Oxford Right Now

One of England's oldest schools — strong academics and sport in a less intense setting than the Oxford schools.

Oxford's FE college — vocational courses, apprenticeships, and practical skills training.

Oxford's longest-running Lebanese restaurant — three decades of mezze on a quiet Jericho crescent.

Authentic Italian gelato in the Covered Market.

The real shop that inspired Tenniel's illustration in Through the Looking-Glass — now selling all things Alice.

No students, the hardest exam in the world, and Hawksmoor's twin towers

The world's first university museum — free, with major collections of art and archaeology.

One of Oxford's oldest colleges — plain outside, historically significant inside

Entirely plant-based street food — bold flavours drawn from global traditions.

Eynsham's secondary — a well-regarded rural comprehensive west of Oxford.

The original Ben's Cookies — baked fresh in the Covered Market since 1984, famous far beyond Oxford.

Cocktails and pizza on the Cowley Road — a good-time bar that takes both seriously enough.

An Oxford institution since 1879 — Broad Street bookshop with the cavernous Norrington Room below.

One of the oldest libraries in Europe — the Divinity School, Duke Humfrey's Library, and the Radcliffe Camera.

Jericho's Italian anchor — reliable pizza, proper cocktails, and a terrace that makes you forget you're in England.

Right behind the Radcliffe Camera — an intimate college with a painted chapel ceiling

Specialty coffee and pour-overs on Banbury Road — Oxford's serious coffee destination since 2013.

Broad Street's independent art supplies shop — paints, papers, and materials for working artists and students.

Loose-leaf teas and freshly roasted coffees in the Covered Market — the smell alone is worth the detour.

Headington's comprehensive — inclusive, improving, and proudly comprehensive.

A highly oversubscribed state school on Marston Ferry Road — strong results within a comprehensive framework.

Oxford's grandest college — part cathedral, part palace, all spectacle

Specialty coffee in a medieval courtyard.

Social enterprise cafe and co-working space in Jericho.

One of Oxford's smallest colleges, with a famous pelican sundial

Oxford's alternative independent — first names, no uniform, strong sixth form.

A proper traditional butcher in the Covered Market — locally sourced meat, hand-cut to order.

Tiny, no-frills Japanese canteen on Holywell Street — ramen, donburi, gyoza, and bento boxes.

Tolkien's college, a miniature Sainte-Chapelle, and a hidden view over Radcliffe Square

A civilised wine bar hidden down Friars Entry — the name is accurate, the escape from the crowds is real.

A former Jericho bar in a deconsecrated Greek Revival church — currently closed, with the building under new ownership.

Oxford's own ice cream since 1992 — handmade, inventive, and open past midnight.

Seasonal British cooking in a Victorian glasshouse — an unusual and distinctive dining room.

A modern graduate college wrapped around a Georgian observatory tower

Oxford's mature-student college with notable Pre-Raphaelite stained glass

A large girls' school in Headington — boarding and day, from age 3 to 18.

Home of the Bridge of Sighs — Oxford’s most photographed architectural moment

Independent coffee from a horsebox outside the Natural History Museum.

Ethically sourced, Oxford-roasted specialty coffee — direct-trade beans with full traceability.

The Welsh college on Turl Street — quieter than its neighbours, full of character

Moorish-style tapas bar on the Cowley Road — lanterns, cocktails, and sharing plates.

Victorian polychrome brick — Oxford's most divisive building and a masterpiece painting

Oxford's part-time and continuing education hub — not a tourist destination

Riverside gardens and pioneering history, away from the tourist crush

A proper Oxford local — ancient, unpretentious, and owned by St John's College.

An eco-focused graduate college — admirable but not a visitor attraction

A perfectly preserved medieval gem on Turl Street — John Wesley's college

Extensive grounds with a deer park, river walks, and a famous tower

Oxford's academic powerhouse — consistently one of the top-performing schools in the country.

A Nonconformist college with a Gothic Revival chapel and progressive spirit

West Oxford's secondary — a community comprehensive named after the Victorian poet.

Oxford's oldest quad, a medieval library, and Tolkien's second home

Medieval cloisters, a stretch of city wall, and a chapel with an El Greco

Oxford's choir school — tiny, musical, and tucked behind New College's medieval walls.

Rooftop cocktails with a view of the Bodleian spires — Oxford's closest thing to a sky bar.

Oxford's social science powerhouse — architecturally divisive, intellectually formidable

Mid-century furniture, vintage homeware, and salvaged curiosities on the Cowley Road.

Well-regarded Thai food in a tiny room with a BYOB policy — no corkage, no fuss.

Formerly the Angel & Greyhound — relaunched under Morgan Pub Collective with craft beer and a strong beer garden.

Oxford's oldest royal foundation — seven centuries on a beautiful square

Oxford's modern university — career-focused courses, strong in architecture, planning, and health sciences.

The GDST's Oxford flagship — academically rigorous, no-nonsense, and proudly day school.

Fine dining on the Banbury Road — tasting menus with ambition and precision.

East Oxford's academy — serving one of the city's most diverse communities.

Dinosaurs, dodos, and Darwin's legacy — all under a Gothic Revival iron-and-glass roof.

The retail home of the world's largest university press — dictionaries, academic texts, and OUP's full catalogue on the High Street.

Samuel Johnson's college — quietly handsome, just off St Aldate's

Old-school French bistro on Little Clarendon Street — steak frites, carafes of wine, and no apologies.

A Victorian cabinet of curiosities — shrunken heads, totem poles, and half a million objects from every culture on earth.

Grand brasserie in the Old Bank Hotel — High Street people-watching with a menu that covers all bases.

A tiny Baptist hall on St Giles' — small and friendly

A small Catholic girls' school in Headington — nurturing and community-minded.

Antique maps, prints, and engravings on the High Street — established 1967.

No-frills Thai cooking on the Cowley Road — big flavours, tiny prices, zero pretension.

Fine pens, handmade papers, and writing instruments on Turl Street.

Cantonese dim sum and Chinese cooking on St Aldates — popular with Oxford's Chinese students.

Specialty coffee done with warmth and precision — pour-over and filter in central Oxford.

A pioneering women's college — alumni include Thatcher, Sayers, and Indira Gandhi

Proper Caribbean food on the Cowley Road — jerk chicken with soul, plantain with crunch, and rice and peas done right.

A modernist campus college with a strong access ethos — not a sightseeing stop

Oxford's international affairs college — impressive seminars, not impressive buildings

Designed by Arne Jacobsen — a complete modernist campus with sculpture gardens by the Cherwell

Oxford's International Baccalaureate specialist — global student body, liberal ethos.

A small graduate college on St Giles' — pleasant but not a visitor destination

The oldest academic hall in any university — 800 years in a tiny quad off Queen's Lane

Known as 'Teddies' — a proper boarding school with a surprisingly warm, unpretentious culture.

Oxford's Catholic comprehensive — strong community ethos, faith-based admissions.

A day school for girls in Abingdon — strong academics, partnership with Abingdon School.

Oxford's last single-sex college (until 2008), with Cherwell riverside gardens

14 acres of gardens in North Oxford — one of the largest college grounds in the university

A country prep school with a loyal following — rural setting, strong boarding tradition.

Oxford's wealthiest college — Canterbury Quad, large gardens, and serious money

A young college on an ancient site — unassuming but well located near the castle

A traditional boys' prep school with a strong record of scholarships to Eton and Winchester.

The Covered Market's organic grocer — wholefood staples, fresh produce, and zero-waste refills before it was fashionable.

A well-stocked museum shop — jewellery, prints, and design objects inspired by the Ashmolean's collection.

Oxford's oldest pub — famous for its tie collection and recently expanded into a larger space.

Every type of brush imaginable — a Covered Market institution.

An independent bakery in the Covered Market — honest cakes, pastries, and bakes without the artisan price tag.

A friendly local perched on The Plain roundabout — the gateway pub to east Oxford.

A proper pub hiding in plain sight on the High Street — the 15th-century beams are the real deal.

A warm-hearted backstreet local between Cowley and Iffley Roads — the garden alone is worth the detour.

Sri Lankan street food tapas — fiery, fragrant, and well priced.

Oxford's beating heart since 1774 — over 50 independent stalls under one historic roof.

A well-known co-ed prep school in North Oxford — large campus, broad curriculum, strong alumni network.

Where the Inklings met — Tolkien and Lewis's local on St Giles'.

A fully vegetarian pub on a Jericho backstreet — with a garden that lives up to the name.

A no-frills St Clement's local where the quiz is taken seriously and the prices aren't.

Bike-themed cafe-bar on St Michael's Street — good coffee by day, cocktails by night.

A big riverside pub at Folly Bridge — the terrace over the Thames is the whole point.

Reachable only on foot or by boat — a riverside pub at Iffley Lock that feels like a secret.

The pub where Radiohead played their first gig — Oxford's main small live music venue.

Oxford's quintessential student pub — Young's ales on Holywell Street, opposite the Bodleian.

Cheap cocktails and a sticky floor — Cowley Road's unrepentant late-night favourite.

A serious kitchen in a proper pub — nose-to-tail cooking, popular Sunday roasts, and not a gastro cliche in sight.

A proper village pub in Headington Quarry — the kind of place C.S. Lewis would have walked to, because he did.

Oxford's original specialty coffee shop — own-roasted beans on Turl Street.

A tiny Jericho backstreet bistro serving French-inflected food in an intimate setting.

A serious cheese counter in the Covered Market — British and European artisan cheeses, cut to order.

A thatched riverside pub reached via a walk across Port Meadow.

A baroque showpiece on the High Street — Oxford's only fully classical college

A village green pub in Wolvercote — proper ale, proper food, properly relaxed.

Jericho's brunch-to-cocktails pub — a Cranham Street all-day spot with craft beer and a courtyard.

North Parade's anchor pub — a proper local where the landlord knows every regular by name.

A down-to-earth real ale pub just off the beaten track in St Ebbes.

A Cowley Road all-rounder — good burgers, craft beer, and a garden that earns its keep.

Indian street food and cocktails on Hythe Bridge Street — chaat, grills, thalis, and a full bar.

A fiercely loved backstreet local off Cowley Road — the kind of pub communities fight to save.

Oxford's newest state school — purpose-built, oversubscribed, and still finding its identity.

Inspector Morse's local, perched over a weir on the Thames at Wolvercote — come for the view, stay for the atmosphere.

A well-hidden pub, tucked down a medieval alleyway behind the Bodleian.

A solid Jericho local — unpretentious, reliable, and always good for a quiet pint.

A tiny Broad Street pub squeezed between Blackwell's and the Bodleian — smaller than some college rooms.

Oxford's board game cafe — over 2,500 games, a bar, and someone on hand to explain the rules.

Spacious gardens and a Wren chapel on Broad Street — often overlooked

Coffee and vinyl on the Cowley Road — browse records with a flat white in hand.

A social enterprise restaurant on Turl Street — closed in May 2025. Oxford Hub has relocated to Little Clarendon Street.

Vintage clothing on the Cowley Road — rammed rails at student-friendly prices.

Possibly Oxford's oldest college — Shelley's memorial and a long High Street facade

A beloved Oxford cafe that relocated from its famous Radcliffe Square crypt to King Edward Street in late 2025.

A well-preserved Jacobean quad, large gardens, and a progressive reputation

Just east of Oxford — a village comprehensive with a strong community identity.

Isaiah Berlin's riverside graduate college — pleasant Cherwell-side setting

A lake, medieval cottages, and large gardens — one of central Oxford's hidden landscapes

Tiny, nurturing, and deliberately different — Oxford's smallest senior girls' school.

Chinese-Malaysian cooking in Jericho — refined flavours, a proper wine list, and neighbourhood atmosphere.