8 July 2026

Beer and sandwiches: the Old Bookbinders Ale House, Oxford

This column is our weekly pub review, written by pintsmen, women and children across the nation. Suggestions to letters@newstatesman.co.uk

By New Statesman

Illustration by Marta Signori

Bookbinding may not have been the hardest job of the Victorian period – the risk of mercury and lead poisoning seems soft next to the fate of the chimney sweep – but literary labourers still needed their down time. Thus it was that in 1869 the Bookbinders (then known as the Printer’s Devil) opened in the redbrick maze of Oxford’s residential terraces for workers of the university press. Beside the Oxford Canal, the pub satiates punters – and boaters – with a variety of real ales.

Printing, piety and pints

The Bookbinders itself is bound by history, though a drinking establishment probably wasn’t what “printer to the university” Thomas Combe had in mind for improving the local area. In the same year that the hostelry opened, he had St Barnabas Church built just up the street, to give the neighbourhood what the Oxford University Press archivist Martin Maw has called “a moral makeover”.

For good or ill, the pub endures today, though at some point it was renamed the Old Bookbinders Ale House. The student regulars are more likely to debate AI prompts than proofs, but they are perfectly aware that the place has a history worth toasting.

Hot off the press

The pints aren’t cheap – it’s £6.80 for a Guinness – and the pub’s present bistro-inspired dinner menu has a distinct French accent. There are red tablecloths, garlic-butter escargots and Côtes du Rhône tasting nights.

The French theme continues with an extensive crêpe list. One vegetarian option is the crêpe “L’Anti Cannibale” – many myths surround the origin of the name. If you order one, be glad that it isn’t eating you.

The Old Bookbinders Ale House, Victor Street, Oxford

[Further reading: Beer and sandwiches: At the Friendship Inn in Manchester]