THE Bear Inn in Alfred Street is one of the most “characterful” pubs in the city, according to Mr Richardson.

Its main and possibly unique claim to fame is its collection of more than 4,000 ties, which have been pinned in cabinets on the walls and the ceiling.

The collection was started in 1954 by landlord and Oxford Mail cartoonist Alan Course, who started snipping off the bottom of ties worn by his customers.

Many celebrities have visited the pub, including actors Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in 1963.

The Rose & Crown in North Oxford, run by Andrew and Debbie Hall, is a haven of tranquillity and there is no TV, no music and no machines.

At the Victoria in Walton Street there is a ‘reproduction’ of Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam fresco on the ceiling, but on closer inspection, pints of Banks’s bitter have been included.

Also in Walton Street, the Jericho Tavern is a popular music venue and bands like Radiohead, Stornoway and Mumford and Sons have played there.

Tourists from worldwide visit the Eagle and Child in St Giles, where CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien met for many years to discuss their work, as members of the Inklings group.

Lewis’s secretary Walter Hooper, also his literary executor, recalled that Lewis was a man of “robust thirst” who never drank halves.

The White Horse in Broad Street has paid tribute to Metropolitan police horse Billie, who helped restore order at the 1923 FA Cup Final at Wembley, when fans invaded the pitch before the game in which Bolton beat West Ham.