Anyone crawling along Botley Road, Oxford, in the daily traffic jam must cheer up a little at the sight of The George pub, an island of antiquity and old world charm in a sea of charmless office development towering above it.

Planners tell me that pubs, like churches, tended to survive post-war comprehensive redevelopment schemes because they were seen as hubs of the community.

Nowadays, the community around The George, with its splendid pub sign depicting a king (presumably George lV) decked out in full ermine, consists almost entirely of offices. The lunchtime clientele therefore is mainly made up of staff emanating from the nearby commercial premises -notably the red brick Minns Estate and the Seacourt Tower opposite, with its ersatz cathedral spire.

It is also a pleasant cycle ride away from Osney Mead Industrial Estate, the home of In Business magazine and many other companies, for anyone wanting a bit of exercise in their lunchbreak, and a view of the water meadows towards North Hinksey village.

Recently, such workers will have found that the bill of fare at the old pub, peacefully set off the busy road next to the Seacourt stream, has improved, thanks to the new management regime of Sally Johnson.

On sunny days, sun-starved office workers can eat and drink either on the banks of the stream, where there are tables and chairs set up, or up on a terrace overlooking it.

Alternatively, you can take advantage of a sort of 1950s-style glassed-in terrace, furnished with old-fashioned dark wood furniture, standing on a flagstone floor.

There I ate a delicious fish pie, just baked by Sally Johnson herself, while watching fresh-water counterparts of the contents of my pie swimming about in the stream.

At £6.95 for a first-class home-baked pie, complete with a side salad, no one could call this restaurant expensive. It was served by a bevvy of happy-seeming waitresses who inquired more than once whether "everything was all right."

Sadly, as it happened, everything was not all right with the fillet steak and potato salad (£11.95) ordered by my colleague Maggie Hartford. A strange, flat object resembling a flake of wallpaper was discovered in the salad! Consternation all around, but the staff dealt with the situation quickly and quietly, offering a complete refund without fuss.

Certainly, I do not think the incident should put anyone off visiting the George - quite the reverse. How a restaurant deals with problems when they arise - as they inevitably will in even the best-run establishments - is surely an indication of its management efficiency.

Some old-timers may remember how The George, until the boundary changes of 1974, used to be known as the first pub in Berkshire - the Seacourt stream marked the county line and the licensing hours varied by that vital half-hour.

They may also remember the sausage-eating contests conducted under the direction of landlord David Laws.

Those days may be gone, but the pub still retains a comfortable feeling of a pub of the old school - but with better-quality food.

Not surprising, that feeling, since the earliest record of The George as an ale house is dated 1726, and of course, a pub may have stood here from much earlier times still.

Until early in the last century this remnant of old Botley still had its Georgian sash windows.

Late in the 19th century the landlord was wheelwright Fred Daniels, who later moved upstream to the ancient Botley Mill. In the early 1990s, many customers will remember landlord Henry Skelcher, a part-time taxi driver, and his wife Dallas.

Sally Johnson is following in the footsteps of many fondly-remembered landlords.

We wish her luck.

n Contact: 01865 244795.