By Oxon Rob
February 12 2003

London Irish meet Northampton in the Powergen Cup semi-final on 2nd March. Oxon Rob originaly penned this in advance of our PPS semi at the same venue last year. Here, slightly updated is his personal and your essential guide to the Kassam Stadium and the hostelries in the area.

We’re off to the Kassam!

This note features parking, directions, drinking and some eating. Out in the sticks there really aren’t any pubs that can take large groups, so the pub information below is really for the car-borne. If you want to drink by the coachload you’ll need to hit the centre of town. I have cross-checked all stadium-related info with the stadium (and will get updated by them) but if you want direct info, here’s their web site.

ACCESS and PARKING and BARS at the ground

Message One. COME BY COACH! Message Two. Read Message One!

There are 1,100 parking spaces – FREE and first come first served. However, when they got planning permission, they were told to install 1,600 parking spaces so they are short by 500. This results in many of the 6,000-7,500 regular footy fans having to park badly in neighbouring villages, and leg it – and the natives aren’t happy about it. If you try parking on a grass verge, anywhere near a house, forget everything you’ve heard about happy smiling yokels. You are more likely to get a pitchfork in your tyre. What 12,000 of us will do to the neighbourhood, heaven knows!

If you are lucky (?) enough to park away from the stadium, remember that Blackbird Leys is nearby, and there is a market for old engines, wheels and anything else you left behind in or on the car. No joke. These kids are pro’s.

COACHES. The stadium advises that if there are only 20-30 coaches expected, they’ll use up 100 or so spaces in said car park. More, and they’ll put them elsewhere after dropping their passengers. So the more coaches the merrier, from a parking point of view! Surely Saints will bring more than that, on their own?

BARS. When you get there, there’s not a lot to do other than make daisy chains or go into the stadium and eat and drink your fill. The bars will be open 14h00-20h30.

DIRECTIONS

Where it is. It is NOT IN Oxford, but well outside, on the edge of the Oxford Science Park, between Blackbird Leys and Littlemore. It is reasonably well sign-posted off the Oxford Ring Road. Local transport to and from the ground is normally a disaster. However, the 601 bus service from the Station to the Stadium will be departing the Station every 20 minutes between 1300-1500 approx and returning up to two hours after the match." Oxford taxis try to repay the national debt daily, so be warned. They are not cheap, and you are unlikely to get one for the return trip!!!

FROM LONDON M40

Junction 7, turn left, through LITTLE MILTON on the A329 (NOTE. Speed camera at entrance to village) and onwards through STADHAMPTON. (NOTE. Another speed camera, after the village green) Simply follow the road straight through Stadhampton, bearing right at the BP garage onto the B480 to COWLEY. (NOTE. The garage has a hole in the wall and a brilliant shop which cooks its own pies.) At the beginning of the built up area which is BLACKBIRD LEYS/COWLEY, turn left towards READING still on the B480. The stadium is about two miles, beside the road on your right. (PS If you missed junction 7, go on to Junction 8, get to the ring road and turn left towards Reading and Henley. When you come to the Sainsburys roundabout turn left and follow the signs. This route is probably ten-fifteen minutes longer than going via Junction 7.)

FROM OOP NORTH M40

Junction 9, and turn right (south) onto the A34. Settle back because it’s further than you think. You will need to turn off the A34 onto the ring road going towards Reading and Henley. Do NOT take the first ring road turn marked Cheltenham. It’s longer and you’ll probably get lost. Just wait for the sign, which is about two miles after the BOTLEY interchange. Once you are on the ring road stay on it for only a couple of miles, until you go up a slight hill to the Sainsbury’s roundabout at Heyford Hill where you turn right towards Reading and Henley on the A4074 going south. Turn left on the B480 towards COWLEY at the next exit off the dual carriageway.

FROM SOUTH/WEST LONDON M4

M4 junction 8/9 and then to HENLEY, from which take the A423 towards Oxford, turning right in the square, and then bearing left out of HENLEY, through NETTLEBED (Good pub, the White Hart, and some cheap petrol coming out of the village) and over the hills to CROWMARSH GIFFORD. Turn right onto the A4074, going north. Travel past Benson (large BP filling station on a roundabout) over the next (SHILLINGFORD) roundabout, over the next (BERINSFIELD) roundabout, and over the final roundabout at the junction with the B4015. Go through NUNEHAM COURTENAY (speed camera in middle of village) onto a dangerous windy road (dangerous because everyone thinks it is Brands Hatch, and they crash a lot) until you see the very next left turn sign, which is for COWLEY via the B480. Turn left then right and right again and follow the signs on the B480 through the Oxford Science Park to COWLEY.

FROM READING

Come over Caversham Bridge, staying in the left hand lane, and turn left up St Peters Hill towards Oxford on the A4074. Stay on this road all the way to CROWMARSH GIFFORD, and then follow the directions towards OXFORD, as written immediately above.

FROM THE WEST/SOUTH M4

Junction 13 of the M4, and turn north on the A34 towards OXFORD. Do NOT go through Abingdon. It is too easy to get lost on this route. Stay simple, and go PAST ABINGDON, and take the next exit, to the OXFORD RING ROAD. At the top of the off-ramp keep right around the roundabout, and stay on the ring road until you go up a slight hill to the Sainsbury’s roundabout at Heyford Hill where you turn right towards Reading and Henley on the A4074 going south. Turn left on the B480 towards COWLEY at the next exit off the dual carriageway.

Rob’s GOOD PUB Guide

I have assumed that you may want to come down for lunch or for an afternoon drink or both. However, any City slickers who want huge neo-Victorian boozers, which are well-used to large crowds, and are open all day, are going to be sorely disappointed.

We tend to have quite small pubs. Those I have so selectively listed are all charming in their different ways, and they are all game to host some of us nice ‘rugby folk.’ However if we just turn up without warning, we could swamp them, so each and every one of them has asked me to ask you to PHONE a week in advance if you are up for lunch or an afternoon session, if only to make sure they have enough food, staff and beer. They may well remain open all afternoon if you ask them to. If you don’t phone in advance for an afternoon pint, promising them lashings of business, virtually all of them will close after lunch, and bugger off for their siestas. Most pubs close at 3. LAST LUNCH ORDERS in this neck of the woods are all before 2pm prompt!

One last thing. Do me a favour. If you say you are going to visit, please do so. I have to drink there after you! Oh by the way, all but one serve Guinness!

CLOSER to the STADIUM

The SEVEN STARS at MARSH BALDON. 01865 343255. Located on a huge village green/common, but watch the right turn across the road. It’s on a corner. Quiet environment, with large garden. Decent beer and decent pub grub. Oak beams and quite a lot of space. A genuinely nice boozer. From the ground. Go south on the A4074 until the next village, NUNEHAM COURTENAY. As you exit the village turn left and the pub is about half a mile on the right hand side as you emerge onto the village green in MARSH BALDON. Going north from Crowmarsh, simply turn right as you hit the NUNEHAM COURTENAY Parish boundary.

The CHEQUERS at BURCOT. 01865 407771. Rather better than decent pub grub. Brakspeare’s Bitter plus a few more. Oak beams of course, and a roaring fire when needed. Nice place. From the ground. Go south on the A4074 to the second (BERINSFIELD) roundabout, where you turn right towards Abingdon on the A415. The pub is half a mile on the left. From Crowmarsh. Turn left at the BERINSFIELD roundabout onto the A415. From Abingdon. Take the A415 eastwards.

The DORCHESTER pubs….

Tread gently. This is my home turf! Sorry, but there isn’t a pub big enough for a coach load on its own. Half a coachload, yes, so you could split up!! From the M40 J7. About one mile after leaving Stadhampton on the B480 turn left onto the narrow windy B4015 at Chiselhampton. Three miles later, turn left, away from Oxford, onto the A4074, turn right at the next (BERINSFIELD) roundabout onto the A415, towards Abingdon, and a couple of hundred yards later take the next left into Dorchester. One mile on, turn right into the High Street. I’ll list them in the order you’ll find them from there. From the ground. Go south on the A4074 to the second roundabout, (BERINSFIELD) and turn right to Abingdon and left into the village. Coming north from Crowmarsh, bear left where signed, half a mile after the SHILLINGFORD roundabout, and come over the bridge into the village. Reverse the directions below. For the Chequers, turn off at the village end of the bridge. For the others, keep on coming and the first pub you’ll see will be the Fleur. And so on.

The WHITE HART HOTEL. 01865 340074. Long white building on left opposite the Co-Op. Reasonable bar with TV and open all afternoon. A good array of bitter. Dining Room not bad at all and reasonably priced. Car park round the back.

The GEORGE HOTEL. 01865 340404. NO KIDS here. A fading yellow and black stage coach outside, and the car park is up the back under the coaching arch. These days an iffy service and prices too high. Brakspeare’s Bitter kept well, plus Murphys rather than Guinness, and a very good selection of wine by the glass. THIS IS FOR LUNCH OR DINNER ONLY. It really isn’t a boozer as such, since the bar eaters are right on top of the barflies, or it may be the other way around.

The FLEUR DE LYS. 01865 341378. Next on the right after the GEORGE. A popular pub without pretensions. Chips or Jacket with all food. A number of beers on offer, plus a big garden. More tables than standing room, but who cares? This one is part tourist and part local, and which group predominates is down to luck. Can be good, and virtually never downright bad.

The CHEQUERS. 01865 340015. My kind of pub. No food apart from crisps and nuts and the best bitter for miles about, served slowly straight out of the barrel from a 15^th Century cellar. Hook Norton, Courage Best and Wadworths IPA all in mint nick. Big garden, darts, bar billiards and Aunt Sally pitch. Old fashioned pub as they used to be. No hats and no swearing, either, but fine conversation in the LI fashion with anyone who happens to be lurking. After passing the Fleur turn right immediately before the bridge and go down Bridge End. The pub is on the right, at the end. Doesn’t look much, but get inside and you’ll enjoy it.

…and the WARBOROUGH pubs

Warborough is off the Shillingford roundabout on the A4074. It is only a mile from Dorchester, perhaps not quite so pretty or concentrated, but it boasts a superb cricket square, which plays host to Somerset every summer, and adjacent to which there are two fine pubs. From the M40 J7. Instead of bearing right in Stadhampton towards Cowley, turn left at the BP garage onto the A329 which will bring you straight to Warborough. You’ll see the Cricketers first, on your right, and opposite that a road marked The Green North. That gets you to Nelly’s. Next turning is the Green South. That’s for the Six Bells. From the A4074. Turn off at the SHILLINGFORD roundabout just south of Dorchester. Read the above directions the other way around!

The CRICKETERS. 01865 858192. Not the prettiest exterior, but some excellent fresh food off a limited blackboard menu, some decent beer and a good few village locals as colour. Far far better than it looks.

The SIX BELLS. 01865 858265. Actually ON the Green, looking out over the cricket square. The food, by reputation, is pretty good, but probably no better than the Cricketers. Tiny bar, big outside, so if the weather’s foul, don’t bother.

About five miles further away, towards HENLEY/READING

The KING WILLIAM at HAILEY. 01491 681845 You’ll appreciate this more at lunchtime, for the view is stupendous. No exaggeration. You can see for 20 miles right across the top of the Thames Valley and nary a building in sight. Gorgeous, especially if the weather is good. Good beer pulled from the wood, and excellent food, but not perhaps for impoverished students seeking quantity rather than quality. From Reading. As you come down the fast hill from WOODCOTE, you’ll find a gentle chicane at the bottom before the road starts to go uphill again. Then you’ll see a building on your right. That is where you turn. Proceed for about one mile and turn left immediately before Ipsden Wildlife Park. Take the next right and the pub is 200 yards. From Crowmarsh, it’s about two miles, from the roundabout to the turn off the main road. Or you could take the one lane road 100 yards on the left after the CROWMARSH roundabout. Keep going is all I can say, until you notice a grand house behind a grand hedge on the left (It’s the only one. The rest is fields!) Turn left just after it, and the pub is 200 yards on.

The FOUR HORSESHOES at CHECKENDON. 01491 680325. Quite the nicest pub I can think of, run by Stuart, a genuine rugby man, once encountered in Brisbane after the first Lions test. Brakspeare’s bitter, kept well! Oak beams everywhere of course. Also do very good food, quite a bit above yer actual pub grub. Their Lamb Shank is to die for, at about £11. From the ground/CROWMARSH, turn south on the A4074, heading to READING. Go up the long hill past Woodcote and take the first turning on your left after Woodcote, signed to Checkendon. The pub is about a mile on the right. From Reading, turn right just milliseconds after passing the left turn into Woodcote, which is itself half a mile after passing the Oratory School on the left.

Alternatively, you might prefer THE HIGHWAYMAN 01491 482020 at next door EXLADE STREET. Coming from ground/CROWMARSH, take the second left after WOODCOTE (i.e. the next turn after the one to the Four Horseshoes) and the pub is half a mile on your right. Food is fine, and so is the beer. Better known than the Horseshoes, but in my critical view fame went to their head 20 years ago, so it’s less genuine and personal. Having said that, it’s perfectly OK, in a pretty setting. From Reading, turn right opposite the Oratory School before getting to Woodcote.

EN ROUTE FROM/TO JUNCTION 7 M40

The LAMB in LITTLE MILTON. 01844 279527. is the only half decent pub on this route and it is slap bang in the middle of MILTON on the right as you proceed to the ground from the motorway. Blink and you’ll miss it, because it’s quite small from the outside. The largish car park is behind, invisibly so, but is inaccessible to coaches. Good food and beer, without being pretentious. More oak beams!

EN ROUTE FROM/TO ABINGDON

On the A415. See the Chequers at Burcot. (Above) After that, going towards Abingdon, there is the PLOUGH at Clifton Hampden about two miles further on, but it is a non smoking pub, which may not amuse you if you want to smoke. Further still in the direction of Abingdon you’ll fall across the WAGGON & HORSES at the lights at CULHAM. Big boozer, not quite where you’d take Mum on Mothers Day, but you can make it your own! Pub grub and large garden.

NEARBY TOWNS

There are plenty of large steakhouse type places (and others too) in all three. The Oxford ones are mostly in the inaccessible town centre. The Abingdon ones are mostly on the main road just short of the A34 junction. Wallingford has a good Thai restaurant underneath the Lamb Arcade (Antiques) a bog standard Italian opposite, and an outstanding Italian four doors down the road. A good Indian Restaurant down by the bridge, plus two others near the lights in town. Watlington only has a fish and chip shop and rotten pubs! Of all the nearby towns, Thame is nicest for eating without undue parking hassles, and is worth a visit, if you are of the humour.

DISCLAIMER

The above are only my opinions. I have no interest in any pub, other than as a customer. Enjoy. And may the best team win.

Rob

27.01.03