The Bear Inn, Oxford

You'll need to duck through the doorway and squeeze past other punters to get a drink here, but that's exactly the point. This 13th-century pub feels more like drinking in someone's front room than a commercial establishment, with barely space to swing a cat between the ancient timber beams and thousands of club ties pinned to every available surface. The beer selection runs to decent ales and standard lagers, nothing revolutionary, but the atmosphere more than compensates. You're drinking where scholars have been getting quietly sloshed for over 700 years, in rooms so small that conversations inevitably merge into one cheerful hubbub. Grab a pint of London Pride, find a corner if you can, and soak up the delightfully cramped medieval chaos.