The Keep, Wallingford

This  bijou wine bar and ale house, opened 2016, run by two cool twentysomethings and named after part of the town’s castle,  is all about the booze – they don’t serve food and we’d highly recommend leaving the kids at home so you can get stuck in to the gin (we won’t call social services if you don’t).

Beneath the rustic exposed beams of this former art gallery are loads of pleasingly ultra-modern decor touches like the wall-hung bike twinkling with fairy lights and retro vinyl album covers bedecking the walls. The wine, gin and real ale (much from local breweries) lists are vast, and last year it won CAMRA’s Cider Pub of the Year. It’s something of an all-rounder, basically, whatever your poison.