My first experience of East Oxford was, quite aptly, a musical one. I was just into secondary school, ready and raring to take part in all those older-kid pastimes.

Too skinny for contact sports and at least a bus ride away from the local skate park, it’s no surprise that I turned straight to music — my year seven heart was set solely on forming a band.

This meant music lessons, and once I’d attended a couple with Bartholomew School’s commendably patient guitar teacher, I managed to convince my reluctant parents to drive me to PMT (professional music technology) on Cowley Road.

After a tedious car ride through drizzly post-work traffic in the passenger seat of my mum’s car, I was making my first steps into a treasure trove of rock music. Every Gibson and Fender from the posters on my bedroom wall was laid out before me, dotted between towering stacks of amplifiers, endless strings of cable, and more stompboxes than I knew what to do with.

Needless to say, it was a formative experience. My love of music stems directly from the now-battered Epiphone SG I purchased that evening. Although these days it plays second to a shiny Fender Telecaster, that first, reliable instrument saw me through my first classroom band practices and village hall gigs, guaranteeing a lifelong musical passion from the first time I plugged in and played.

It wasn’t long before I was back on the Cowley Road, a few blocks up from that magical music shop, for my first proper rock concert. One of my dad’s favourite bands, Stiff Little Fingers, was in town, and he’d brought me along to initiate me in the thrill of punk rock in a classic venue: the unforgettable Zodiac.

Up those corrugated iron steps and into a dimly lit room, I stood yay high to middle aged, leather-jacketed rockers in my ripped skinny jeans and Converse All-Stars. It struck me then that, amongst the lofty spires of Oxford, exists an exhilarating music culture.

Perhaps there are more venues like this, I thought — places where people like me can hang out and watch great bands thrash through sets of loud, high-energy music.

My tastes have broadened quite a bit since then — I’m just as happy watching talented folk musicians play their heartfelt songs at acoustic nights in The Cape of Good Hope or The Library. I’ve also seen local bands tear it up at the Bullingdon, the Port Mahon, even that raised bit of floor that constitutes a stage in the Truck Store (which, in my opinion, has become the central hub that today’s Oxford music scene thrives around).

Goodness know how many times I’ve returned to the Zodiac since that inaugural punk rock show — even since it’s become the commercially owned O2 Academy, there’s been a place for smaller acts via carefully curated local music nights that take place every month.

Each of these well-loved venues makes East Oxford one of the most iconic spots for independent music in the country. A collection of quirky, privately owned bars and restaurants on the Cowley Road make it an even more inviting prospect for any bohemian soul who’s looking for something fun to do on the weekend. That is once they get bored of looking at all the pretty buildings in the town centre, of course.

Countless tourists make their way down the High Street from Carfax every day in search of our city’s greatest treasures, only to turn around when they reach The Plain.

So, next time an out-of-towner asks you where to go when they’re visiting Oxford, you’ll know which direction to point them in: east.