Historical version 5 of Radcliffe Arms (view current version)

  • 514762
  • 67 Cranham Street (map of this place)
  • OX2 6DS
  • Food served from midday to 2:30pm and 6pm to 9pm, seven days a week. Sundays is roasts and salads only.

White building with black beams on the corner of Cranham Street and [Cranham Terrace]?. The other Radcliffe Arms in the country are mostly in Yorkshire, with two in Hitchin and Kidderminster. The beer on offer is Marstons Pedigree, Old Speckled Hen and Theakston XB, and they often have Hobgoblin. All sparklered by default, but they don't mind taking them off.

The RA has got slower. Once upon a time, you could order your food (a cheeseburger and two slices of garlic toast on white, please. There's your three quid forty, the name's OxIRC, we'll be in the garden.) and pay for it, and find it waiting for you by the time you get to your seat. Now there's about two or three minutes wait for food. They also now have a computerised system which annoyingly insists on table numbers.

The great thing about the RA is that it's absolutely consistent. You can go in, order food and you know it'll be as good or as bad, as fast or as slow, as it was last week. The food is insanely cheap. I mean, really, really stupidly cheap. Raptor has a transcription of the menu from a year or two, but to be honest, it hasn't really changed since then. [Well, it appears to have increased in price. For example the cheese burger is now £3 rather than £2.40, and the pizzas are no longer available, however it is still reasonable value] I don't know how they do it. And, of course, it comes to you pretty quickly.

If you're eating here, head for the "garden" - the conservatory area right at the very far end of the pub. Come in and follow the bar round to your right, then pass through the TV room and turn right into the conservatory. If you can come in and tell the bar staff that you're eating in the garden, you'll sound like a reg.

The beer is variable. It's usually bad, and I end up drinking Guinness or cider for lack of choice, but once in a blue moon there's a guest real ale. But this isn't really a place you go for beer; you go for cheap food and good hacker meetspace.

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OS X co-ord: 450605     OS Y co-ord: 207063     (Latitude: 51.759510 Longitude: -1.266708)
This is version 5 (as of 2004-09-10 19:19:59). View current version. List all versions.