Oxford · Nightlife

A low-ceilinged pub reached down a covered passage off Holywell Street, with three courtyards and no obvious front door.

The neighbourhood north-west of the centre where people actually live: canalside pubs, an independent cinema and the restaurants students can afford.

East of Magdalen Bridge, and the least academic part of Oxford. Music venues, late kitchens and the widest range of food in the city.

Evensong is sung most days in term at several colleges, is usually free and open to anyone, and is the easiest way into a college you cannot otherwise enter.

Out of term the pubs are quiet and half the colleges are shut to visitors for conferences. In term they are full of students. Neither is worse; know which you are getting.