Oak Taverns Tour

At the tail-end of September a group of folk from our Oxford CAMRA branch squeezed into a minibus to make a trip around six pubs in the local Oak Taverns chain.
And we even managed to fit in a heritage classic while we were at it.

We met outside the Lamb and Flag; battled Oxford traffic to get out of the City; picked up the rest of group in Abingdon; then were pulling up at the George in Sutton Courtenay just as the clock chimed midday.

Timed to perfection - we loitered for no more than 30 seconds before landlord Rodney unbolted the front door.

The George (4 Church Street, Sutton Courtenay, OX14 4NJ - web)
I first visited The George a year ago when it made its debut in the Good Beer Guide, so I'll brush over it here. 

The George has been in the Oak Taverns chain since December 2019.  It's an attractive two-roomed pub with wooden beams, fireplaces, stone floors and a deli section in the doorway.
The same two real ales were on offer as when I was here last time: a Loose Cannon 'Abingdon Bridge' and a most enjoyable Amwell Springs 'Rude Not To'.

With the first pub under our belts, we made the nine-mile journey to the Thames town of Wallingford.

The Cross Keys (48 High Street, Wallingford, OX10 0DB - web)
This is a pub transformed since my previous visit a couple of years ago.  Back then it was a little bit dingy and unwelcoming, serving up a pint of Brakspear in a near empty pub.

This time around it's buzzing with customers, full of character, and offering a great range of beers...
A house beer from XT, Tiny Rebel 'Cwych Gold', a Loose Cannon 'Never Gonna Give Brew Up', and Dead Brewer's Society 'LX Ale'. 
The Dead Brewers Society is an organisation that holds archives of original recipes and information required to recreate beers not seen for many years.
They've teamed up with Oak Taverns, with the beers then being brewed at XT.  The one on offer on this occasion was an 1888 recipe from the long-lost Shillingford Brewery of Bicester. 

I'm a sucker for these recreated ales, so of course I picked it and enjoyed it.
And I'm also a sucker for a Rick Astley pun, so I had a half of 'Never Gonna Give Brew Up' as well.

The Cross Keys was made up of four rooms - two either side of the front door, a smartly furnished rear lounge, and a snug up a couple of stairs from the bar. 
After a bit of exploration I settled in the snug with it's Bass clock and cabinet full of games.

Follow the Thames for 11 miles from Wallingford and you'll reach Whitchurch on Thames, right at the southernmost reaches of the county.

I did set foot in Whitchurch a decade ago on a riverside ramble, had a pint and brought a couple of bottles from a man in a shed from the now defunct Hen House Brewery.
So I thought I'd already been to today's target, the Greyhound, but it turns out my pint back then was in the (currently closed) Ferryboat, a little nearer the toll bridge.

Here's the Greyhound - picturesque if only you could edit the parked cars and pizza hut out of the photo.

The Greyhound (High Street, Whitchurch on Thames, RG8 7EL - web)
This pub was previously owned by Punch, prior to being brought and reopened by Oak Taverns in August of 2021.

It's actually quite smartly furnished within -  an L-Shaped main bar and small snug to the right of the front door.  Our group being 16-strong today, it took a while for everyone to get served - leaving me to have a wander looking for those subtle indicators of a good pub.

Aha!  Always trust somewhere with Van Goor's Anatomische Wandlatten hanging on the wall...

XT 'Four' and Timothy Taylor's 'Landlord' on cask, alongside two lesser-seen brews from Broadtown Brewery of Wootton Basset.
I went for a half each of the Broadtown beers - dangerous territory at 5.8% for the wheat beer and 6.2% for the Belgian dark.  But both quite delicious and a little bit special.

Next up - a deviation from the Oak Taverns theme, with the plan being to cross into Berkshire for a heritage gem which also happens to be a two-time National Pub of the Year.

Our journey was made that little bit trickier by the bridge at Goring being closed for roadworks, meaning we had to travel all the way back to Wallingford to cross the Thames.
This made for the longest trip between pubs and I was beginning to regret not popping to the WC in the Greyhound before departing
Straight into the outdoor gents in the Bell then - they come with a warning!

The Bell Inn (Aldworth, RG8 9SE)
The building dates back to the 15th century when it would have been a village manor house before becoming a pub.  It's now Grade II listed and in the National Heritage Pub inventory.

Step through the front door and there's a servery with sliding glass partitions, handwritten signs promoting the homemade rolls, and pump clips decorating the wooden walls.

Ales available were all local: Indigenous 'Baldrick', Arkells 'BB' and Amwell Springs 'Chairman Dave'.  But I went for the most local of the lot - the 'Five Giants' brewed 'round the back of the pub... 

The handled mugs seemed just right for the location - the beer an easy-drinking dark malty bitter which went down a treat.
Most folk gravitated outside in the warm weather, but I really wanted to soak up the historic interior - the two rooms featuring giant fireplaces, stone floors, a rocking chair, lots of black and white pictures on the wall, and a random collection of CAMRA magazines from far and wide, dropped off by the groups who make the trip to this marvelous pub.

Fourteen miles across the Berkshire Downs, through some picturesque countryside, we found ourselves in the familiar territory of Wantage.
There are enough pubs in this busy little market town to keep you content for a whole afternoon, but just the one for us today as we pulled up outside the chip shop and crossed the road into the Kings Arms.

The Kings Arms (39 Wallingford Street, Wantage, OX12 3AU - web)
Nice black and white frontage, minimalist sign, old Morland tile at pavement level - and a whopping great white shutter...who put that there?!

This was formerly a quite unremarkable Greene King pub.  Old Beer in the Evening reviews slated it as having 'lairy locals' and being a 'bit chavvy' before directing you across the road to the Shoulder of Mutton instead.
Then in 2018 Oak Taverns moved in and people started to say much nicer things about the Kings Arms..

 

There are basic seating areas either side of the front door, with a fireplace to warm drinkers in the winter months (and a pleasant garden out the back for the summertime).
The bar is in the middle of the pub where things get a little bit smarter with a polished wood floor and a Brunning and Price vibe to the decor.

The Kings Arms website tells us they aim to get "stuff you don't see at every pub" and they've certainly succeeded as far as pubs in the Vale of the White Horse are concerned.
Arbor 'ZZ Hop', Verdant 'Penpol Pale Ale', Red Willow 'Reckless', Thornbridge 'Artisan', and more of the Dead Brewers Society 'LX Ale',

Decent choices on the craft taps (although I wanted the ones advertised as 'coming next'), plus ciders from the box which helped this win the local CAMRA Cider Pub of the Year award.

I thoroughly enjoyed my hoppy pale Arbor ale in the Kings Arms before we moved onward to Faringdon.

The Swan (1 Park Road, Faringdon, SN7 7BP - web)
The Swan has a prominent spot looking out over a road junction and the baptist church.
The writing above the front windows still advertise it as being the home of the Faringdon Brewery, although the brew kit hasn't been used for a few years now.

The pub is split into two, with the bar in the front section and a more moodily-lit rear area down a couple of steps.
Plenty of people in for a Saturday teatime in a pub that doesn't do live sports or food.

The real ales available on our visit represented Oxon/Berks/Bucks: XT '4', Renegade 'Good Old Boy', Hook Norton 'Hooky', Little Ox 'Dark and Seedy' and White Horse 'The Don's Dark Ale'.  The Don's Dark is a lesser-seen White Horse beer - a malty, full-bodied trad bitter.

Which went down a treat with a curried egg - the £1 cost of which all went to charity, which is nice.  Just don't pay too much attention to the slimy gloop in the jar that the egg's fished out from.

Things you don't see everywhere: Dark beer, curried egg, and a CASH TRANSACTION!

Which left us with the daylight fading and just one pub remaining on the itinerary.  
Twelve and a half miles took us to the village of Marcham, just to the east of Abingdon, and famed for being the home of Denham College, founded by the Women's Institute.

And the recently reopened Crown...

The Crown (1 Packhorse Lane, Marcham, OX14 1NT)
This was previously a Morland pub, although it was more recently run by Admiral Taverns.
Their last appearance in the Good Beer Guide was in 2019 when it was listed as selling Bombardier, Doom Bar and Loose Cannon beers.

The pub closed midway through 2022 and almost became a community pub, except the application to run it as such was turned down by the local council.
The good news is that Oak Taverns stepped in, refurbished it, had a little difficulty with the 'n' on the pub sign, then opened the doors to the public on the 28th September.

We bowled in two days later, the whiff of fresh paint in the air, finding the place doing a roaring trade, most tables full and the drinks being served at a rate of knots.

And what's that on the bar?
There's an interloper amongst the local beers...

Take a wild guess if the XT '3' was being poured for me, or if I was waiting to order the Bass.
I do believe that's the first time I've seen Bass in Oxfordshire in the ten years I've lived here.

The lady who served me told me it had proved popular and they were considering making it a permanent ale.  Do it!

Bass in a newly reopened pub full of happy punters - a fine way to end what had been a grand day out.

Ivybridge Brewing Company

The last blog post featured a Devon brewery tap alongside a couple of traditional pubs...and so too shall this one.
Moving down to the southern edge of Dartmoor, Ivybridge is 13-miles from Plymouth, bypassed by the Devon Expressway.  We were making our way to a brewery tap room and Good Beer Guide pub.

But first, a diversion to nearby Bittaford and the Horse and Groom...

Horse & Groom (Exeter Road, Bittaford, PL21 0EL - web)
This is a grand 1930's community pub which stands above the road up a deceptively steep driveway, palm trees lining the front garden.

The Horse and Groom pre-dates what we see today and was previously situated on the other side of the road.  That building was partially demolished in 1933 in order to widen the B3213, the new pub constructed opposite the old one.

It's a proper old-school pub inside - red carpet, red cushioned bench seating under the windows, dumpy stools, horse-orientated accessories on display, pewter tankards hanging above the bar.
Lots of old pictures of Bittaford covered the bits of walls that weren't advertising enormo-steak deals in the restaurant.

Dartmoor 'Jail Ale', Exmoor 'Stag' and 'Flattler' cider were on the hand pumps on a bar counter spoilt by huge white Carlsberg dispensers.
But it was the house beer which drew my attention...

The pub was disappointingly quiet for a Saturday lunchtime, a few folks in the dining room section to the side, leaving us with the bar to ourselves, the Beatles playing quietly in the background.

Wikipedia manages a very short entry about the village, listing amenities as:
"Bittaford has a community hall, a Methodist church on Exeter Road and a pub called the Horse and Groom".
Well, I'd done the pub so set out for touristic completion - here's the Methodist church...

But we never found the community hall, perhaps scared off by the gardener cutting the grass at the church who was quite rightly very suspicious about my behavior.

We moved on to Ivybridge where our first port of call was the Imperial...

The Imperial (28 Western Road, Ivybridge, PL21 9AN - web)
There are five pubs in the town, all of which looked like proper boozers set in terraces, serving a lot of Doom Bar and Tribute. The Imperial, five minutes south of the town centre is the current Beer Guide entry.

It's a spacious L-shaped bar with a big fireplace for colder weather, big garden out back for when the sun's shining.
Dartmoor 'Jail Ale' and St Austell 'Tribute' were being served, with a 36-pint pin of local ale on the back of the bar: all drunk by the Friday evening crowd, unfortunately for me.
Instead, I picked the Sandford 'Rib Tickler', feeling the need for a bit of Devon cider.

Ivybridge didn't quite match the expectations of picturesque Devonian town that I'd conjured up in my mind.  But stroll north of the town centre and you reach the waterfalls, railway viaduct in the woods, and old mill.
Stowford Paper Mill was constructed in 1787, then rebuilt in the 1860's at which point it employed over 300 people. 
I bet none of those 300 folk ever imagined their workplace would be set to become 'premium loft apartments' in the 2020's.

We followed the river on a footpath through Longtimber Woods - a lovely walk if you have an hour-or-so to while-away before the brewery tap opens.

Mrs PropUptheBar had the patience of saints while I scrambled about trying to take a respectable photograph of the waterfalls that are a constant presence to the side of the path.
To be fair, Mrs PropUptheBar always needs to have the patience of saints.

Suitably exercised, we headed back into the town to the small shopping centre built on the site of another old mill.
Where we were pleased to see the Tap Room had opened their doors 15-minutes earlier than advertised.

Ivybridge Brewery Tap (3 Glanvilles Mill, Ivybridge, PL21 9PS - web)
Ivybridge Brewing Co are a social enterprise providing work, training, and volunteering opportunities for people with learning disabilities.
It was set up by a keen home-brewer, Simon Rundle, initially in a room at the town hall.  They then moved into the taproom in June 2022, expanding the brewing kit which now produces around 7,000 litres a year. 

Five beers on tap, plus a Devon Red cider.
A pale ale, amber ale and two IPAs (take your pick between 'hazy' or 'punchy').

"I recommend the Erme Pale", said the sole other customer propping up the bar. 
So I thought I'd better have it, lest he be offended by my snubbing his recommendation.
It's the first beer the brewery released and is a light easy-going 4% session ale. 
Here's the action shot of it being poured...

And as it's beer for a good cause I purchased a couple of bottles to pop in the backpack as takeaways.

Now let's see if I can find another Devon taproom to make it three-in-a-row.

Taw Valley Brewery

Back in Devon, this time pretty much slap-bang in the middle of the county in the small town of North Tawton.
I was aiming for a Beer Guide pub and a rural brewery tap with very elusive opening hours.

This was Saturday  9th September (I'm behind) - the hottest day of the year in that remarkable week when summer finally got started then made way for autumn six days later. 

The North Tawton Beer Guide regular is about a mile south of the town, situated next to the one-time railway station.
Trains began arriving here in 1865, then stopped 103-years later in 1968.  The Exeter to Okehampton line, on which this lies, has recently reopened, but the trains now race past North Tawton.

I'm surprised many people find the pub.  Along with the old station, it's located up a potholed track, hidden from the A3124 by farm buildings, the pub sign long gone.
An unassuming building, the picnic benches in front were empty and the lights were off. 
I feared a closed pub.

Railway Inn (Whiddon Down Road, North Tawton, EX20 2BE)

Timidly entering through the front door, I realised the lights were off in a lounge to the side whilst the bar was at the back of the pub with the sound of chatter and laughter emanating from it.

The locals propping up the bar promised the landlord would be back soon, but eventually took pity on my long wait and went to find him.

 

Turned out he'd been sat in the other room musing over a card the postman had delivered saying there was a letter that required £2.50 excess postage paying.  A yellow letter, apparently.
"Well you wouldn't it to be a brown letter - never anything good comes in a brown envelope. 
"Or a red one - that'd be a final demand".
"It don't matter if it's red, white, brown or pink - he's not expecting nothing so he don't want to be paying £2.50 for it."

It was that kind of pub where you didn't need a TV or music - just sitting and listening to the next debate about supermarket self-checkouts was all the entertainment you needed.

It's also a pleasing, basic and comfortable bar, with some good decorations and pictures of the railway station in its heyday hung on the walls.
Two cask ales available: Teignworthy 'Reel Ale' and Exeter 'Avocet'.
I've had a few very average pints of Avocet but this was gorgeous - a NBSS 4 recorded on the CAMRA beer scoring thing.
A wonderful pub.

Which also provided something a bit different for the mild smut collection.

Ah, that'll be the pub sign that was missing at the turn-off from the road.

I headed back into North Tawton itself - a pleasantly peaceful place that's home to some 2,200 people who get to enjoy three pubs, a chip shop, and a cheese factory.  Probably some other stuff as well, but beer, cheese and chips are things that stick in my mind.

The market square is the focal point, the parked cars and scaffolding around the clock tower scuppering the picture.
So I snapped a photo of a characterful old building instead...

And St Peter's church with its witches hat of a spire...

In the centre is an unexpected ice cream emporium called Barzotelli Gelato.
So good I considered just ticking ice cream flavours for the rest of the afternoon instead of visiting pubs and breweries.
This was the Turkish Delight flavour.  Stunning...

With remarkably no ice cream dripped down my t-shirt, I wandered down the hill towards the River Taw and decided to pop my head into the Copper Key Inn.

The Copper Key Inn (Fore Street, North Tawton, EX20 2ED)
This was a pub experience.  Inside was a cornucopia of bric-a-brac and odd decorations.
The room in front of the bar looked like someone's front room from a bygone era: big brown leather sofas around a coffee table - a TV in a cabinet, tuned into the rugby World Cup, busy bookshelves, retro wallpaper, glass display cabinets full of mysterious oddities.

The landlord was sat with a Guinness watching the rugby, the only other customer a lady settled into the sofa with her Peroni and pint of water.  If it weren't for the bar I'd have thought I'd just managed to walk into somebody's house by mistake.

The pub dog enthusiastically jumped up my leg whilst I ordered a Holsworthy 'Sun Shine', brewed not too far away on the Devon/Cornwall border.
An above average golden ale, which went down very well.

The landlord chatted local beer and September heatwaves, taking his food temperature probe outside to settle our guesswork about how hot it was.  Spared the rugby talk, I had a fine discussion about football covering everything from the Saudi League to Macclesfield Town. 
I could have , and maybe should have, stayed all afternoon.

But someone spoiled the moment by chewing the strap of my rucksack and making quite a mess of it.
Not him...

That'll be the culprit...

And to be honest, they were probably wondering who this weird bloke was who'd sat with them for half an hour, waxing lyrical about non-league football and trying to take a picture of the dog.
They waved me farewell and checked I'd got water for the trip to the brewery on this hot day.  What a nice place.

Taw Valley Brewery is just over a mile out of town in the middle of nowhere.

Making the most of some historic outbuildings at Westacott farm...

Taw Valley Brewery Tap Room (Westacott Farm, North Tawton, EX20 2BR - web)
The tap room is located in the barn which is set on a significant downhill slope, making the level benches and tables a feat of furniture engineering.

One big round table was located at the bottom, occupied by the brewer and his buddy, the beer barrels propped on a rickety table against the far wall..
Just the one ale was available - 'Copper Best' - a no-nonsense brown bitter than was exactly what I wanted at the time. 

This was quite a satisfying brewery tick, as they only open 3pm to 6pm on Saturdays, July to September.

I took my pint to the characterful makeshift tables under the cover of the building at the top of yard where you get to balance your beer on pallets and sit on hay bales.  Much as I like a hay bale, it was stiflingly hot, whilst the barn was a cool refuge from the mini-heatwave. 

The Taw Valley Brewery has very rustic loos...

"Do you want to see the brewery", asked the boss, obviously aware that I was in a need of a shiny brewing kit picture for September for the blog...

I weighed my bag down with a few takeaway bottles and departed from Taw Valley Brewery.
I've no idea how many people make it here.  It's not signposted or widely advertised, although there were a few cyclists in, and the round table was getting full of the brewers local acquaintances by the time I left. 
Well worth a visit - although you'll have to wait until next summer now.