (nineteen years ago)

Cowley Road "not bleak"? Each to their own I suppose...

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 10:18 (nineteen years ago)

Less bleak. Summertown is most boring place in Christendom.

― caek (caek), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 10:28 (nineteen years ago)

word.

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 10:29 (nineteen years ago)

Also, the new castle development has a Krispy Kreme.

― Abby (abby mcdonald), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 10:46 (nineteen years ago)

So beware the rivers of lard.

Oh its horses for courses. People probably thought the houses on Thames Street were horrible twenty five years ogo but they fit in nicely now.

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 11:34 (nineteen years ago)

as for the original thread topic... a friend i've had an off/on crush on for over a year has won a scholarship to the uni and will be in attendance there from september this year. from my point of view this is both good and bad! for others moving to oxford, not so sure.

― gem (trisk), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 11:52 (nineteen years ago)

Why are there, like, five times as many Oxford ILXers as Cambridge ones? I've never really understood it.

(I sort of mean ex-Oxford as well)

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 11:55 (nineteen years ago)

i'm ex-cambridge too.

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 12:00 (nineteen years ago)

the thames st houses are council i think? the iffy thing with the new ones is they're pretty much exclusively for the rich.

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 12:01 (nineteen years ago)

A house on my parents' road - fairly average looking three storey terrace, sarf of the river (off Abingdon Rd) - has just gone for over half a mill.

― ledge (ledge), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 12:06 (nineteen years ago)

Ex-Cambridge people are probably all on a better class of board, except Enrique.

There are quite a few Cambridge-dwellers and hang arounders, as I found out when they were helpful to us when we moved there. I am sure they are all nodding their heads at this thread, because it's exactly the same there.

Of course, part of the problem is all those sodding green spaces.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 12:11 (nineteen years ago)

Unsurprisingly most of the Thames street ones are now ex-council and fetching nice private rents. Off road, on the river, slap bang centre of town...

― Pete (Pete), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 12:22 (nineteen years ago)

ah, seen.

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 12:32 (nineteen years ago)

Cowley Road isn't bleak!

Cambridge is more... ILM.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 16:54 (nineteen years ago)

Very abbridged unthoughtout Good Things list:

Unicorn
The Bear
OX4's ongoing and adorable love of ARDKORE CONTINUUM music, seriously, every car stereo round my hood and nowhere else in town even.
Size of town
North Hinskey Village
Sunsets and Sunrises! I have never been to a city which better combined enough-pollution, with not-so-much-pollution that the sky is grey, with low buildings.
The Oxford Times
Castle Mound
Hoyles
At Risk
Youthmovie Soundtrack Strategies
Cowley Road Oxfam
That book-only Oxfam that's on I think Banbury Rd?
Some of the architecture, Bridge of Sighs, Keble quad (SO underrated)

Bad Things:
Rent
Botley

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 17:06 (nineteen years ago)

Dailyinfo!
The Pitt Rivers

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 17:10 (nineteen years ago)

The Pitt Rivers

OTM

― ledge (ledge), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 17:18 (nineteen years ago)

Decent pubs in great locations: The Trout, The Perch, The Victoria Arms, The Turf..

― ledge (ledge), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 17:23 (nineteen years ago)

The Oxfam that's sells just books is on St Giles.

Also, +1 for that hill in the middle of New College.

On pubs, surely The Perch is awful? It's an inexplicably nasty pub at the end of a lovely walk across Port Meadow. Not been in the Victoria Arms since they did it up. Personal favourite pubs are The Harcourt Arms and The Star.

Videosyncratic in Summertown and on Cowley Road are also excellent. The Oxford Guitar Gallery pulls of the trick of summing up in shop form everything that is wrong with North Oxford and men of a certain age. I've never seen anyone under forty in there.

― caek (caek), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 17:36 (nineteen years ago)

I don't think anyone under the age of 40 can afford the guitars in OGG

I love Videosyncratic, though it's 3 dvd deal thing means whenever i go I end up spending the whole night watching films..

― jellybean (jellybean), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 17:40 (nineteen years ago)

It's an ~~inexplicably nasty~~ pub at the end of a lovely walk

I didn't think it was that bad though but it has been years since I've been. The Vicky Arms wins bonus points for being a pub at the end of a lovely punt.

― ledge (ledge), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 17:48 (nineteen years ago)

Ah, The Victoria Arms. I was thinking of The Victoria, which is where Walton Street becomes Kingston Road and used to be awful.

― caek (caek), Tuesday, 30 May 2006 20:08 (nineteen years ago)

there's a videosyncratic on cowley???

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 07:29 (nineteen years ago)

The Perch used to be our local. In summer we'd usually go to the Trout, though, at off-peak avoid-the-tourists time.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 07:34 (nineteen years ago)

xpost, yeah. I think it's quite new. On the corner of Cowley and Rectory Roads.

― caek (caek), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 08:15 (nineteen years ago)

I enjoyed the Perch quite a bit. Also liked Freud's wine bar in Jericho--is it still around?

― J (Jay), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 23:36 (nineteen years ago)

what is the best bookstore in Oxford (in case i ever go back)?

― youn (youn), Wednesday, 31 May 2006 23:40 (nineteen years ago)

blackwell (jesus though is *that* still there? i heard it was going) on broad street. or the all-books oxfam on st giles.

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Thursday, 1 June 2006 07:42 (nineteen years ago)

I haven't been in the Castle yet - is it worth having a wander, or is it all as odious as I imagine?

Search: the many fine curryhouses on the Cowley Road, you can expect top notch curry action in almost every one. Don't go into the Polish restaurant though, my housemate and his gf got food poisoning from there last year.

― Johnny B Was Quizzical (Johnney B), Thursday, 1 June 2006 08:18 (nineteen years ago)

Castle Prison Hotel is worth two minutes of your time, justto stick your head in the old wings which are not £130 a night hotel rooms. Take away the lick of paint and it could be Porridge.

One instance of food poisoning should not damn a whole restaurant, though there are plenty of alternatives down Cowley.

― Pete (Pete), Thursday, 1 June 2006 08:23 (nineteen years ago)

i went to that polish restaurant and didn't get food poisoning!

― Enrique IX: The Mediator (Enrique), Thursday, 1 June 2006 08:33 (nineteen years ago)

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