Holly Bush, Oxford (Hollybush)

At one time a music pub, made famous for hosting Radiohead’s first gig, this is a small pub on Osney Island, next to the bridge back to the mainland! In 1851 the London and North Western (LNWR) Railway and the Didcot to Oxford branch of the Great Western Railway were both extended to Oxford and the Town Clerk, George Parsons Hester, saw the opportunity for development; he bought an area of land south of the Botley Road, between Osney Bridge and St Frideswide’s Bridge, and named the area Osney Town or Osney Island. It was laid out in 125 plots and one was bought by the landlord of the Holly Bush pub on Park End Street (where the Oxford Hotel is now). By 1853 the pub was in place, and was called the Bush and Railway Inn. By 1875 the pub was being referred to as the Holly Bush Inn. In 1884 it was bought by William Clinch, the owner of the Eagle Brewery in Witney. By 1965 the pub was owned by Courage and in the 1990s by Morland & Co (as Walter Mittey's (sic)) and then Greene King who sold it for development in 2014. It had a very uncertain future but has now been re-opened under Charles Wells' management.