What pub did J.R.R. Tolkien and the Inklings often visit in Oxford?

J.R.R. Tolkien and the Inklings often visited The Eagle and Child pub in Oxford.

The Eagle and Child, located on St Giles’ Street, was a meeting place for the informal literary group known as the Inklings. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and other writers read aloud from works in progress and discussed literature, religion, language, and ideas.

The pub was also known by the nickname “The Bird and Baby,” derived from its sign. The Inklings’ meetings were not official university seminars; they were private gatherings whose members offered criticism and encouragement to one another.

Tolkien and Lewis also met elsewhere, including Lewis’s rooms at Magdalen College and other Oxford venues. That is why the Eagle and Child should be understood as a famous regular meeting place rather than the group’s only location. Its association with the Inklings has made it a literary landmark.