Turf Tavern

{{Infobox building

| name = Turf Tavern

| image = Turf Tavern in Oxford, England.jpg

| caption = Turf Tavern located in Oxford, England.

| map_type = Oxford (central)

| map_caption = Location within Central Oxford

| coordinates = {{coord|51.7547|-1.253|region:GB|format=dms|display=inline,title}}

| address =

| owner = Greene King

| opened =

| closed =

| website = [http://www.theturftavern.co.uk/ Turf Tavern website]

}}

The Turf Tavern is a pub in central Oxford, England. It first opened around the end of 18th century as a public house named The Spotted Cow.{{cite book |last1=Salter |first1=Herbert Edward |title=Oxford City Properties |date=1926 |publisher=At the Clarendon Press for the Oxford historical society |page=321 |url=http://www.google.com/books/edition/Oxford_City_Properties/Y_RAAAAAYAAJ |access-date=5 May 2025 |language=en |quote=About the end of the eighteenth century, when building land was scarce, several small tenements were erected in Hell Passage, as it was called, including a public - house called the Spotted Cow, now the Turf Tavern}}

The pub is frequented primarily by students. It is located at the end of a narrow winding alley, St Helens Passage (originally Hell Passage), between Holywell Street and New College Lane, near the Bridge of Sighs.{{Cite news|url=http://gouk.about.com/od/foodanddrink/fr/oxfordturf.htm|title=Find a Hidden Oxford Pub Down a Secret Alley|work=TripSavvy|access-date=2018-09-02|archive-date=22 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222195453/http://gouk.about.com/od/foodanddrink/fr/oxfordturf.htm|url-status=dead}} 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.{{Cite web|url=http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/14158453.Oxford_s_Turf_Tavern_to_undergo_a_facelift/|title=Oxford's Turf Tavern to undergo a facelift|website=Oxford Mail|date=21 December 2015 |language=en|access-date=2018-09-02}}

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 become the site of pilgrimage for Australian tourists and students, with politicians unsuccessfully advocating for a heritage plaque to recognize its historical significance.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jun/14/bob-hawke-could-be-set-for-an-oxford-blue-plaque-for-beer-drinking-record|title = Bob Hawke's beer-drinking record may be marked by Oxford blue plaque|website = TheGuardian.com|date = 14 June 2019}} 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.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 Numerous journalists have also reported that the Turf Tavern is not the location where Hawke set his record.{{cite web | url=https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/70-years-on-bob-hawke-s-oxford-pub-pays-tribute-to-legendary-skol-20240608-p5jk8f.html | title=Seventy years on, Oxford pub pays tribute to Bob Hawke's legendary skol | date=8 June 2024 }}{{cite web | url=https://7news.com.au/politics/bob-hawke-why-theyre-having-a-beer-for-bob-at-oxford-university-c-118558 | title='A bit of a legend': Why they're having a beer for Bob in Oxford | date=17 May 2019 }}{{cite web | url=https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/the-secret-history-of-british-pub-myth-making-20190615-p51y1a.html | title=The secret history of British pub myth-making | date=15 June 2019 }}

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.{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/pubs/5160081/Oxfordshire-pub-guide-The-Turf-Tavern-in-Oxford.html|title=Oxfordshire Pub Guide: The Turf Tavern, Oxford|last=Middleton|first=Christopher|journal=Daily Telegraph|date=2009-04-17|access-date=2018-09-02|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}} 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|date=February 2020}} 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.{{cite news |title=Bob Hawke's beer-drinking record may be marked by Oxford blue plaque |url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/jun/14/bob-hawke-could-be-set-for-an-oxford-blue-plaque-for-beer-drinking-record |access-date=12 July 2021 |agency=The Guardian |publisher= |date=14 June 2019}}{{cite web |title=Turf Tavern |url=https://www.lonelyplanet.com/england/oxfordshire/oxford/nightlife/turf-tavern/a/poi-dri/1218075/358941 |website=Lonely Planet |access-date=12 July 2021}}{{cite web |title=The Turf Tavern |url=https://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/places/food-and-drink/pubs/t4-p302/the-turf-tavern |website=Daily Info |date=22 April 2013 |access-date=12 July 2021}}{{cite book |last1=Will-Weber |first1=Mark |title=Mint Juleps with Teddy Roosevelt The Complete History of Presidential Drinking |date=2014 |publisher=Regnery Publishing |location=Washington, DC |isbn=9781621572435 |page=346 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5iJuAwAAQBAJ&dq=%22clinton%22+AND+%22turf+tavern%22+AND+%22did+not+inhale%22&pg=PA346 |access-date=12 July 2021}}

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

References

External links

{{official|https://www.greeneking-pubs.co.uk/pubs/oxfordshire/turf-tavern/}}

Category:Pubs in Oxford