Freud Cafe

The sign at the front said something like this «Give me a coffee for the things I can change, and a cocktail for those that I can’t «. We had the cocktail :) Great atmosphere. Very glad we stopped by.

Disorganized staff. Disgusting loo — even by British standards — could health authorities please look at this? Venue clearly has potential, but unrealized with current owners. Please pass on to someone who can grow this place to the quality it deserves!

This is an awesome bar! Very cool location, but more could possibly be done with the space. During the day or quiet evening it is very quiet and spacious, but you appreciate how little is done décor wise. Maybe that is because when the lights are off it isn’t needed, but it is noticed during the day.
The list of possible cocktails is huge! Very good prices, especially with the selected special cocktails.
Would recommend for all fans of cocktails at decent prices!

Meh in every way. Cool physical space, but wasted by unimaginative owners. Made a booking well in advance for a large group: turned up the night of and they were astonished to see us. Food was too quickly prepared and insufficient.
Never again, Freuds.

Now this is the place to visit while pubs are your goal in Oxford.
Made from an old church, it is a really cool spot for any part of the evening.
Wine selection is typical for the area, but there are interesting options throughout.
A must see!

I’m being generous to give this place 2 stars. For a place that has so much potential, they sure know how to waste it. Their website touts the care they say they put into the London location, but I haven’t been there so I don’t know. And that the owners children have gotten in on the marketing and designing, which also doesn’t show in the Oxford location. And since his last name really is Freud, you’d think maybe he’d play up on that in the ‘legendary’ cocktails w/​their names. I mean, 3 minutes there and my husband and I came up w/​a handful that were more clever than the ones they had listed (Oedipus Complex, Oral Fixation, Daddy Issues — and those were w/​out even trying). And who names their café/​bar after themselves w/​a name like that if they’re NOT going to play up the more famous one? Just odd.
We moved to Oxford from Seattle in October and will be here about 3 years. Seattle has a funeral home that was converted to a cocktail bar and now it’s an upscale beer joint so I was expecting something great. Seeing Freud from the front w/​its giant columns I thought, this is going to be amazing. But inside, it looked like someone’s mother’s run down basement or rec room. The pews people have mentioned are long gone and the floor hasn’t been redone. The tables and chairs are nothing special and ours was wobbly, the servers behind the counter are just college kids who don’t know what they’re doing, the coffee average at best. We didn’t have any cocktails or food so I can’t comment on those, but the ‘atmosphere’ wasn’t anything to write home about and we didn’t want to stay. It was drafty and felt really dirty in there as well. I was really disappointed. This place could be freaking stunning if they put some money into it and a raging club at night. I’m sure the club part is hopping because who cares what the floor looks like if you’re just dancing on it and the stage would be great for a good dj. But this place could really make some bank if they’d invest in someone w/​a much better eye for design than they have themselves and it’s so large they could book great artists and fit a ton of people in to see them. Ugh. just kills me how they’re wasting such an amazing space. The best part? The stained glass windows.
Meh.

A church converted into a pizza and beer and wine spot, this spot made a tasty thin crust pizza. There’s come cool, hopefully, local art adorning the walls. At 7 p.m., the place was empty. Man, if this was the states, everybody and their mother would be waiting for a table.
One pizza is about medium size and just enough for one person. My only small complaint was that it was extra oily but take a napkin and sop it up. Indoor and outdoor seating available.

Not my kind of bar at all. Lots of different cocktails and a mirror ball for the later evening festivities.
But the setting in an old church/chapel…where you can enjoy your drinks sat on a pew and you can take in the lovely high roof and stained glass windows. This is a change of purpose that I strongly approve of and it is certainly worth a visit if you are drinking in Oxford.
Pleasing on the eye, if less so on the tongue.

Love this place! Some of the best pizzas in Oxford and an incredible setting. Great for birthdays and celebrations.

Went to Freud on Friday for a friend’s birthday, who had booked it out for 70 people and been negotiating and planning for months — I mention this only because what manifested on the evening could not have looked less planned or pre-​arranged. The service was a shambles (we waited an hour to be served a glass of wine), the food was average, my Caipirinha was CRIMINALLY topped up repeatedly before my very eyes from a soda tap which wound me right up… the table setting made the place look empty and the music system was a joke.
Having said this, the setting is beautiful and the Concept Show of Oxford Fashion Week last year, which took place here, was incredible. On that basis I would recommend it maybe for a drink or a meal as a small group but whatEVER you do, do not make the mistake of booking Freud for a large group.

Good fun, atmosophere and venue. I enjoyed being there, has a good dance floor and decent music.
Cocktails were good, but on the saturday night i was there, there was quite a wait at the bar, but presume it is normally a bit quicker.

It’s been something like 6 years since I’ve been here. (wow, common theme among the reviewers. this place definitely sticks in your mind)
I still have their boxes of matches stashed somewhere in my house. HUGE space, converted church retaining big stained glass windows, pews pulled into squares around tables, smoking A-​OK (or at least back then) Affordable place to sit, have a pot of tea and read. Didn’t do much drinking here as I was a bit young for that. I remember large sculptures suspended in space, balloons above a net in the ceiling, having more than enough space to myself. Miss it a lot.

I went here in ’98! (gasp!) I was 21 and I had a great time. I believe my friend ordered a Green Fly and I had a Grasshopper. We both went to Catholic school and felt that getting drunk in a former church would certainly condemn us to hell. We had a great time. I dont remember the music, but I was amazed that someone had the balls to turn the place into a bar/​club. It was our 2^nd night of a 3 month trip in Europe. Great way to start.
So, based on blurry but awesome memories from 11 years ago: GO FREUDS! :)

Freud’s has so much potential, and is such a cool building, but I am a little disappointed every time I go there. The interior is run down (the exterior seems like a cool, aged, distressed façade, but upon closer inspection, it is deeper than a façade.)
The good thing about Freud’s is, it is the latest open place to get a drink in the area. The bad thing is, the drink selection is poor, there are no beer taps, and the prices are on par with a club (I would think it maybe just isn’t my scene, but the place seems like it should be cool… it just isn’t there yet in my eyes.)
I’m going to keep trying, because I am determined to bring my review up, but so far I’m getting the impression this place preys on the lower expectations of undergraduates with more expendable cash late at night, and maybe dresses up a little bit for dinner time (a time I have yet to stop in, so we’ll see!)

While it has been coming up on nine years since I have been here– Freud Café still brings up fond memories. It was one of the places I could rely on in Oxford for a good cocktail or a pint, and from what I can remember– a very well-​prepared traditional style pizza. I remember one pizza in particular that they topped with an egg that was delicious.
On top of that, this place had terrific ambience– being in an old church and always having live jazz. The tall ceilings and the converted pews and tables strewn together have the place a very cool feel.
My lasting memory about this place happened one evening when I was on my way for a night out. I turned right down Walton Street from Little Clarendon and literally ran into Thom York. Bumped shoulders with the man– on accident of course. I am not one to go ga-​ga over celebrities, but I guess it did have an effect on me because the rest of the night my friends and I had a truly enjoyable time.
Check this place out– for the pizza, the jazz, and the artsy space.

Freud is a place I would recommend to any visitor coming to Oxford. It doesn’t have the best food in town, but the atmosphere can’t be beat. Set in a very imposing, chabby chic old church, it’s well worth coming to for a coffee or a pizza. This is the kind of place that leaves you daydreaming about what it was or what it could be, while still enjoying what it is now.

Freud is incredibly charming. It reminds me of the Supreme Court buildings we have in the States; the architecture seems Roman and starkly contrasts with the Gothic buildings that dominate Oxford. Freud is just enough out of the way to feel like something special but not so out of the way that you couldn’t find your way home after several cocktails. I live in the city centre and sometimes it is nice to leave the tourist swarmed Cornmarket and High Streets behind for the quaintness of Jericho. Freud has a stage where I suppose there is music played sometimes but I have never seen it; other times people just mill around on it and generally look like they are very much enjoying themselves doing so.
For being such a fantastic bar Freud has pretty good food. It is definitely worth going in the day, though you wouldn’t know the place from the way it is at night. The big towering columns outside frame the huge doorway which looks cool at night but is just beautiful during the day, especially in the summer when the sunlight comes in and reflects off the marble floors.
Freud is definitely worth visiting, more than once. Whenever I take someone out in Oxford I ask them if they have been; it is just the kind of place you can take another person and know they will enjoy it, and help you rediscover what is so great about it.

Was taken to this interesting little (it’s not really little but it has that quirky little feel) place in Jericho by some friends and was instantly impressed. From the outside you could mistake Freud for one of Oxford’s many tourist attractions and you often see confused tourists bunching round the main doors trying to work it out.
Inside there is a large high-​roofed hall and tables sparsely spread out giving the look of a town or community hall but thankfully the food is better than that suggests.
Decent prices, food was pretty good and it certainly is one of those special Oxford places that you take visitors to show just how cultural your little city is!

This place is quite popular for parties with big groups. The room is amazing — the restaurant is set in a big church and is very impressive, if a bit cold and draughty.
I love the cocktails from here — there’s a small menu but all perfectly done. I’ve only eaten here once at a party with a set menu of pizza, but this was quite pleasant. It’s a great place to have a night out with a large bunch of mates, or to throw a party.
This is a very impressive venue, worth a trip out on a special occasion with mates. Not great for intimate meals as the place is huge! The staff are very pleasant and friendly, overall quite good.

From the outside, Freud’s looks incredibly grand, and the atmosphere inside is equally original. Somewhat disappointingly though, the food and service aren’t quite so luxurious and the furniture lowers the tone a bit. The main items on the menu are pizza and pasta, all of which do the job of filling you up, but none of which are outstanding. The prices are very reasonable though, so it’s a good place to come for a group meal if you fancy something a bit different interior-​wise, but aren’t too bothered about the food. It also does some reasonably priced cocktails, but it’s worth checking before coming here, as sometimes the whole place is booked out for private parties. The jazz nights are very popular and so, if you know what to expect, it’s a good place for an evening out with friends.