Turf Tavern Oxford: History and Notable Connections

Turf Tavern is a pub in central Oxford, England. It is associated with the former name The Spotted Cow, its position technically outside Oxford’s historical walls and a long list of notable Oxford connections.

What is Turf Tavern in Oxford?

Turf Tavern is a central Oxford pub that first opened around the end of the 18th century as a public house named The Spotted Cow, according to Wikipedia. The place is also described in The Oxford Exam, a self-guided Oxford route, which gives it a much earlier history.

What is the history of Turf Tavern?

The sources preserve two different accounts of Turf Tavern’s age. The Oxford Exam describes the pub as dating back to the 14th century and says it was originally called the Spotted Cow. The same account points out that the pub was technically outside Oxford’s walls, connecting that position with the opportunity it gave students to drink there.

Wikipedia gives a later origin, stating that Turf Tavern first opened around the end of the 18th century as The Spotted Cow. These accounts should not be merged into one precise founding date: the 14th-century description comes from The Oxford Exam, while the later opening account comes from Wikipedia.

Which famous people are associated with Turf Tavern?

The Oxford Exam names Tony Blair, C. S. Lewis, Oscar Wilde, Stephen Hawking and Margaret Thatcher among Turf Tavern’s past pub pupils. Its account also associates Bill Clinton with the pub during his student years at Oxford.

The pub is also connected in the source to a story about Bob Hawke, the former prime minister of Australia. The story says that in 1954 he set a Guinness World Record at Turf Tavern by drinking a yard of beer in 11 seconds, before he became prime minister. The source itself notes that there is debate about whether the feat happened at Turf Tavern, so it is best treated as a disputed pub story rather than an established fact.

Turf Tavern is stop 6 of 10 on The Oxford Exam, which offers a way to place these stories within a wider self-guided route through Oxford.

Where can you find Turf Tavern in Oxford?

Turf Tavern is in central Oxford, technically outside the city’s historical walls. To see the pub in the context of the places and stories covered by the route, follow The Oxford Exam, which includes Turf Tavern as one of its stops.