The Burford Stomp

There were still two Oxfordshire pubs in the 2024 Good Beer Guide that I hadn't visited, requiring trips to Deddington and Burford. Strangely, this wasn't filling me with much excitement.
To reduce my 'to do' list to one, we set off on a Saturday morning to the western reaches of the county into the Cotswolds.

22-miles from Oxford, situated next to the River Windrush, Burford is home to just over 1,500 folk.  A figure much bolstered by visitors strolling the High Street with its patisseries, antique stores, Cotswold cheese and craft shops.  And traffic...lots of traffic.
I waited for a gap in the cars crawling down the A361 to take a picture of the pub...

The Golden Pheasant (91 High Street, Burford, OX18 4QA)
The Pheasant was one of the few places that wasn't serving lunch.  And as the Burford touristic masses demand a pub lunch, the Pheasant was painfully quiet.

The poor boar, head displayed unceremoniously on the wall, is destined to oversee the horrors of this pub room for the foreseeable future.
Some dreadfully busy patterns on the upholstery.  Folks sitting in their body warmers because it was awfully chilly.  Soup of the Day: Tomato.  Olly Murs as a soundtrack.   Argggggg!

Two cask beers were available on the bar, 'Cotswold Best' or 'Shagweaver', both from the North Cotswold Brewery of Moreton-in-Marsh.
The Best was on very average form, although I'd take a punt this was the first action the hand pump had seen all day and perhaps the whole pub visit would be much better at a later hour.

We did try to call into the Angel, a Hook Norton pub down a side street which is a regular in the Beer Guide.  But they weren't short of a crowd, with all tables taken, and the the only option for the drinks-only custom being the patio on a chilly, grey day.

A few doors down the same street is the Wadworth Royal Oak.

Royal Oak (26 Witney Street, Burford, OX18 4FN)
This was just marginally better than the Angel in that we were allowed to sit on two stools at the bar with our beers.  Other than that, every single table was occupied by the lunchtime 2-course meal trade.
This gives me mixed feelings.  If there's not even a ledge to perch on and call in for a drink without upsetting gentlefolk diners, is this really a pub?  But on the other hand, they're not going to survive and upkeep the Cotswold stone buildings on the profits they make from my pint of Horizon pale ale.

Anyway, not a bad pint.  Someone popped up to the bar post-lunch raving about this exotic 6X stuff and asking where they could buy some to take home.
The rugby kicked off on the small screens and we headed back out into the grey day to see if we had better pub luck elsewhere.
Let's try the other side of the town...

Lamb Inn (Sheep Street, Burford, OX18 4LR)
The Lamb is a sizeable hotel (we could have a double room for £265 if we decided we couldn't face the 3-leg bus journey back home).  Walking along the front of it I could spy the smart looking dining room, but stepping in the furthest door took us into a characterful little bar with flagstone floor. 

I thought the bar was great.  Toastily warm, requiring us to shed the layers.  Big old high-backed settle which looks the part but was probably most uncomfortable.  Decorative plates on display; pewter mugs hanging from the beams.

There were two hand pumps on the bar for cask: Fullers 'London Pride' or this mysterious Cotswold Ale... 

I never did discover who brewed it, but it went down well.
We were content sat on a bench next to the wood-burning stove, where they hadn't been able to resist a few scatter cushions.

We checked the bus times and figured we just had time for one last pint in Burford before starting to make our homeward-bound journey.
For which we picked the Cotswold Arms, back on the High Street.

The Cotswold Arms (46 High Street, Burford, OX18 4QF)
Stepping through the front door, at least this looked like a proper pub, with a casual room by the bar, full of folk grumbling at the rugby on a big screen.

"Yes, can I help?" demanded the officious staff member who'd probably clocked us non-customers trying to sneak in to use the loos.  We were actually trying to check there was somewhere to sit before ordering, based on previous pubs of the day. 

Beers from Stroud Brewery and Cotswold Lion were on reasonable form at a sensible price for this part of the world.  Just a shame that we were stuck in the rear dining room which was quietening down by this point in the afternoon and a very dull place to sit.

Right, back on the 234 bus to Witney.

Not too busy

When we reached Witney we headed down the pedestrianised shopping streets for a crafty pint.

The Crafty Pint (8 Langdale Court, Witney, OX28 6FG)
Previously a charity shop, this opened in 2018 as Oxbrew, later to become the Drummers Bar.  A Covid-era conservatory out front upset the local conservation folks, which may possibly be why the GBG-listed Drummers shut overnight.
It's now been taken over by the former manager, more seating has been added inside, and this micro pub (still a rarity in Oxfordshire) has taken on a new lease of life as the Crafty Pint.

Here's the beer choice...two cask and six keg.

A decent pint of the local Lovebeer 'Skyfall' for me, in the pleasant, relaxed environs with a decent number of locals in for an afternoon drink or two.  The staff were lovely, enthusing over the beer and tempting me to return in a week for a Lovebeer Brewery tap takeover.

We called into the Spoon's Company of Weavers for pizza and one more pint that I didn't really need, then called it a day.
Job done & just the one Oxfordshire GBG'24 pub left for me to do in the coming months.