The Oxford Tavern, Petersham

The Oxford Tavern has been an iconic pub in Petersham for a while. It’s now growing into a true inner west pub with quality local beer.

In 2019 The Oxford Tavern was bought by Josh and James Thorpe, who also bought The Taphouse in Darlinghurst in 2017.

They’ve shifted focus at “The Tav” to local independent beer and in the process attracted a new customer base while keeping locals happy.

The Inner West’s Best

Now it plays host to an array of local beers, particularly focused on the surrounding inner west suburbs.

There’s the likes of Batch Brewing (who have a second tap room based over the road at Public House Petersham), The Grifter, Sauce, Philter, Young Henrys, and even bottles of Wildflower. These esteemed names are joined by the best from interstate including breweries such as Capital Brewing and Hawkers.

In time there are plans to install a brewhouse in the pub and make a range of weird and whacky beers. However, at the time of writing, this is still in the planning stage.

Before the pub was taken over it was primarily all Lion beers, albeit some of their more premium and crafty brands. Now though there’s a strong focus on the ownership of the beer served. It needs to be independent.

Bottle Shop Coøperative

The team at The Oxford Tavern have collaborated with neighbours Bucket Boys Craft Beer Co. to provide a unique bottle shop experience. Pub bottle shops are unique things, varying considerably across the city. This one is particularly special. Named Co Øp, it provides a small selection of hand chosen beers provided by the Bucket Boys bottle shop team.

The specialist bottle shop down Illawarra Road has one of the largest selections of interesting and sometimes rare beers in Sydney. They provide a heap of them to The Oxford Tavern for sale on their premises. The stock is constantly rotated so there’ll always be something new, whether it’s a six pack of local pale ale or a 750ml of some rare American imperial stout.

Into The Wee Hours

The pub is also fighting the good fight when it comes to keeping Sydney’s nightlife alive. It’s open to 3am on Friday and Saturday, making it one of the only venues in the area to have late night trading. It makes it a go-to place for local weekend warriors.

The vision for The Oxford Tavern was for it to be “the truest inner west pub” and, while it’s early days, it’s not off to a bad start.

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