Four Candles

Central Oxford’s first Wetherspoon pub was opened in 2008 in the former Yates’s Wine Lodge (and briefly Slug & Lettuce 2007/08). Split over two levels, the pub has standard décor but has more of a pub feel to it than some of the chain’s other outlets, though the George Street location means door staff patrol during the evenings. The beer and food is cheap for the city centre, and there are two banks of hand pumps dispensing a good choice of real ale and a cider with the guest pumps usually given over to local ales. The pub backs on to the former Oxford High School for Boys (now University of Oxford History Faculty) which was attended by Ronnie Barker whose 'fork handles' sketch inspired the name.