The Eagle Tavern, Witney

One of two GBG listed pubs in Witney this is a nice traditional Hook Norton house and not to be confused with the Eagle Vaults in the nearby Market Square. The centrally placed door leads into a short entrance vestibule with open rooms off to each side, the counter is ahead to the right in one of them and has two short serving faces at right angles, with handpumps on each serving the Hook Norton range between them. Traditionally furnished throughout there is also a drinking corridor beyond the barcounter housing games machines, a tiny TV, a good collection of trophies and a bigger collection of empty spirit bottles – mainly Gin. There is also a juke box, fag machine and a Beryl Cook painting of a pub stripper and her audience, nothing like that here just a good mix of punters. Opposite the stripper are windows giving a view into the “cellar” and its racked barrels, the corridor leads out into a beer/smoking garden. Both the service and beer quality were excellent and I was offered a choice between “straight or handle” for the first time in many years. The atmosphere is a bit 1980s but none the worse for that in fact I'd say it's one of the best pubs, if not the best, in the town.