Hidden college (From The Oxford Times)

Hidden college

7:50am Thursday 9th February 2012 in Letters

Sir – I have cycled along Brewer Street regularly for years and although being vaguely aware that Pembroke College was somewhere in the vicinity, it was only after reading about the tensions between historic sites and kebab vans (Letters, February 2) that I realised this bastion of collegiate propriety was on the other side of the gloomy Brewer Street wall.

Unlike many Oxford colleges which present a confident face to the world, it is actually quite difficult to find Pembroke unless you have a guide-book, an ‘A to Z’ or happen to look carefully from a particular vantage point along St Aldate’s. It cannot, as Robert Triggs suggests, qualify as a ‘famous historic landmark.

While it may be better off without a smelly van parked outside, at least that van provides a service, beyond the need for kebabs, by giving tourists some idea of where to gain entry.

Susan Heeks, Oxford