Oxford on a winter's day

When you think of Oxford, colleges, students and bus loads of tourists come to mind. Not so much on a gloomy December day.

This is the second instalment in our VvW on the road blog, this time co-owner Martin writes about his experience on a day out in Oxford, UK

Oxford by Martin

​With a bit of time spare on a weekday close to Christmas, I decided Oxford would be a good place to catch up with an old friend.
 
We headed to Society Coffee. I had visited one of their stores in Bath in the past, but was keen to check out their Oxford store. Their coffee offering is somewhat similar to what we have in our store in Crouch End, with Origin and Round Hill available. I started with a flat white (made with their house blend from Origin) and as it was close to Christmas the obligatory mince pie. The place is very chilled, with very relaxed music in the background. It seemed lots of people used the place to work from home.
Happy with my first coffee I ordered another coffee, now with their guest espresso by Bailies Coffee Roasters. Without a mince pie this time.

​After our second coffee we decided to go for a stroll, hit the Christmas market and had a walk around Oxford’s backstreets. Oxford is a surprisingly nice and atmospheric place to visit on a gloomy December day. No large groups of tourists, and many students have already left for their Christmas break.
 
We strolled on to the Cowley Road just outside the City Centre. Clearly an area that has undergone some gentrification, and certainly has plenty of places to eat (it was lunch time!). Nevertheless we couldn’t help ourselves and opted for another coffee shop to stop for our lunch. It is in Peloton where the cycling and coffee communities nicely blend into each other, with plenty of hints to the passion for cycling (we loved the little cushions in Belgian, Dutch and World Champion flags).
I opted for some nice avo on toast and together we shared an Ethiopian V60 roasted by James Coffee.
 
After a further stroll we ended back in the city centre and a Colombian focussed business owner we could not leave Colombia Coffee Roasters at the covered market out of this trip, where we sipped on one final single espresso.
 
We finished the day with a pint or two at the Turf Tavern a 13th century

Martin visited:
-Society Cafe, 12-16 St Michaels Street
-Peloton, 76 Cowley Road
-Colombian Coffee Roasters, 106-107 The Covered Market