Can an Italian favourite secure world domination? Katherine MacAlister tries the latest craft beer pub on the block to find out

And so we move onto Beerd, George Street’s most recent transformation, an accolade it’s unlikely to hold on to for long, judging by the constant metamorphosis of Oxford’s busiest nocturnal thoroughfare.

Formerly The Grapes, (I know, cue howl) which now sells beer and pizza – (bigger howl) nothing is sacred it would seem.

But as the lovely and rather harassed manager Ben pointed out: “We know the locals are unhappy about the changes and the name, but if there had been more of them we wouldn’t have had to do it. And we have been much busier ever since,” shrugging.

In other words, if you can’t beat them join them, and with pizzas in almost every restaurant on George Street now, The Grapes was obviously missing out.

In fact, I wonder if we will all wake up soon covered in a thin layer of tomato and mozzarella, pizza having taken over the world.

The name Beerd is another small bone of contention. It may be horrendously trendy, an inspired play on words and an advertising man’s winning thought of the day, but come next year when nose hair is in or curly moustaches reign supreme, will they change the name again? Will Goatee or Monobrow grace the plateau above the door in 2017?

Despite all my grumblings and preconceptions I really enjoyed my trip to Beerd because it combines two of my favourite things in life – cask beer and pizza.

Beerd also serves food from noon until 11pm, so if you go to the theatre like we did, and emerge afterwards when most restaurants have stopped serving, you can still make an evening of it, instead of scurrying around trying to find somewhere to eat.

Sat near the New Theatre and the OFS, Beerd is also is in prime position for hungry theatre-goers.

And given that we nabbed the only remaining table, it’s obviously working. Pizza is the way forward.

And we were hungry. Hungry for beer and food. There are 12 craft keg ales to choose from and seven craft casks, as well as the usual pub drinks as well, it’s just that beer is the new speciality – how novel for a pub.

What we tried we loved, the fruity citrusy Pamplemousse ale and the stalwart Pardel’s lager.

Food wise we delved into the dirty sounding deep-fried pickles with a blue cheese sauce and the pretzel with Beerdy fondue – the perfect accompaniments to our pints of ale, the vinegary sharpness of the pickles and crispness of the pretzels taking the edge off it.

Then the pizza arrived – one with piquillo peppers and artichoke, the other with prosciutto, olive and mushroom toppings.

As far as pizza goes, in the pizza pub, on pizza road, it was pretty good.

Thin, crispy, a few nice burnt bits, all the right toppings and a house garlic mayonnaise for the crusts.

The rocket on top was a bit oily and unseasoned, but with a bit of chilli oil things improved.

Meaning that it really is the kind of place you can pop into for a drink, and then stay when you get peckish.

Time flew by to the point that I nearly missed the last bus home.

But I will be back, probably more regularly than I would care to admit because Beerd is an easy place to pop into day or night to while away the hours, catch up, eat and drink.

There is no agenda, no format, no schedule.

And the pickles were good!

Beerd,
7 George Street, Oxford
01865 793380