Last time I was in Oxford I met up with Matt (you know him) and he suggested we meet in Brew Dog, I walked in there and walked straight out, bumped into Matt and told him Brew Dog was hideous and I couldn't drink there but he said that everywhere nearby had been fucked up. And so we had one in there and then went to a couple of places on, I dunno, Marston Lane or whatever it's called, The Oxford Blue was still ok but every other place we went in round Cowley Road was fucked. Then again Matt claimed The Star had been vandalised too but yesterday I asked the guy in the record shop what it was like and he told me that although it had changed hands a couple of years back and they had changed it a little, it was tastefully and lightly done and I'd agree.
But on St Clements we went in the one opposite the Angel and Greyhound (which is ok and has by default risen about 20 places in the good pubs list of Oxford) and I almost cried. The interior was a brutal act of cultural vandalism.