The Eagle and Child
48/49 St Giles' Street Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX1 3LU, England
The Eagle and Child (aka "Bird and Baby... Fowl and Fetus ... Bird and Bastard" as the locals sometimes call it) has been a pub since 1650. It is mostly famous now because it was the meeting place for the "inklings" -- writers such as C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien -- between 1939 -1962. During their time, my grandfather, also a writer and English professor, and graduate from Oxford (Christ Church) was a visitor to one or more of the meetings of the Inklings. So it has always been on my list of pubs to visit.
I finally did this in 2003. Unfortunately, smoking was still legal indoors in Britain, so it was a short visit -- the cramped interior made the smoke especially hard to take. But I still loved my visit, and wish to return again -- Oxford is beautiful, and in my opinion the first city tourists should visit when going to Britain.
The Pub's interior has lovely character and, if I recall correctly, some good beer choices. I didn't have a good camera with me, or else I'd have more than just these two exterior photos. Below are two excellent photos courtesy Tom Murphy.
Above: A very good interior photo of the famous "Rabbit Room" (where the Inklings met) inside the pub. Photo by Tom Murphy, used with permission. (thanks, Tom!). ( Click here to see more on Tom's website)
Another nice photo by Tom.
tom7.org
To read some interesting facts about this pub:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eagle_and_Child
A bookseller who collected first-edition C.S. Lewis books, and built an English Pub in his basement:
Dr.
Brown's C.S. Lewis Collection
Abebooks.com
write-up about Dr. Brown, with interior photos of Eagle and Child
