Turf Tavern

Last updated

Turf Tavern
Turf Tavern in Oxford, England.jpg
Turf Tavern located in Oxford, England.
Oxford map small.svg
Red pog.svg
Location within Central Oxford
General information
Coordinates 51°45′17″N1°15′11″W / 51.7547°N 1.253°W / 51.7547; -1.253
OwnerGreene King
Website
Turf Tavern website

The Turf Tavern is a pub in central Oxford, England. Its foundations and use as a malt house and drinking tavern date back to 1381.[ citation needed ] The low-beamed front bar area was put in place sometime in the 17th century. [1] It was originally called the Spotted Cow but the name was changed in 1842, likely as part of an effort to extinguish its reputation as a venue for illegal gambling activities.[ citation needed ]

Contents

The pub is frequented primarily by students. It is located at the end of a narrow winding alley, St Helens Passage (originally Hell's passage), between Holywell Street and New College Lane, near the Bridge of Sighs. [2] Running along one side of the pub is one of the remaining sections of the old city wall. Due to the illegal activities of many of its original patrons, the Turf sprang up in an area just outside the city wall in order to escape the jurisdiction of the governing bodies of the local colleges. [3]

Historical significance

The Turf Tavern incorrectly advertises itself as the site where future Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke set a Guinness Record for consuming a yard glass of ale in 1963. As a result the pub has erroneously become the site of pilgrimage for Australian tourists and students, with politicians unsuccessfully advocating for a heritage plaque to recognize its historical significance. [4] A historian has shown that the pub is not connected to the record set by Hawke, with Hawke himself offering two possible alternate locations where he supposedly set a beer record in 1954 or 1955. [5] Numerous journalists have also reported that the Turf Tavern is not the location where Hawke set his record. [6] [7] [8]

Other public figures who are said to have dined or drunk at the tavern include Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Tony Blair, CS Lewis, Stephen Hawking and Margaret Thatcher. [9] It also served as a hangout for the cast and crew of the Harry Potter movies while the nearby colleges were used as locations throughout the filming of the series.[ citation needed ] The Turf Tavern also claims to be the location where future American president Bill Clinton, while a student at University College, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, famously smoked "but did not inhale" marijuana. [10] [11] [12] [13]

It was also featured in the ITV TV Series Inspector Morse aired between 1987 and 2000. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Hawke</span> Prime Minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991

Robert James Lee Hawke was an Australian politician and trade unionist who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991. He held office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), having previously served as the president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions from 1969 to 1980 and president of the Labor Party national executive from 1973 to 1978.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pub</span> Establishment that serves alcoholic drinks

A pub is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private houses from those open to the public as alehouses, taverns and inns. Today, there is no strict definition, but CAMRA states a pub has four characteristics:

  1. is open to the public without membership or residency
  2. serves draught beer or cider without requiring food be consumed
  3. has at least one indoor area not laid out for meals
  4. allows drinks to be bought at a bar
<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bar (establishment)</span> Establishment serving alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises

A bar, also known as a saloon, a tavern or tippling house, or sometimes as a pub or club, is an establishment retail business that serves alcoholic beverages, such as beer, wine, liquor, cocktails, and other beverages such as mineral water and soft drinks. Bars often also sell snack foods, such as crisps or peanuts, for consumption on their premises. Some types of bars, such as pubs, may also serve food from a restaurant menu. The term "bar" refers to the countertop where drinks are prepared and served, and by extension to the overall premises.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drinking culture</span> Aspect of human behavior

Drinking culture is the set of traditions and social behaviours that surround the consumption of alcoholic beverages as a recreational drug and social lubricant. Although alcoholic beverages and social attitudes toward drinking vary around the world, nearly every civilization has independently discovered the processes of brewing beer, fermenting wine, and distilling spirits, among other practices. Many countries have developed their own regional cultures based on unique traditions around the fermentation and consumption of alcohol, which may also be known as a beer culture, wine culture etc. after a particularly prominent type of drink.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beer garden</span> Outdoor area in which beer, other drinks, and local food are served

A beer garden is an outdoor area in which beer and food are served, typically at shared tables shaded by trees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yard of ale</span> Very tall beer glass

A yard of ale or yard glass is a very tall beer glass used for drinking around 2+12 imperial pints (1.4 L) of beer, depending upon the diameter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cranbrook School, Sydney</span> School in Australia

Cranbrook School is an independent Anglican day and boarding school, with multiple campuses in Sydney's eastern suburbs New South Wales, Australia for students from pre-school to year 12. The school was founded in 1918 with the Rev'd Frederick Thomas Perkins as the first headmaster. Cranbrook has a non-selective enrollment policy and currently caters for approximately 1,680 students from early learning to Year 12, including 80 boarders from Years 7 to 12. The school is currently single-sex, but plans to be fully co-educational in the Senior School by 2029, with the first enrollment of female students planned for 2026. Its pre-schools are already co-educational. Cranbrook is affiliated with the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA), the Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA), the Australian Boarding Schools' Association (ABSA), and the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. It is a founding member of the Combined Associated Schools (CAS). and the Independent Sporting Association (ISA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Officeworks</span> Australian office supply store chain owned by Wesfarmers

Officeworks is a chain of Australian office supplies stores operated under parent company Wesfarmers.

Daniel Paris is an Australian actor and photographer. He is best known for playing the role of Drew Kirk in the Australian soap opera Neighbours.

Judith Mary Stuart Farr, also credited as Judy Farr, was an Australian actress of theatre, film and television, with a career spanning some seven decades, she was best known for several situation comedy roles on Australian television. Farr also appeared in Australian films such as December Boys and Walking on Water, for which she won an AFI award.

Asmara Brewery is a brewery in Eritrea, founded in 1938. The brewery was nationalized by the Derg during the Eritrean War of Independence. The brewery operates a football team, which plays in the Eritrean Premier League. The factory has over 600 employees.

Matthew Holmes is an Australian actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drinking establishment</span> Business

A drinking establishment is a business whose primary function is the serving of alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises. Some establishments may also serve food, or have entertainment, but their main purpose is to serve alcoholic beverages. There are different types of drinking establishment ranging from seedy bars or nightclubs, sometimes termed "dive bars", to 5,000 seat beer halls and elegant places of entertainment for the elite. A public house, informally known as a "pub", is an establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises in countries and regions of British influence. Although the terms are increasingly used to refer to the same thing, there is a difference between pubs, bars, inns, taverns and lounges where alcohol is served commercially. A tavern or pot-house is, loosely, a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and, more than likely, also be served food, though not licensed to put up guests. The word derives from the Latin taberna and the Greek ταβέρνα/taverna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Redcliffe State High School</span> School in Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia

Redcliffe State High School is an independent co-educational public high school based in Redcliffe in Queensland, Australia. The school initially opened in 1958 on the eastern side of Oxley Avenue, with sporting facilities on the land adjacent. In order to meet growing demands, the school classroom facilities have since expanded onto the adjacent land across Oxley Avenue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">T-Room</span> Restaurant in Nova Scotia, Canada

The T-Room is a campus bar located in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Barrington Street between Spring Garden Road and Morris Street. It was opened in 1937 by Fredrick H. Sexton on the campus of the Nova Scotia Technical College, which is today the Sexton Campus of Dalhousie University. Dr. Sexton served as the first principal, and later president, of NSTC from 1907 to 1947.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Epstein (Australia)</span>

David Andrew Newington Epstein is Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister of Australia. He is a public affairs specialist, and was previously a company director, corporate adviser and Chair of Communications Compliance Limited, an independent consumer compliance monitoring body for the telecommunications industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lees Hotel</span>

Lees Hotel in Ingham, Queensland, a Queensland icon, is recognised as the official Pub with No Beer made famous by Slim Dusty's song "A Pub with No Beer". The 1957 song, which became Australia's first international hit, was based on the poem A Pub Without Beer written by Ingham sugarcane farmer and poet Dan Sheahan in the Day Dawn Hotel, now known as Lees Hotel, in Ingham in 1943.

Cameron James Coventry is a historian and postdoctoral research associate at Federation University Australia. In a 2021 article he unveiled the political and diplomatic history of former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke's secret involvement with the United States of America during the 1970s. Another journal work, Links in the Chain, was published in 2019. It marked the first attempt by a historian to comprehensively assess the extent of Australian financial benefit from British slavery.

References

  1. "Turf Tavern pub in Oxford". Greene King Local Pubs. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Find a Hidden Oxford Pub Down a Secret Alley". TripSavvy. Archived from the original on 22 February 2017. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  3. "Oxford's Turf Tavern to undergo a facelift". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  4. "Bob Hawke's beer-drinking record may be marked by Oxford blue plaque". TheGuardian.com . 14 June 2019.
  5. C. J. Coventry, Sedimentary Layers: Bob Hawke's Beer World Record And Ocker Chic, Journal of Australian Studies, 2023, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14443058.2023.2215790
  6. https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/70-years-on-bob-hawke-s-oxford-pub-pays-tribute-to-legendary-skol-20240608-p5jk8f.html [ bare URL ]
  7. https://7news.com.au/politics/bob-hawke-why-theyre-having-a-beer-for-bob-at-oxford-university-c-118558 [ bare URL ]
  8. https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/the-secret-history-of-british-pub-myth-making-20190615-p51y1a.html [ bare URL ]
  9. Middleton, Christopher (17 April 2009). "Oxfordshire Pub Guide: The Turf Tavern, Oxford". Daily Telegraph. ISSN   0307-1235 . Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  10. "Bob Hawke's beer-drinking record may be marked by Oxford blue plaque". The Guardian. 14 June 2019. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  11. "Turf Tavern". Lonely Planet. Lonely Planet. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  12. "The Turf Tavern". Daily Info. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  13. Will-Weber, Mark (2014). Mint Juleps with Teddy Roosevelt The Complete History of Presidential Drinking. Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing. p. 346. ISBN   9781621572435 . Retrieved 12 July 2021.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Turf Tavern, Oxford at Wikimedia Commons