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Somerton is one of the worst places on the Cherwell for crays. They even take bread in winter there! It does have some very big chub as well and the odd barbel but never as many as rumour would suggest. In fact i have caught 2 there in 20 years which, although I haven't spent all those 20 years pursuing Somerton barbel, would suggest they are elusive to say the least. Having put in many rod hours looking for them I can only conclude they are either nomadic or simply not there in any numbers to make a campaign viable. But good luck to anyone who wants to put the effort in as it's just the sort of place to hold a big fish. And as I said, there are also some excellent chub to be caught at Somerton.
The big fish no longer seem to be in residence at Shipton. Otters have been blamed and this is certainly likely. 15 or so years ago it was a phenomenal stretch for barbel with 5 or 6 resident doubles. Even when word got out and the pressure increased the fishing was still excellent so I don't think angling pressure is responsible for this stretch being a shadow of it's former self. It was suggested the group may have dispersed or dropped down to Thrupp but the Thrupp and Kidlington areas are no longer as good as they once were either. Also some carcasses of big barbel were reputedly found in the Kidlington area and that is otters, no question. Mink, never. It was suggested that a mink had killed The Traveller on the Ouse! A mink drag out a 20 pound barbel!! Must have had a crane handy.
Maybe the Cherwell will one day return to it's former status as an excellent, if very hard barbel river but it will probably take a good few years and a good few less otters.