Art Galleries

Cinemas

Gardens

Live Music

With so many students to cater for, you would expect Oxford to offer a vast array of live music, and whether you are looking for funk, soul, dance, jazz or rock you’re guaranteed to find it at one of the following venues.

After a major refurbishment two years ago, The Music Room, the upstairs venue at the Jericho Tavern, Jericho, where bands such as Radiohead and Supergrass cut their teeth, has reasserted itself as one of Oxford’s most important music venues. Tel: 01865 311775.
There is live music at Port Mahon, St Clements, most nights of the week. Friday nights (except bank holidays) are usually given over to the Oxford Folk Club. Local singer/songwriters often feature. Tel: 01865 202067.
The new Carling Academy Oxford, Cowley Road, is Oxford’s largest live music venue and attarcts big names. It has a capacity 900, and also includes The Zodiac and Bar Academy (capacity 280). Website: www.oxford-academy.co.uk
The Bullingdon Arms, Cowley Road, has music most nights. The usual schedule is blues on a Monday night and jazz on a Tuesday night, both from around 9pm to midnight. Wednesday night’s music starts slightly earlier, and varies in style from brand-new local artists to established names. Thursday night is student disco night. Saturday nights vary –– it could be DJs or live music. Sunday nights also vary, but the last Sunday night of the month is usually an accoustic open mic session. starting at 8pm. Tel: 01865 244516.

Museums

Oxford’s famous Ashmolean Museum was the world’s first university museum. Located in Beaumont Street, is under going a £49m redevelopment which will give it a world-class building to match its world-class collections — including the Alfred Jewel and the works of Michelangelo, Raphael and da Vinci. Admission to the museum is free. Tel: 01865 278000, website: www.ashmolean.org
Admission is also free to the spectacular neo-Gothic Oxford University Museum of Natural History, on Parks Road near Keble College. The exhibits include two real dinosaur skeletons and a display of all the species of birds recorded in Britain. Other famous residents are the swifts in the tower, and the mummified head and foot of a dodo — the most complete remains of a single dodo in the world. Tel: 01865 272950, website: www.oum.ox.ac.uk
In the same building is The Pitt Rivers Museum, one of Oxford’s real curiosities. It is a gloriously cluttered treasure trove of curiosities from around the world. It was founded in 1884 when General Pitt Rivers, an anthropologist and ethnographer as well as a military man, donated his collection of objects from all around the world. Initially there were 18,000 objects, but today the figure is 500,000. Admission is free. Tel: 01865 270927, website: www.prm.ox.ac.uk
Also free is The Museum of the History of Science, which houses an unrivalled collection of historic scientific instruments in the world’s oldest surviving purpose-built museum building, the Old Ashmolean. Located on Broad Street, it is in the very centre of Oxford, next to the Sheldonian Theatre and directly opposite Blackwell’s main bookshop. Tel: 01865 277280, website: www.mhs.ox.ac.uk

Parks

Green spaces are the lungs of any city, and can change a place from chocked and congested to vibrant and peaceful. New York may have Central Park, but Oxford has a great number of different green spaces where visitors can relax, soak up the sun, enjoy nature or watch the river go by.
But Oxford’s parks aren’t reserved solely for quiet relaxation — they are also venues for major music events and festivals. The list below is not exhaustive, but gives an idea of the variety of green spaces that Oxford has to offer.

Christ Church Meadow is held in trust by the college after which it is named. In the spring and summer terms, this is a popular place to watch the boat races. The main entrance is via the War Memorial Gardens in St Aldate’s, but there are also entrances at Rose Lane and Merton Street. Wheelchair access is from St Aldate’s via St Aldate’s Lane at the side of Christ Church College.
Magdalen College has a deer park which is open from 1pm to 6pm every day. Admission is £3 for adults, £2 for concessions and free for Bodleian card holders and Oxford residents.
With more than 50 acres, South Park is one of Oxford’s largest parks, along with Headington Hill Park, from which it is separated by the main London Road.
Port Meadow and Wolvercote Common together are a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a Scheduled Ancient Monument. They are also part of a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) under the European Habitats Directive.
Port Meadow is famous both for its wealth of bird life and for its well-preserved Bronze Age and Iron Age settlements. Access to Port Meadow is via Walton Well Road or Aristotle Lane (both in Jericho) in the south, or from Wolvercote, in the north. There is unrestricted access.
University Parks, near Keble College, includes a large duck pond and cricket ground. Access is through the gates in Parks Road or South Parks Road, and this is suitable for wheelchairs. It is closed for the annual St Giles’ Fair in September.

Shopping

The Covered Market is a shopping treasure trove, with plenty of one-off shops that can’t be found anywhere else. Jewellery, clothes, artfully decorated cakes, exotic food and designer handbags can all be found here, along with a dazzling array of fruit and vegetables and specialities like the Oxford Blue farmhouse cheese.
On the subject of shopping, surely Oxford is the place to visit an Oxfam shop. Oxfam began as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief, and still has strong links to the town, though it is now one of the world’s most famous charities. The Oxfam shop on Broad Street was the first Oxfam shop and the first ever charity shop in Britain, while the book shop on St Giles was the first ever Oxfam book shop.
But people don’t visit them for the history –– they go for the incredibly high quality of the merchendise.
Most of the high street chain stores can be found in Cornmarket Street and Queen Street and there are two malls, Clarendon Centre and Westgate.

Theatres

Formerly the Apollo, The New Theatre, George Street, has become even better since it reverted to its original name. There is now a bigger choice of shows, and facilities for disabled patrons have improved greatly. Tel: 01865 320760, webiste: www.livenation.co.uk. Booking is through Ticketmaster on 0870 606 3500.
Oxford Playhouse has a varied programme of plays, dance, opera, children’s shows and some concerts. Tel: 01865 305305, website: www.oxfordplayhouse.com
The Burton Taylor is owned by Oxford University and during term-time it is the venue for many student productions. Outside term-time, it is open to both local and touring companies. Productions tend to be on a small scale to reflect the intimacy of the 50-seater venue. Advance bookings is through Oxford Playhouse on 01865 305305, website: www.burtontaylor.co.uk
The Old Fire Station Theatre, George Street, is mainly a venue for student productions, especially in term time. There is a café-bar open from noon until 2am (the venue becomes a nightclub at 9pm). Tel: 01865 297170
Pegasus Theatre, Magdalen Road, is the headquarters of the Oxford Youth Theatre. It presents theatre, dance and other performing arts. Tel: 01865 722851, website: www.pegasustheatre.org.uk

Tours

The open-top tourist buses are a good way of seeing Oxford quickly. City Sightseeing runs tours every 15 to 30 minutes in winter and every ten minutes during summer. There is no need to book and your ticket will be valid all day so you are free to alight at any designated stops. Website: www.citysightseeingoxford.com
If you prefer to explore on foot, try a walking tour. Themed walks include The Inspector Morse tour, university and city, pubs and inns, a family tour, ghost walks and Oxford past and present.
The Guild of Guides in Oxford offer walking tours of the colleges and the city centre for pre-booked groups throughout the year. These tours are available in English and a variety of other languages, including French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Danish, Dutch, Arabic and Swiss.
To book places on any of these tours contact the Oxford Tourist Information Centre, call 01865 250551 or visit www.visitoxford.org
Take a tour around Oxford Castle, New Street, with a hand-held tour guide, which shows you video clips, commentary and subtiles for visitors with hearing difficulties. Find out about past prisoners, look around the underground crypt, climb the Saxon St George’s Tower, walk around the mound of the 11th century motte and learn about the Oxford Castle curse. Tel: 01865 260666, website: www.oxfordcastleunlocked.co.uk