Good pubs and good bar staff should appreciate detail. In a 'top' London drinkery I've watched as beer dribbled down my glass on to the solid steel beneath, pooling at the base where a beer mat should have been. When beer is served in a sparkling glass, taken back to the pump to ensure that the foam reaches the rim, and then placed carefully in front of you, you gladly hand your money over. When the bar man can advise on the perfect drink for your mood without referring to a brewery placed placard (a masterclass of which was delivered in
The Prince of Wales, Ledbury), you itch to tell your friends. Attention to detail brings business.
The Anchor - in Oxford's much idoloised inner-suburb of
Jericho - delivers on detail. Traipsing in from the cold after an hour of football to find the embers of a log fire glowing and a half-pint of
Wadworth's 6X (4.3%) placed within an inch of my right-hand is perfection pubsonified.
Those from further-a-field often consider The Anchor to be solely a
restaurant. The locals have other ideas, treating this as a regular pub. It's both, and done well. Taking the old school approach and having (shock!) more than one bar, The Anchor keeps the
Good Food Guide crowd away from those just seeking liquid refreshment with the simple intervention of a wall. Drinks on the left, meals on the right. Ace.
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