Itchy City guide to Oxford. Food, drink, film, music, stage, events, shopping, offers and competitions within Oxford, Great Britain.

Itchy's a big fan of the £5.95 bottle of wine. We often slaver for lager. Usually we walk right out of a bar if we can't blag a student discount. But sometimes, just sometimes, we feel a bit fancy. At times like these we require our booze mixed with exotic fruit juices and diluted with a lot of crushed ice. We need a cocktail bar.

Thirst
Oxford's cocktail institution is the ideal stop off for some high quality drinks before a big night out, or even a great venue for a smaller-scale one. The bar staff have won awards for their flair, by which we mean their ability to swing bottles of rum dangerously close to your face while catching ice in a glass with their other hand. They also tend to have dazzling smiles, as will you when you see the happy hour prices.

Duke of Cambridge
Packed with interesting flavours, the Duke's cocktail menu is the tastiest in the city, which explains how packed this cosy little venue gets when it comes to Happy Hour. You may have to hang around a while to get your hands on them, but £3.95 for one of these delicious drinks will be worth the wait. Try their sister bar, The House if you can't be bothered with the cobbles on Little Clarendon Street.

The Living Room
It can be easy to forget that The Living Room's a chain thanks to the high quality of their goods. We hear the food is brilliant, there's often live music and the roof terrace feels like a holiday destination (when it's not raining). You'll need to visit when you're feeling flush, but with classic cocktails such as Tom Collins and unique flavours like an Apple and Gingerbread Crush starting at £5.95, bankruptcy will take some effort.

Baby Love
One of central Oxford's more respectable establishments (in the early evening at least) offers up a good variety of cocktails at very reasonably prices, plus they tend to manage that increasingly rare phenomenon: enough bar staff. Sneak downstairs to hide in one of their cavernous booths or down your cocktail and try out the pole.

Maxwells
Yes, it's ubiquitous. Yes, the food has a higher grease quotient than John Travolta's hair. But Maxwell's do a fine job of shaking up a well-priced cocktail, especially in Happy Hour, as well as providing a bit of space for you to dance it off afterwards, providing you don't have the same idea as everyone else in Oxford. If upstairs is open it's worth the extra flight of stairs - you may find the bar staff up there are less stressed.