Richard Bell explores the lesbian Girl Friday night at Oxford’s Castle Tavern.

Sometimes it’s nice to mix up your routine by throwing a little spice into your life.

Whether it’s by trying a new dish, buying a new shirt or visiting a new place to meet some new people, it can be a fun way to learn something new about yourself.

Oftentimes for me this involves discovering that certain foods are just too spicy for me, or that I definitely can’t get away with wearing a vest...

A friend of mine recently shared with me that she was using an Internet dating site as a way to meet new people.

After a suitable amount of mocking her, I realised she was right – that it was simply a very good way to meet new people whom you otherwise might never meet.

And if you think about it, it’s actually a good way to go to a gig.

Thus, with this spirit of adventure in mind, I joined a couple of friends down at the Castle Tavern on Friday night to explore a place I had never been to.

Castle Tavern is a gay-friendly pub, and tries to offer a night that everyone can enjoy by employing the ubiquitous Nelly B to transform their downstairs area into Girl Friday, a night specifically looking to offer something to Oxford’s lesbian community without alienating the rest of the city, by playing purely the best female artists from the past five decades.

The result is a great deal of fun as I enjoyed a bit of a dancing to songs by Beyonce and Blondie.

Having never been to the Castle Tavern before, I was a little disappointed by their prices, which are slightly on the expensive side, but this in itself is rescued by the fact that you can take your drinks out front to sit in the Castle Tavern’s rather refined outside smoking area.

I’ve mentioned recently that most places don’t seem to put any effort into their smoking areas, but Castle Tavern goes above and beyond the call of duty to offer not one smoking area but two!

The first is attached to the main bar with tables and chairs, while the other is attached to the downstairs club, giving its patrons the opportunity to spend their night in exactly the environment they want to, whether they fancy a quiet drink upstairs or a good old boogie below.

In this case, following my adventurous side into new surroundings has yielded a great result – I discovered a lovely little night and a decent little bar.

Sometimes, of course, you’ll end up in a horrible place, with nothing but surly looking gentlemen ready to kick every ounce of curiosity out of you the second you try to order a cocktail but, let’s face it, if you never try you’ll end up stagnating.

Sometimes it’s just worth taking a chance, particularly if that chance brings you a night as good as Girl Friday.