[3] The King's Arms pub is in a prominent position on the corner of Parks Road and Holywell Street, opposite the New Bodleian Library building.

The lease book of Oxford Council in 1607 stated "Thomas Franklyn has licence to set up an inn with the sign of the King's Arms".

[5] Franklyn's choice of the name refers to King James I (reigned 1603–1625), who was involved with Wadham College, immediately to the north.

Graham Greene, in his interviews with biographer Norman Sherry, identified the King's Arms as the pub where he and Kim Philby, among other intelligence officers, shared drinks around 1944.

[7] Before Wadham College reclaimed upper stories of the building in the 1960s, the King's Arms had been an hotel, once popular with commercial travellers.