Three Goats Heads in Oxford

The floor is a little bumpy in places, causing all sorts of gymnastic manoeuvres to get from the bar to the seating, but the friendly staff, understated Christmas decorations, and books to read about how to melt lead make it a must visit.

Nice and friendly pub. Very good beers of Samuel Smith brewery. Undoubtedly it's worthwhile to taste each one ;)

I had it in my head that Sam Smith's pubs were reasonably priced. £7.10 for a meh pint of cider is not reasonable, and I certainly haven't paid that much anywhere in the area. Also the taps in the women's toilets were not working. I'm giving it three stars because the barman was very nice and the pub itself (apart from the toilet situation) is okay. I won't be going again though... Probably to any Sam Smith's anywhere

Looked pleasant. Beautiful frontage. Mid wednesady afternoon , but no staff at bar and no cask beer, so after a quick look round made a swift exit.

Classic Oxford pub with the lovely Sam Smith ales. Great place to sit and chat.

UPDATE: Went again last night. The good news is that the food and beer were even better than last time, and despite being a Friday, it was wonderfully quiet, so I could have a conversation at normal speaking volume. Original review: Perfect if you want somewhere for conversation, without flatscreen TVs, piped music, etc., and a nice drop of beer. Food was fine (nothing special) but somewhat overpriced

We were very disappointed by our visit. The menu looked fabulous but they were out of pretty much everything - and what they did have was sub standard. I am certain the ingredients for the “ploughman’s lunch” was from the supermarket (not a crime but definitely not worth £15). The chef was sitting out the front most of the time which highlighted that they were very low on food in the kitchen. The only plus was the beer was very good. We will not be returning. Such a pity as the place has a lot of potential.

Beautiful decoration, typical pub dishes well made and a friendly bartender who made us taste a few beers to choose well....We had a pleasant time there as a family. Intermediate prices justified.

Classic and quiet. They had a great non-alcoholic beer/ale.

The best noodle shop in Oxford. Clean and freshly made but hard. 👍

A pub right next to Oxford's main pedestrian street, but surprisingly quiet and relaxing. Perhaps because it is a place for digital detox. You can sit in peace over a glass of beer, but it's much better to bring friends and talk over a beer or cider. Laptops and cell phones must be kept deep in the bag!

My favourite pub in Oxford. Really nice place with a great selection of drinks.

Nice little pub, the lady was friendly but the guy behind the bar with the long hair don’t understand my accent,, or hi doesn’t want it because sounds rude, food was ok …. With Two blue hairs with no additional cost. Shame, the place it’s beautiful.

Sam Smiths old skool, lovely interior.

I have conflicting opinions on Samuel Smith's pubs: on the one hand, they're very cheap, brew some delicious ales, and tend to be housed in very characterful buildings; on the other, the owner is an imbecile of the very highest order whose weird rules and rather draconian sense of running a pub business give all of their premises a strange vibe that I just can't quite put my finger on. In spite of this, The Three Goats Heads is a nice spot right in the centre of town, serving nice beers and providing a comfortable place to while away the afternoon.

Absolutely amazing - the people working there are wonderful, the atmosphere is always so nice. I celebrated my birthday there and it was the best location I could possibly have asked for!!

Only had a pint and crisps but a lovely pub!

Really nice cosy pub, friendly, food was very tasty and good value.

11GBP for an “Italian” Spritz (neither Aperol nor Campari but rather an unknown liqueur) is a bit expensive! Decent service but seeing the lady next to us getting yelled at like a little girl because she's using her computer is chilling. Apparently digital detox. On the other hand, if you take out your cigarette (on the terrace) we will quickly bring you an ashtray with respect. You can suffocate your neighbors, it's less serious than using a computer. Nonsense!

Came across this place by chance. It’s my first time in the UK and visiting Oxford and I was immediately drawn to the exterior of the building. The bartender (whose name I never caught I wish I had) was so kind and friendly- good conversationalist. The chicken schnitzel tasted great! I learned this place tries to prioritize being a ‘digital free zone’ to encourage conversation and socializing. I found that in good taste, in this day and age we all need that sometimes to put away our phones. I visited around 5pm on a weekday so it was quite…empty (at first). But by the time I left I could tell it’s a popular night time hang. Loved the atmosphere and decor, very old fashioned. Hopefully will return if I ever am back in Oxford. Thanks again for a great meal!!

A beautiful pub at the heart of Oxford, it is small and cosy and quiet except when we were around. Sorry for our excitement.great food and good drinks and follow the rules and talk to each other...😉

Very cosy pub. Sam Smith so these are the beers.

The food was delicious and couldn't have been served by a nicer and more friendly barman. They serve a particularly nice non alcoholic beer. Top notch

Coziest and nicest pub we visited during our three days in Oxford. We should have just gone here! Calm and pleasant atmosphere. Fresh! Note that laptops are not allowed. No tilting televisions in the room either. Great! Nice service.

Good food and typical like fisg&ships. Pleasant English pub atmosphere and free mobiles.

The atmosphere was very unwelcoming and the food was terrible. It has the vibe of an old man’s boozer where only locals are welcome. Definitely avoid for food.

Very tasty food in a lovely cosy pub with very friendly service

OK I am 57 and do not enjoy drinking in pubs as much as I used to, but I love Sam Smith pubs because they are always in prime spots and they are always uncompromisindly old order. Brilliant drink in the Three Goats before moving on for the rugby. Maisie behind the bar was brilliant. Keep doing what you do Sam Smith's. x

Great beer selection, beautiful atmosphere and normal pub food.

A snug and atmospheric pub, which serves some nice beer on tap. We were only here for some evening drinks, but enjoyed the experience. A couple of tables nearby ordered food and it looked pretty good :) Will definitely be back soon to give it a try.

Pub had 2 Gluten free beers on tap which was really nice . We didn’t eat there and the place is lovely and quiet .Would recommend for a GF beer .

Great staff, the food was lovely and arrived quickly. The bar has so much charm and is in the centre of town. Could have stayed there all night. The bar is a little small but I do think that adds to its charm. Great place

Three hungry blokes go in, we order the pub burger with bacon, fish and chips and the steak and ale pie. Solid pub fare, hearty stuff. Had a pint of the Samuel Smith bitter and the world was irie! Get there before 5 because it was pumping after. Discourages use of digital devices, encourages conversations. Close proximity to Oxford's famous colleges.

Great cozy place with unique beers

Lovely setting in winter…… however, cold mulled cider, only one choice of white wine, no lager available, dirty toilets and menus on the bar that finished a week ago….. has potential to be amazing but with one staff member, hardly achievable!! Work harder to keep a reputation, don’t let your guard down!

Lovely quiet place at the end of the day...but very pleasant and excellent bitter!

The whole bar area is stunning including the Majolica tiling. The lighting is subdued, romantic and cozy. We had a medium glass of red and the organic lager....toppy at just shy £14 but very tasty!

Cosy place and delicious British food! We enjoyed it very much. Prices were okay.

Quality relaxing place a joy to visit. Full range of Samuel Smith's bottled beers. I had stingo 8% , which was excellent . Highly Recommended

Great pub staff great I'm from Mansfield so i know the Sam Smith ethos 🤣🤣

Didn’t have food there, but the beer and vibes are great!

Excellent beers from Sam Smith's Yorkshire brewery, decent food and good staff. Very good atmosphere and classic pub decor. Easily one of the best pubs in Oxford. Well worth visiting more than once.

stumbled on this place by luck. A lovely quiet pub that was wonderfully cool on a scorching afternoon. Good food and great beer. Lovely staff too!

Fab cozy place, in Oxford. We stopped there at the end of our day, for some refreshment. Well needed and stunning, digital free interior. Gents were clean, if a bit small.

Very nice pub for our lunch. Bartender was very helpful and friendly. The burger and the tomato salad were both delicious!

The food was very British. The landlord and assistant are very accommodating and friendly. Rustic in Keller, the bar is a great place to hang out and also great to play a game or two.

Great pub. Good very good, friendly staff

Excellent food and service, both of which felt very authentic. Their staff is delightful and so is the outdoor seating! I recommend the bangers and mash.

Digital detox pub offered a great atmosphere in a half-basement. Great selection of beer on tap. The kitchen closed when we were just about to order deserts, but they made it for us anyway! Portion sizes well worth the money.

Great pub, lovely decor, cosy and dimly lit. Good choice of drinks. Great pork pie.

We stumbled across this pub as we tried to avoid the crowds. It's a quirky pub in a backstreet, and most of the clintele appeared to be locals in the know rather than tourists like us. It was a surprise to find a Samuel Smiths pub tucked away in Oxford - it has a good range of Sam Smiths beers, and a decent pub grub menu - I had bangers and mash and my wife had caesar salad with halloumi. Staff were very friendly. Only issue was the eight steps down into the pub - my wife has some mobility issues and struggled a little bit.

Very Lovely place with Nice beers

Good beer. A bit overpriced and the staff not really friendly.

Really great pub. All of their beers are from Samuel Smith brand and they are delicious, especially the stout. Great staff and atmosphere. I had fish and chips, it was quite alright, the fish was amazing but the fries were a bit disappointing. It's hard to find home-made fries in England I guess. Overall I had a great time there!

Good food very reasonably priced! We had the scampi and the mac n cheese, and would definitely recommend the food. We sat inside as it was such a hot day we felt we needed to get out of the sun, but when we left, the tables outside were full, and there was a lovely atmosphere.

Closes early because they don’t know what they are doing… too bad 😎

We had burgers with chips and sweet potato fries (no regular fries unfortunately available), cider and a juice. Food was good, the cider was strong😉, we sat outside, so atmosphere was given by the street.

The sausage sandwich is slightly toasted, excellent sweet potato fries and they serve Samuel Smith beer. I highly recommend this place.

My chili arrived half frozen, like they hadn’t microwaved it for long enough. It was also just mediocre food, even for the parts that were warm

Snug quiet little pub in Oxford city centre. It can be hard to find a quiet pub in the city centre - most of them are heaving. But somehow, even when this pub is busy, it seems peaceful and timeless. Perhaps it's the lack of mobile phones (something more pubs should do), the range of ales, the quiet corners, or the fact you can catch the bar staff... reading a book. 😱🤯 A hidden treasure of Oxford... make sure yoh don't tell anyone. 😉

Very charming place-transfers you straight back to the last century

This is the cleanest pub in Oxford with excellent Bitter’s, Lager and Cider from Samuel Smiths Brewery. The owners are always great and welcoming every time.

Great beer, beautiful, quiet. Take a book, or a friend.

Bit price for what it is. Guess that's why there were very few in...

Nice old setting ,but it's the beer that makes this place so good . Never seems to be any food available ...so it's a drinking pub .

Rudely accosted out for opening a laptop - told “it’s a pub not a cafe” because I was having a coffee. Avoid!

Lovely pub. Friendly staff. Good vibe

Really great pub, with a plethora of Samuel Smith’s beers. Tried the best bitter and the stout - both excellent. They have a rather refreshing “no phones policy”, encouraging people to communicate using their mouths, rather than sitting there on their phones. Lovely touch. Young lad, Charlie, behind the bar - great lad, and very knowledgeable about the pub, the food and all the beers. Impressive, for a 20yr old. He’s an asset to the pub!

Interesting little pub. Shame it's a Sam Smith's because of (a) high price tiering that Sam Smith's now has in central pubs in the South; and (b) branded posters and signage ruining the atmosphere, such as clip art heavy signage about not using digital devices

Interesting. No music. No choice of beers. Lovely decor and seating but ownership naive

Our favourite pub in Oxford. Nice and quiet after a long day walking.

Samuel Smith's brews on tap! Sunday roast is very tasty too.

All beers are very very nice ! The pub is cosy and clean.

Never thought of going here for lunch before but it was really very good!

My partner and I were made to feel very welcomed along with our dog. The food was exceptional as well.

Me and my boyfriend absolutely loved having lunch here, it was very nice and has polite and friendly staff! I actually really enjoyed the no phone/digital policy and playing cards were available from the bar and we had a great time 😁 anyone who has negative things to say about this policy, get a life and live in the moment! We both had a lovely chicken burger each and the service was fast and the food was very tasty. Nothing but good things to say about this place and I totally recommend if you want a quiet place to relax from your busy Oxford shopping, thanks for the lovely experience!

No phones allowed – conversation encouraged

Old school. Unique Sam Smiths beer selection.

Typical Irish-look like pub, tiny and cosy. Food is delicious, I really enjoyed my Caesar salad, and I loved my mulled cider!

Amazing find while wandering the streets for something to eat in a visit to Oxford Food great and great choice of local beers

Lovely pub with good beer and the pie and mash was spot on.

Loved this place down below street level out of the way decent rum friendly staff

Loved the atmosphere. Sam Smith's beers. Our dog was also made especially welcome by the barman.

I've only given it a 3 stars as it was the little bar bit down the stairs we went into as that was all that was open... It was cosy but I did feel like you couldn't really relax as you were all sat in close proximity... The food was amazing, tasty and presented well, it would have been nice to have been made aware before choosing what was no longer available...

I've lived in Oxford for over 20 years and must have passed this pub dozens of times without venturing in. That is, until today. My only wish is that I'd visited long before now. So refreshing not to see the 'usual suspect' beers on tap that are available everywhere else. I had the scampi sandwich for lunch which was delicious and great value for money considering it is a pub smack bang in the middle of Oxford. Great food, friendly staff and a great atmosphere. I'm embarrassed that it has taken me so long to visit but I will return very soon indeed!

Great atmosphere and beer 🍻!) We took few bottles with us. And also quick and nice service.

I do like a Sam Smiths pub. The cellar seems to be the only bit open at present but it good prices and a wide choice and nice atmosphere.

Great vibe. Loved it. I was visiting Oxford, from Australia. Happy Christmas.

Morseonium pub in Oxford . You can feel the history of the place as you walk down the cellar pathway. Lots of "morse" pubs in the wonderful, architectural, academia of Oxford, all worth experiencing for thier atmosphere. One can't help but think, "if only walls could talk".

Great pub with great atmosphere. Visited in passing whilst in Oxford and stayed a couple of hours. Will definitely be visiting again when in town. Decor is quirky and only sells Samuel Smith brewery drinks however this was not a problem and quite enjoyed the drinks we had.

Had a great meal here. Very relaxed even on a busy Saturday in Oxford. Can’t wait to come back

Visited the cellar bar on a Friday evening in November. As the rest of the local pubs in the centre had been busy, it should have served notice when there was only one table of drinkers in the place. Ordered an ale and a cider. We were assured the ale was traditional cask, but have since learned it wasn't. Neither drink tasted good - the cider especially tasted tainted. Above all else though, the smell from the drains in the bar was nauseating and permeated around the seating area. I can not recommend this place.

Fantastic trad pub. Very welcoming. Fresh ale. Perfect

Always been a fan of this pub, great food, great service and even better drinks, exclusively serving drinks from Sam Smiths brewery.

I will always remember her! It's the 1st pub I've been to without music, no mobiles, no computers, no tablet etc

Great location good draught beer , shame no single malt available.

No mainstream beers on tap. The Sunday roast was overpriced and the meat was dry. Nice setting though.

A Sammy Smith's oasis in Oxford.. Loved the food (served til 14.30)open all day. traditional pub with homely interior. Lovely staff enjoyable lunchtime thank you

A nice looking Samuel Smiths pub with er Samuel Smiths beers & cider as the tap choices .

My son and I were looking for a place to eat and happened upon this pub. I am so glad we went down the steps and in. My son got the fish and chips, along with a Raspberry Beer. OMG, the fish was huge, the beer was delicious, my son said the food was very good. I got the steak and ale pie and was not disappointed either. We tried to go back the next day but they were closed until 5pm. We would have waited but were really hungry and that was 2hrs away for us, sadly we didn't get to. The staff were great, the atmosphere was wonderful, a great place to stop by and get a bite to eat.