Written by:
Marissa Pareles
Photographer:
Visit Britain
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this Issue of Curve:
Vol. 13#7
I went to Oxford looking to fall in love, and I did, but not with a beautiful woman — with England. My months there were an endless series of clear, cold nights punctuated by lascivious kisses, fueled by strong Bloody Marys, and lit by the bright windows of the otherwise pale Gothic colleges lining High Street.
Oxford is a dazzling, twisting, winding city that has been a queer mecca since the eponymous university’s single-sex medieval days (professors weren’t allowed to marry or live off-campus until the 19th century). But it’s not exactly Chaucer’s or Wilde’s scene any more. There’s an edgy, youthful feel to the sprawling stone downtown, where gaggles of short-haired, punky students walk narrow, walled streets. As former Oxford chancellor Lord Jenkins recently told a Guardian reporter about women’s colleges like Oxford’s stubborn St. Hilda’s, “They’re all full of lesbians now, I hear.”
DAYTIME
Oxford is home to plenty of women’s sports — female undergraduates have been rowing for about 120 years, and 20 years ago the first women’s coxswain won the much-hyped annual boat race. The women’s crew teams at Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University have been particularly strong recently. Don’t miss a chance to see them streak past their muscular opponents in the Henley Boat Race each March. The Oxford team, the Dark Blues, have dominated their Light Blue (Cambridge) rivals for the past two springs. Regional women’s tennis teams battle for victory throughout August, and Oxford Women’s Football (that’s soccer to you, as in Bend It Like Beckham) plays hard year-round. (For schedules, news and players, check out http://www.oxfordsportsnetwork.com and http://www.oxfordwomensfootball.co.uk .)
The city of Oxford has plenty to see and enjoy in the way of architecture and atmosphere, including snaking cobblestone back streets in the south, a small ancient castle in the west, vibrant immigrant and working-class communities in East Oxford, and the almost centrally located Ashmolean, the United Kingdom’s first publicly funded and accessible museum (and one of its best). The main attractions, however, surely are the few dozen colleges that make up Oxford University.
In spite of Oxford’s recent attempts at egalitarianism and diversity, some of its colleges are, as they say, more equal than others. Magnificent Christ Church has a dining hall and quadrangle that appear in both Harry Potter films, and jaw-dropping Christ Church Cathedral contains the desecrated tomb of Oxford’s ambiguously queer St. Frideswide, an eighth-century girl who refused to sleep with her husband. Merton College is genuinely and convincingly decrepit, features great gargoyles, and is rumored to rigorously maintain its own time zone (a little behind the rest of England). Magdalen, Oscar Wilde’s college and one of Oxford’s last bastions of pure snobbery, has a lavish Deer Park that’s nice to stroll around in. Somerville produced famous women villains like Indira Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher, and is now coed.
Also check out New College’s quad, where early Renaissance undergrads burned their medieval textbooks. All colleges charge a small admission fee, though it’s often not collected.
NIGHTTIME
This traveler found that Oxford dykes and bisexual ladies are generally on the lookout for flings, rather than one-nighters or serious relationships. So if you plan to stay only a few days, you’ll fit right in. Two mixed gay and lesbian pubs, the Castle Tavern and the Jolly Farmers, are great preclubbing spots, as is the university’s flirty Thursday night LGBT Drinks (www.lgbsoc.com), which ends in a pub crawl to the Oxford Lesbian and Gay Community Centre at the city’s old North Gate. Thursdays and Saturdays at the OLGCC are wild and mixed, and every first Friday is all-girl Essence, an excellent night to try out your bartending or DJ skills while chatting with friendly local ladies. Sign up a few days in advance if you want to pour drinks, or at least a week ahead if you’d like to play records. If you’ve already got a vixen in mind, take her to Freud’s. After doing battle to get into this nightly desecrated former cathedral in North Oxford (hint: Say it’s your birthday, and your friends are waiting inside), you’ll likely discover that a smoke-filled altar, soaring ceilings, nightly jazz, and drunken, seated throngs make Freud’s a slightly dangerous, very exciting, and almost foolproof place to score. Come with your as-yet-platonic acquaintance, flirt shamelessly, kiss discreetly and head to her place for the good stuff.
If, like most of the city, you like to start drinking and socializing early, you’ll find that most of the truly excessive number of pubs and bars in this party town have great drinks. Local favorites are Guinness and gin and tonic; try the indigenous Bloody Mary as well. The snooty but raucous hotel bar at the corner of Merton and High serves great, though pricey, cocktails. The pub with the most atmosphere is tiny Turf Tavern, which you get to by following two long, creepy, almost unnavigable alleys off a winding back street. Tourists love it, so it’s well-marked on most maps. Later on, when school is in session, head to the Purple Turtle, a more or less straight Technicolor hangout that serves absinthe with caramelized sugar to a relaxed young crowd. Don’t get freaked out if a new acquaintance pays for your drink — that’s de rigueur here, and you might want to pay for the next round.
>> If You Go:
Where to Stay
> Nothing beats Burlington House (374 Banbury Rd., 0186 551 3513), about which my finicky mother says, “It was wonderful. The food was bountiful, it was immaculate, the price was excellent. It was lovely. It was great.” If you have plenty of money to spend, consider the lavish Randolph Hotel (Beaumont Street, 0186 524 7481) or Old Bank Hotel (92–94 High St., 0186 579 9599) in central Oxford. The Old Bank has an especially yummy restaurant that serves excellent pasta and some of the only fresh, tasty tomatoes in England. If you’re strapped for cash, the lively Oxford Backpackers Hostel (9a Hythe Bridge St., 0186 572 1761) comes highly recommended.
Where to Eat
> Eat breakfast at your B&B or hostel, and lunch at one of the three Harvey’s sandwich shops (the one next to Magdalen College is the best; they all close at 5 p.m.) or at George and Davies up on Little Clarendon Street. The Queen’s Lane coffee shop was (in 1656, under the proprietorship of a Jewish resident named Jacob) England’s and perhaps Europe’s first coffeehouse. Enjoy the tea and excellent scones with cream and jam. For dinner, skip downtown British fare and eat South Asian and Middle Eastern food in lively East Oxford. Cowley Road is your best bet. The new Pizza Express on Cornmarket is also a great choice. If you’re adventurous, try a vegetarian but robust snack like the chips, cheese and mushrooms with numerous condiments at one of the High Street kebab vans.
Getting There
> Arrive in late morning on the double-decker bus from Heathrow Airport or Victoria Station so that you have plenty of time to see the sights before you hit the bars. This ride takes about an hour and 40 minutes and can be done as a day trip from London. But don’t sell Oxford short — if you know what’s good for you, you’ll buy a return (round-trip) ticket for a few days later, and sit on the top deck coming and going.
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