Circle Bar

This once was a 5 star bar. Unfortunately, over the past couple years it has slid down hill, and appears to be accelerating. The “bartenders” are absolutely clueless. They don’t engage the patrons at all. They act as if it’s a bother to serve you, and once served, they hide away sitting on the mug freezer and dive into their phone. If you’re lucky enough to get served initially, you’ll be lucky to get a second because they NEVER ask if you’d like another drink - you have to get their attention to get served! The atmosphere is a mess because the lights are set a full interrogation brightness most of the time. They are often out of simple staple drinks and beers. If there’s just a few people there and the juke box comes on, it’s blaring and they aren’t even aware enough to turn it down for the 3 people that are actually there that just want to talk and not yell to each other. The “bartenders” appear to be there for no other reason than to get to the other end of their shift - the customer is nothing more than an inconvenience to their death scrolling on their phone. It’s just not what it was. With actual management (of which there appears to be none) it could be great again. Without change this place will unfortunately continue to slowly die. All of this, and Daryl, the best bartender Oxford ever had, is no longer there. The whole thing makes me sad.

The weirdest thing is that it is unmarked. If it was not pointed out to me by a frequent member, I would not know that it exist at all. I have been there two times at the time of writing this review and both times they had a full bar and they made every cocktail we ordered. Just an FYI, the White Russian had too much dairy in it -- to the point that it was just milk -- a nice health drink. The bartender(s) are really nice and have people skills that set them apart. They have dart 🎯 board but you have to bring your own darts. The place is not frequent by undergraduates/young people, which makes it a best place for people who want a quiet place to hangout with friends over a drink or older people for same purpose.

Anyone that gives this bar anything less than 5 star doesn’t know what he’s talking about and is lame. Also Matt’s a banger.

I have to give this place 1 star because of the service we had. We walked into the venue and was immediately greeted by a lady with a pixie cut who refused to serve us because of the way we looked. Maybe people left the bar and changed their clothes before returning because of her. Once we discussed with her, she proceeded to say she didn’t want to make us the “complicated” drink we asked for. Upon making the drink that was on the menu she charged us overprice.

Amazing secret little bar. Not advertised or known about anywhere. You will go in circles looking for this place (get it). Once your in its a the perfect little chill bar. Great for a couple beers with guys after work to just hang out and BS. You can order steinkeller or mac and joes and they will deliver to your table. Overall a really great little place that nobody knows about!

Absolutely loved this Barham so much fun

Jeff and Clark make the BEST White Russians! Very friendly and have the best vibe ever. Give em a raise!!

The Circle…The Way I Remember It… The Circle Towne Tavern, or The Circle for short. It’s located in an alley, and it doesn’t have a sign, no indication that it’s even a bar. Half the mystique of the place is that lack of signage, the other half is discovering it and, once you’ve been there, keeping quiet about it. It’s the first place I really drank alcohol, so of course I have fond memories of it. I discovered it in the Summer of 1983, I think someone drug me over there after we had been at Mac-n-Joe’s. To get into the bar you had to climb a short flight of concrete steps that were barely noticeable when you went in, but could become a real obstacle upon your egress. The jukebox, yes, an actual juke box that played 45 rpm records, had a wide variety of music on it, including Jimmy Buffet and Billie Holiday. The proprietor, Jay Harris, hand-picked those 45s from his own collection, and he was usually on hand, drinking his usual diet coke and rum. I only remember a couple of the crew from those days. There was Chuck, with his smartass empty pitcher remark, and Lonnie, who was drop dead gorgeous, but tough. The manager always kept the happy hour shifts for himself. Good money, that. Then the second tier was always the women bartenders. They do make more money. I can’t tell you the number of times someone would come through the door with a big smile on their face only to have it turned upside down when they saw that the bartender on duty was a guy. I bartended there years later, and I never made much money in tips, but I was always Johnny-on-the-spot. At that time, back in the 80's The Circle was as close to a public house as we’d get here in Oxford. Of course, you don’t see real families coming in to the bar, but the regulars are a family of sorts all their own. More than one family in Oxford has found itself playing second fiddle to The Circle. I remember it as a melting pot of souls. The regulars were mostly blue collar during happy hour, but later the mix began, locals in the early evening and college students later at night. A lot of the regulars were in construction, and the first stop after work was The Circle. Elwood P. Dowd said it well before Tom Waits; “No one ever brings anything small into a bar”. That’s not to say that the regulars were sad sacks, no, far from it. They were eccentric, and sometimes surprisingly stereotype shattering. Take Mose for instance. He was all about men’s sports and betting, but who would have guessed that he had a soft spot for figure skating? Mike, who managed to somehow get a DUI “on a bicycle”. Eldo Beal, oh Eldo Beal… Legendary, well, mythic at the very least. Ms. Holiday, whose favorite line was “If I’d wanted a flipping lemon I would have asked for one. Give me a lime, damn it.” P.D. who could go on for hours with stories and a smile. I learned to play darts there. Yes, it was the place to play darts, unless you count The Balcony, but I’ll leave that story to be told by one of you, dear readers. Jeff Georgiady taught me to play darts, and introduced me to the term “dart oil”, you know, for the elbow. Okay, so it’s just alcohol, but it works. Smoking in the bar. Can’t do that anymore. It was a staple back in the day. I miss that cigarette machine they had. You never knew if it would work, or if you would end up getting a mystery pack, you know the one, not the one you bought. Roll Call: If you worked there, chime in!