PUB-A-GO-ROUND
When I first encountered it (1991 – considerable after this much older photo which on closer examination may well be of a completely different building on the same site) the pub at the St Clements Roundabout in Oxford (aka The Plain) was called:
THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE
then it became
THE HOBGOBLIN
then it became
THE PUB ON THE PLAIN
then it became
THE PUB, OXFORD
and now it is
THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE agane!
Pete Baran in FT / Pumpkin Publog • 749 views • Share/Save
This is excellent news. Personally, I always considered the name Cape of Good Hope a perfect metaphor for its location at the very tip of the great tapering landmass that lies between the Cowley and Iffley Roads.
Besides, “Do you want to go to The Pub Oxford?” sounds (as our American friends would doubtless say) retarded.
This building, under whatever name, places high on my personal list of “Pubs I’ve Ended Up In Even Though They’re Not Very Good”.
So near the much more welcoming the Angel & Greyhound. But nice to see it back as the Cape. I have a theory that this eventually happens to all renamings.
I think a criteria of membership of the list is that there is always a much better pub very close and yet still you find yourself in this one.
Even I’ve ended up in that place on a few occasions. I’m not a fan.
We all boycotted it once Scream (TPO-dubbers) shut down the Point. It was rubbish before then anyway.
I went to my first ever gig at the Point. It was the Hobgoblin then. Ah, Prolapse.
You know what Alix. I think I might have been at that gig! Who knew!
Probably not even you knew, Pete.