Was the building on the left, behind the car and tree, part of the original Nags Head and Star? Often two pub names would be identified in one when a victualler moved from one pub to another, so taking the former name with them to inform customers old and new.
Often referred to as the Nags Head but the earliest recording of a Nags Head & Star seems to be in 1713 at the house of widow Joan Wood, the Nags Head & Star.’
A strange case from the Quarter Session Rolls is of three men – William Harris, Thomas Beasley & Edward Veasey – drinking from 9pm for over four hours in the Nags Head & Star. They were joined by William Pollard, a barber, whereupon Harris threw down a shilling, asking Pollard to ‘blood him’(barbers were allowed to blood let as surgeons during this period as it was a medically accepted way of cleansing the body). Beasley followed suit and was ‘blooded’ by the barber. What followed is unclear, but both Harris and Beasley mixed their blood with ale and drank it, then it was claimed drank ale mixed with blood in a toast to the Young Pretender (the deposed King James II’s son, who had controversial claims to the throne), Joan Wood was charged with keeping a disorderly house and they were all found guilty (of what is not recorded.
From the late 1700s, John Hubbard ran the then called Nags Head – a ‘character’ landlord, known for his ‘blunt’ manner. As a young man he crossed to America. Enlisting in the army there, Hubbard fought at Bunker Hill, was wounded at Charlestown and pensioned off at the age of twenty thee. He received a pension of 6d per day for the next fifty years and died in 1832.
Robert Topps followed Hubbard. In 1838 the pub (sometimes advertised as the Nags Head, others Nags Head & Star), was up for sale together with five tenements in the yard.
Frederick Hubbard (related to John Hubbard?), was the licensee from circa 1849. He transferred it in November 1851 to George Regent Bonner conversely reported as a well known tee total lecturer. Within six months, Bonner was up before the bench on allowing drinking out of hours. Frederick Hubbard must have regained the licence as he was again victualler in 1853 transferring his licence to James Ludlam in 1855, who passed it on to 1860 to James Hubbard Smith (related again?), who the seemed to be there for some thirty years.
Renamed the Oxford Boater in the mid 1980s as a new type of Café Bar serving cocktails. Everards Brewery apparently twenty years ahead of the time for this type of establishment as it only lasted five or six years before reverting back to Nags Head & Star. It would have been little consolation to know that the café bar culture became the norm after 2000.
Oxford Street became somewhat isolated, changing from a leisurely entrance to Leicester to a fast major busy road for which all the pubs suffered. At the time of writing, only the Bowling Green remains.
