Home to the Mini car, Britain’s first concert hall, and a 25ft sculpture of a shark cascading through a roof, there is more to Oxford than “dreaming spires” and honey-hued quads. Its cobbles may pave the oldest university in the English-speaking world, but there is nothing staid about these streets, whose cultural roll-call extends from JRR Tolkien to Russell T Davies to Radiohead. This is the city where college dons dine with tech gurus, where morris dancers jive with students, and where evensong is followed up by a plate of authentic sushi.
Chart a route through its artisan coffee roasters and contemporary galleries, or opt for the classic itinerary of punt, pub and Playhouse. Whichever way you choose to wend past quad and over meadow, Oxford has never looked sharper in its esteemed history.
