A truly stylish student pub with a modern vibe and some glorious touches.

The Venue
A brown brick building with yellow window frames, the City Arms is a tall building on Cowley Road on the corner with Magdalen Road which doesn’t really look that promising from the outside. It's part of the Scream student pub chain and it's had the mandatory revamp and it has to be said that they've done a great job with the decor. As you come in there’s a front area of sofas facing each other which is zoned off with tall fabric covered panels.

There’s a room off to the right which has two pink covered pool tables and much of the place is painted black but, despite that, is still vibrant and colourful as with all Scream pubs.

The bar is on the right and at the back there are sunbeam yellow, ridged banquettes and big Victorian style patterned tasselled lamps which are set off against the black painted walls which have stencilled red crests. Purple curtains frame the windows and are tied back with golden yellow sashes and elsewhere is squiggly patterned orange, beige and brown wallpaper. And the big terrace outside is enclosed with whicker fencing and palm trees.

The People
As it's a Scream pub the City Arms is filled with predominantly students all waving their discount Yellow Cards at the bar staff. It can get a bit krazy and flirty with students getting to know each other during freshers' week by chucking back cheap lager and shouting about what they did in their gap year.

Watch out for brightly coloured hoodies worn by fans of The Klaxons and thin, beardy Kings Of Leon types with woolly hats.

The Food and Drink
It’s unusual to see a cider on draught that isn’t Strongbow — even more unusual to see three (but this is a student pub) so here there’s Old Rosie, Weston’s Organic Vintage and Bulmer’s on tap. That’s along with Heineken, Stella, Budweiser, Carlsberg, Grolsch, Red Stripe, Staropramen and Guinness. In bottles there are even more ciders (Aspall’s, Brothers, Magner’s) as well as Beck’s and Peroni.

The menu covers sandwiches, wraps and burgers, as well as all-day breakfasts for £4.95 (two sausages and two eggs). There are also salads and mains like toad in the hole for £5.50 and lasagne for £4.95.

The Last Word
With decor to die for, why on earth wouldn’t you want to come here? The City Arms is a winner, especially in the summer.

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