Colin Dexter has a lot to answer for. The former university exams officer has changed the nature of tourism in his home city. Whereas, not so long ago, visitors only came to Oxford to see the colleges and churches with their dreaming spires, now they also make a journey to spend time in its pubs.

Dexter’s boozy creation, Inspector Morse, first arrived in bookshops in 1975. The subsequent series of novels featuring the cerebral copper are imbued with visits to local hostelries, as the stumped sleuth seeks out a beer to help oil the cogs of his brilliant detective mind. When Morse drinks, he thinks.

Like the character’s other great obsessions, Wagnerian opera and crossword puzzles, beer is a passion Morse shares with his creator and Dexter's favourite Oxford’s pubs received even greater exposure when actor John Thaw stepped into the detective’s shoes for his first TV outing in the 1980s.

Now travellers home in on Oxford to follow in Morse’s footsteps and to sink an ale or two in the city’s many historic hostelries. Should you decide to join the pilgrimage, here’s a route that may ease your path.

Royal Beginning

Assuming one kicks off by arriving at the railway station, the first pub worth targeting is a ten-minute walk into town. Stroll past the remains of 11th-century Oxford Castle (now a leisure attraction, complete with chain restaurants and a hotel) and its modern neighbour, the Westgate shopping centre, then take a right into St Ebbes Street.

On the next corner, you’ll find The Royal Blenheim (pictured right), a Tardis-in-reverse pub that looks bigger on the outside than it does within. Dip in through the stained-glass porch and you’ll be confronted by a simple drinking area with a tiled floor, some raised seating areas and a small snug in the corner.

Old sporting prints are tacked up on the walls, there’s a stack of board games you can borrow and food majors on simple pub offerings such as home-made pies and chillis. The bar faces you and is graced by no fewer than ten handpumps.

A number of these dispense beer brewed by Oxfordshire’s own White Horse Brewery, but there are guest selections and also beer from Everards, which owns the premises and delegates its management to White Horse.

The wide beer choice threatens to detain you, but Oxford has much more to offer. From The Royal Blenheim turn left and carry on along Pembroke Street, cross St Aldates, turn left and then immediately right into Blue Boar Street.

Historic Backstreets

Here you are stumbling into the historic backstreets of Oxford and within a few minutes you’ll find yourself outside one of its historic backstreet pubs.

The Bear is a tiny gem, with a cramped front bar and a similar-sized lounge behind. Wood panelling features throughout and there are real fires to chase away the cold. It’s the sort of place you want to hole up in for the night.

Fuller’s owns the pub these days, so excellent ales from the Chiswick brewery dominate the wet provision, but there are guest beers, too. Otherwise, renown for The Bear is based on its extensive collection of neckties, which are displayed in glass cases pinned to the walls and even to the ceilings.

Step out of The Bear and turn left along Alfred Street to join High Street and cross the road. Now comes the most perplexing part of the crawl. The next target is the world-famous Turf Tavern, but finding it takes a little patience, as it is tucked away in between the colleges.

Probably the easiest route is to make your way up to Broad Street, via Turl Street, and passing by Exeter College. Sneak a look into the quad here. It’s where Morse keeled over in the last-ever episode.

On Broad Street, take a right. There are pubs across the road that you’ll need to pass, but fear not, we’ll return to them later. Fight your way through the throngs of tourists, head past the striking Sheldonian Theatre and aim for The King’s Arms on the corner.

Follow Holywell Street and, after 50 yards, watch out for a narrow alleyway called Bath Place on the right-hand side. This will lead you into the Turf Tavern.

Secluded Treasure

It’s not just its seclusion that makes The Turf such a magnet. It’s a pub for all-comers, with small-paned, bowed windows at the front, heavy stone walls, flagged floors and various drinking areas on different levels. The outside seating is in great demand in summer and offers separate areas for smokers and non-smokers.

There’s plenty of food on the go and a weekly pub quiz, which – considering the brain power of the regulars – is probably one of the most fiendish in the country. Greene King is the landlord here, but you’d never know that from the wide selection of ales.

Retrace your steps back to The King’s Arms. This large, corner-house, washed in a fetching shade of pink, conceals a warren of rooms. Some are quaint and cosy, but most, particularly towards the main front entrance, are open and functional.

The high ceilings, boxy layout and emphasis on catering cheapen the attraction for me, but it’s worth dropping by if you fancy a pint of Young’s beers.

If The King’s Arms is mostly big and roomy, The White Horse, further back along Broad Street, is anything but. This tiny, narrow, low-ceiling pub, squeezed in between two entrances to Blackwells enormous book shop, must have been a hell-hole for non-smokers before the tobacco ban, but today its claustrophobic pleasures are open to all.

The ancient woodwork and the warming glow of candles on all tables bring back memories of some of the older bars near the Grand Place in Brussels. The beer range includes Oxfordshire ales plus more exotic offerings.

Carry on westward along Broad Street, past the gates and lawns of Trinity College, to the main junction with Cornmarket Street and George Street. Take the former (left). It’s mostly shops around here but an interesting port of call is The Three Goats’ Heads, on St Michael’s Street, soon to be found on the right.

Interesting and New

This is interesting because it belongs to Yorkshire brewer Samuel Smith. Don’t expect to find cask ale: the only Old Brewery Bitter on sale is keg. But you can appreciate Sam’s skills with other beer styles – a fine Bavarian-style weizen and the excellent Pure Brewed Lager, for instance. The pub itself is spartan but bright. You can choose to sit upstairs or down in the more congenial basement bar.

Reverse your route back to Cornmarket Street. Head north again away from the main shopping district, cross over into Magdalen Street East but immediately duck left into Friar’s Entry (near Debenhams). Just along here is one of Oxford’s less traditional boozers.

Far from the Madding Crowd opened eight years ago and is a modern, open-plan bar with latticed windows and bare-board floors. It doesn’t have the charm of most pubs on our itinerary, but the beer is the draw. It’s a free house, with a changing selection of ales.

Head once again onto Magdalen Street East and stride out north through the last of the shoppers. On the next corner, opposite the Ashmolean Museum, stands the imposing Randolph Hotel, feted in the Morse books and TV series and home to the Morse Bar.

Now here’s a mystery. Why does a bar called the Morse Bar sell no real ale? And what would Morse have said if offered only a pint of Caffreys? With a curmudgeonly grunt, I suspect he would have moved on, or at best looked down to the bottled beer shelf and picked out a bottle of Innis & Gunn.

Literary Draw

The next two pubs on the route are two of the city’s best known. As you wander north along St Giles (an extension of Magdalen Street East), on the left you’ll approach The Eagle and Child. You’ll know where it is because it’s likely that a busload of Japanese tourists will be trooping in or posing for photographs outside.

The attraction lies in the pub’s literary history. This is the place where some of Oxford’s most celebrated authors – JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis amongst them – regularly gathered to sup beer and discuss their latest works.

Inside, the pub is very narrow but delves back a long way, with the cosiest areas the two little snugs on each side of the front door. The beer range varies. On last inspection, there were two ales available, one each from Lancaster and Nethergate breweries.

Directly across the road (and a very wide road, it has to be said), is The Lamb & Flag. The pub is owned by St John’s College but run as a free house. Palmers’ beers from Dorset feature among the handpumped offerings, and you may also find beer from Skinner’s in Cornwall.

Take your pick of seating areas: the bright, wood-panelled front bar or one of the tables in the side bar that extends deep into the bowels of the pub.

Now we start to get off the beaten track. Keep walking north and the main road soon forks into two. The left road nominally heads towards Woodstock and the right towards Banbury. It is the latter that we need.

Stroll on for another ten minutes or so and keep your eyes peeled for North Parade Avenue on the left. From bustling city centre, you now find yourself in almost a village environment. The shops are small and individually owned and there’s a community buzz in the air. The mood is reflected in the area’s best pub.

The Rose & Crown is a great find – a small, terraced, privately-owned free house, with low ceilings, bare-board floors and a bar serving hatch. Capacity is boosted by a covered outside drinking area and sporting books and paraphernalia are on display.

More than in any pub so far encountered on our beery jaunt, this place exudes the warmth of a proper local, a place where you fall into conversation and stay for a pint or two more than you’d planned. Neighbours meet for a chat, town and gown blend seamlessly, and gawking tourists are few and far between.

With a couple of Hook Norton beers on tap, plus the likes of Adnams and Timothy Taylor in support, the emphasis is on quality beer from the regionals.

To conclude our tour, we’ll stay out of the city centre. Carry on along North Parade Avenue, skip over the first crossroads and then pitch up on the Woodstock Road. Dogleg left and immediately right and enter Plantation Road. On the right hand side is a pub called The Gardeners’ Arms.

I love sidestreet pubs in residential areas and The Gardeners’ would see plenty of trade from me if I lived nearby. The layout is simple – basically two rooms opened out into one drinking area at the front, but with a mellow, relaxing atmosphere courtesy of dark wood panelling and subdued lighting. Jennings Bitter and Ringwood Porter are typical of the beer provision.

Walls of Jericho

Carry on along Plantation Road until it forms a T-junction with Kingston Road. Turn left and keep going for a block until Kingston Road becomes Walton Street. This part of town is known as Jericho. Once working class, it is now rather trendy and bijou in places, with plenty going on.

The third right is Cranham Street and it will take you to The Harcourt Arms, a dimly-lit but hospitable Fuller’s pub that splits into two halves. Jazz may be playing in the background but dark ceilings and stripped wood tables keep the mood down to earth, with real fires burning on both sides of the room.

Deeper into the Jericho labyrinth – straight down Cranham Street then turn left at the end onto Canal Street – you’ll find The Old Bookbinders. Once belonging to Morrells – Oxford’s last major brewery that closed in 1998 – it’s now in the hands of Greene King, but beers include seasonals and guests.

There are two main rooms, board games are very popular and assorted bric-a-brac includes ancient musical instruments and nailed-up vinyl records.

From here it’s a 20-minute walk back along Walton Street to reach the station and it’s rather fitting that our last pub happens to be the very first to be visited by Morse on television. It was just down the road that crimes in the pilot episode, The Dead of Jericho, took place.

Who would have thought that, with that first brutal murder, the pubs of Oxford would gain a such new lease of life?