Cowley Road outlet of Oxford's cow-themed ice cream café empire. Bagels cakes and drinks too. Ongoing customer flavour suggestion competition. Sibling outlets on St Aldates and Little Clarendon St. | |
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104 Cowley Road
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G&D Cowley Road used to be a superb place to bring a laptop for some online work, facebook or whatever. One of the surprisingly few venues in Oxford with reliable free Wi-Fi, and their space, lighting and tables are good for laptops and books. But a few months ago they stopped proper free Wi-Fi, so if that's what you're looking for, think again. They now give out free but time-limited Wi-Fi tickets with a purchase (only if you remember to ask), and you may be given a 15 or 30 minute time limit. 15 minutes between food/drink purchases is hardly long enough. It takes me about 45 minutes to drink a large tea if I rush. Apparently they were overrun by students coming in for hours, not buying much but taking all the seats, so they changed the Wi-Fi policy to discourage that. It's worked: The place is no longer packed in the evenings. Ergonomically it's still a great place to go with a laptop. I use 3G to get online, though, rather than their Wi-Fi now. The signal's poor but it beats trying to write in a frenzied rush before the clock runs out. The music's often good, but a bit loud for me. I wear silicone earplugs when I go as well as active noise cancelling headphones, and can still hear the music clearly though the two layers. The ice cream's nice, with interesting flavours (but it's not gourmet ice cream like you get in posh restaurants). Considering how indulgent and large they look, the muffins are surprisingly edible without being sickly. The topped bagels can be quite nice sometimes, especially the toasted or pizza ones. Bagels are the only option for food if you don't want something sweet. The range of herbal teas is very good. The hot chocolate varies considerably in my experience between chocolatey and too milky, so if you have a preference, best say so at the counter. They might be the only non-alcohol-centric establishment in Oxford which stays open until midnight, which makes it appealing for those of us wanting to go out late and do a bit of reading or writing with a social buzz. If only there was somewhere to go afterwards! Jamie, 25/08/10 Great atmosphere! Friendly, switched on staff, yummy products... the works. Have been a regular customer since moving to Oxford a year ago and would recommend to anyone. Well done guys. Jimmy, 06/07/10 I think this place does fantastic food and drinks, everyone is pretty friendly- sometimes they play the music too loudly and won't turn it down if you ask... only issue. In general fantastic! turtle, 25/06/10 This is a lovely place - great coffee, tasty pastries, friendly staff. But even though the mornings are quieter, I find the volume level of the music later on in the day makes it impossible for me to concentrate or hear anything else properly. I have requested it be turned down, without success. I love this place but I think it has lost me as a customer because of this. Eva T, 16/10/09 The Cowley Road G&Ds is significantly larger than its other outlets. As a result, in addition to the faultless ice cream, you'll find comfortable sofas and lots of bright seating. Most importantly for students, academics and the burgeoning Oxford startup scene, though, is the reliable wifi: together with the Jam Factory, it's one of only two large, laptop-friendly cafes in the city. (Greens Café is a third, but it's always packed and can be stiflingly hot.) The ice cream deserves its own paragraph, and is the same delicious, organic, creatively flavoured stuff you'll find at the other two outlets. Like the other G&Ds, this one's open until midnight, so you can very easily follow a couple of pints with a scoop or two; not a bad way to round off the night. As with all the G&Ds outlets, the one bum note is the bagels. The fillings are great, but the bread itself isn't all it can be - it's more round bread than the chewy, moist flesh of the genuine article. Nonetheless, it's almost inconsequential; they're still pretty good, and most punters will likely make a beeline for a Super Chocolate cone rather than a veggie salad sandwich. Ben Werdmuller, 16/10/09 Nice Ice Cream. Usually Busy. Open Late. Nice Little Sun Trap Garden Out Back. Gummi Bears. What More Could You Want? ?, 29/04/09
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