Beaconsfield Beckons

The Microsoft news feed on my work PC seems confident that I want to read stories about George R.R. Martin's never-happening next Game of Thrones book, Man City's unlikely-to-ever-happen 115 fines, Wetherspoon's latest pub openings and closings, and behind-the-scenes insights into the Traitors. 
They haven't really got me sussed yet, but I do like keeping up to date with Spoons.

Which is how I came to pick Beaconsfield as a wintery Saturday afternoon destination, providing me the chance to visit the newly opened Chiltern.

The Chiltern (12 Station Road, Beaconsfield, HP9 1QR)
And wow!  It was doing a roaring trade - the new kid on the block bringing out the locals in force.
At first glance the building doesn't look especially old or cinema-like. Yet it opened in 1927, designed by Leathart and Granger of London in an unconventional style for a picture house.  In 1989 the credits for Nick Nolte crime thriller 'The Three Fugitives' rolled and the popcorn detritus was swept up for the final time when The Chiltern closed.  In the interim it's been a pizza restaurant, but now finds itself as one of the newest Spoons outlets.

In a Beaconsfield bid to be released from Bucks and incorporated into the capital, The Chiltern was taking part in the Wetherspoon London Beer Festival.  Presenting me with too much choice at the bar, with a cracking range of styles represented over half-a-dozen guest ale hand pulls.  The Wimbledon 'Hounds of Helles' drew me in with the dramatic pump clip and my fondness for a dunkel.  Although it was a bit light-bodied and not as good as I'd hoped.

I returned to the bar for a Mad Squirrel 'Amberillo', a super beer in great condition.  Keep this up and I'll expect to see The Chiltern in the GBG before too long.
The 'bustling' heart of the pub is the high-roofed auditorium where the bar is, whilst there are quieter seating areas in a front section and around the entryway.  
Toilets are, inevitably, a climb up the stairs, with a glass-walled passageway to them providing the birds-eye view of proceedings.

Time for a quick shot of the carpet before departing...

Then onward into the chill afternoon, my next destination no more than a couple of minutes around the corner...

The Taps Beaconsfield (5-7 Gregories Road, Beaconsfield, HP9 1HG)
This is a shop conversion, turned into a modern bar which is too smart and large to be called a micro.  It's not going to please anyone looking for a traditional pub, but it instantly gets my thumbs-up for Violent Femmes 'Blister in the Sun' playing on my arrival.

Here's the beer list...

Not a bad selection. No bargains to be had, though.

I ordered a half of the Otherworld 'Lycan' pale ale, having had a superb stout from the Dalkeith brewery in Oxford's The Grapes a couple of days earlier.
And a half of the local cask - Stardust 'Roses'.

Two decent beers.
Football chat from the three gents on the next table who turned out to be Hadley FC's Ultras (Beaconsfield Town 4 Hadley 1, hmmm...perhaps you should stayed in the pub).
And bespoke beer mats...what else can you ask for?

Moving on from the Taps, it was a three-quarter of a mile walk south from the station and shops to 'old' Beaconsfield.
Which was quite charming...

By the roundabout where the A40 and the road to the station meet, you've got the old Royal Saracen's Head on one side and the untraditionally named Vinny and Ted on the other.
There are a couple more pubs in this part of town, but lots of 'No Cask Ale' notes on the CAMRA website.

Vinny and Ted (10-12 The Broadway, Beaconsfield, HP9 1ND)
The entrance porch suggests an old pub, although I can find no record of what this used to be before becoming the second Vinny and Ted (the first being nearby in Chalfont St Peter).
It's a bright modern place within. Stylish lighting. Shiny polished wooden floors. Blankets to drape over yourself if you opt to sit outside.

Professional bloggers would ask the bar staff to pose for a picture.  I give you the bar staff's back as my Verdant murk is being expertly dispensed...

In my defence, I snapped the pic to remind myself what beers were on offer.
A really decent selection from the likes of Anspach & Hobday, Wiper & True, and Glasshouse.  There were also two hand pumps offering cask from Deya ('Steady Rolling Man') or Swannay ('Chance Your Arm').

I was foolish, spending £7.50 on a half of Verdant's 'Putty 2026', one of those concoctions which they make a new version of each year, rave about the latest variety, and charge an arm and a leg for it.  Very nice, mind you.

I'd left myself a hefty walk if I wanted to continue local explorations.  Back up past 'Spoons, past the station, and straight up the road for another mile to reach Knotty Green.
I was so chuffed to make it without any rain falling from the gathering grey clouds that I didn't notice the very neat topiary in the front garden.

The Lion of Beaconsfield (Penn Road, Knotty Green, HP9 2TN)
The oversized houses lining Penn Road with their security gates should really have given a clue that the residents of Knotty Green wouldn't be clamouring for a down-to-earth trad boozer.  Maybe this was just that at one point, but in its latest incarnation, The Lion is very much the smart and respectable dining pub.

It's unusual to get this far into Buckingham pub explorations and not have encountered ale from Marlow's Rebellion Brewery.

I boldly took a bang average pint of 'Overthrow' to the best seat in the house: the table next to the fireplace, where I disregarded the 'reserved' sign.  Actually, I think every table had a reserved sign - it was that kind of place.

 

Not a bad fireplace, I thought. But wait 'til you see the next one!

I quaffed the second half of my beer rather too quickly, keen to move on.  I was just down the road from the self-proclaimed oldest pub in England, the historic inn that will most likely be the reason any pub afficionado has hopped off the train at Beaconsfield station.

The Royal Standard of England (Forty Green Road, Forty Green, HP9 1XT)
It was autumn 2020 when I last visited, back in the time of table-service and getting told off it you wandered around too much trying to find the room where they filmed Hot Fuzz or Midsomer Murders.
To be honest, it's a tourist attraction - enormous car park (just me getting stuck in the mud on that footpath through the field of horses then...) - folks not quite knowing what to do at the bar - no-one blinking an eyelid at the odd chap taking pictures...it's almost expected here.

Two cask ales from the Chiltern Brewery, two from Rebellion, one mysterious house bitter.
All at premium prices.
I picked the Rebellion 'Roasted Nuts', served in a heavy, pub-branded, handled glass which seemed to make it last longer.

 

There are so many nooks and crannies and cosy rooms within this pub - settles and wooden benches galore, antlers and shields hung from wall throughout, and enough character to make me accept the higher-end pint prices after all.
I plonked myself in the rear banquet room...

Now that's what I call a fireplace!

Although vegetarians may not be so keen on the slabs of meat in the fridge next to it.

Finishing my pint, I raced back over the muddy footpath under a dusky sky, then through the leafy Beaconsfield suburbs, only to reach the station approach road and see the Oxford train departing.
Bugger. Forty-five minutes.  A patient wait on the platform? Back to Spoon's for more festival beers? Somewhere new?
The new 'tick' won...

The Beech House (17 Penn Road, Beaconsfield, HP9 2PN)
I'd walked past the Beech House earlier on my trek to the Lion, although it hadn't jumped out at me and got me hoping I'd have to time to spare before a train.
It's a large single-storey modern pub which has been open since 2013.  Still described as 'newly open' on CAMRA's website description, suggesting Beaconsfield really doesn't get much love from the local branch.

Huge dining room to the right, spacious drinking areas to the left.  A fair crowd in early on a Saturday evening, although I wonder how many they've lost to Spoons?
The sole hand pump served a below par Fullers 'London Pride'.

I not only kept one of the Boothe party seats warm before 18:00 but also covered half their reserved sign in London Pride due a wobbly table.  The bits of rubbish aren't mine though...I take my litter away with me.

And with that, it was time to catch a train.

Sweet Hanney Buckiin

In which we set out to the SW Oxfordshire neighbouring villages of East and West Hanney to tick off one of the Oxfordshire GBG 2026 pubs that I hadn't previously visited.
This trip also provided the chance to call in to Wantage, find some mild smut in the gents WC, and pretend I know stuff about modern pop when concocting the usual low-quality blog post title.

We caught the S9 Oxford-Wantage bus from the city centre. Prior to 2022 this used to race past the Hanney's on the A338, but now handily recognises the existence of the village, pulling off the main road and stopping right outside the Black Horse.

The Black Horse (Main Street, East Hanney, OX12 0JE)
This is a good-looking village pub with a fine horse's head painted on the front of it, and stone black horses either side of the front door.  It'd look even better without the parked cars.

The entrance corridor divides a dining area to the right and bar to the left, with a superb collection of ceramic jugs lining the high shelf...

The ceramic collection continues within...

The Black Horse was once part of Abingdon brewery Morland's estate, but is now owned by giants Heineken. It closed for a spell back in 2024, so it's pleasing to see it not only open, but in the Beer Guide, and with a good crowd of folk present.

Cask options were Fullers 'London Pride', Tim Taylor's 'Landlord', or the local Loose Cannon 'Abingdon Bridge'.
I ordered the Pride.  Drinking well, as they say.

Accompanying a fine plate of food - the sole veggie option on a very meaty menu.

All that and mild smut in the gents WC!

We departed from the Black Horse under some lovely blue winter skies, making our way along the lane leading from East to West Hanney.
Part-way along this is Dandridges mill, a Georgian silk mill that was turned from a derelict building in 2007 to modern eco-friendly apartments.  It generates its own electricity from an Archimedean screw on the millstream, which we traipsed up the driveway to have a look at.
I guess that counts as my East Hanney tourism.

We continued along the Causeway, a single farmers field making up the green buffer between East and West Hanney.
Onward past Hanney Spice, which we could have popped into for a pint if we'd been here pre-2008 when this was The Lamb.

A left-turn at the village green takes you to the church and the remaining open pub.
Only just, though.  Punch Taverns put the 16th century thatched roof inn up for sale in 2015, at which point members of the local community grouped together to purchase and run the place themselves.

The Plough (Church Street, West Hanney, OX12 0LN)
The community owners have done rather well.  The Plough has been a regular in recent Good Beer Guides and picked up a White Horse CAMRA pub of the year award in 2024.  The food has been getting great reviews - clicking on  'About' on the pub's website tells you nothing about the pub itself and lots about award-winning chefs Owain and Luke.
We can't have two meals in one lunchtime, so what about the beers?  

On cask: Butcombe 'Original', a Butcombe house beer, Wye Valley 'Butty Bach', or Loddon 'Farmer's Paradise'. I picked the lesser-known 'Farmers Paradise', a 4% harvest pale ale with Cascade and Simcoe hops.
Being so busy inside, we took drinks out to the permanent marquee attached to the rear of the pub, with enough decorations & mix and match furniture to make it feel like an additional room rather than 'outside'.

Even the marquee filled up whilst we were there, this community local seeming to do impressively well for a cold winter afternoon.

We left the Plough and wandered back to the bus stop, rejecting the paths across the fields to Wantage on the basis that it's rained an awful lot in January and the respectable pubs of the town probably wouldn't welcome four boots and four paws coated in mud.  Not that we were really planning on going anywhere particularly 'respectable'.
Off the bus and straight into the middle of the market square for the Alfred the Great pic...

Then around the corner to the Blue Boar...

The Blue Boar (4 Newbury Street, Wantage, OX12 8BS)
This generated a bit of excitement when it was refurbished and reopened a few years back - getting a 'most improved' award, mainly due to being pretty awful beforehand, I suspect.
The courtyard drinking area is a strong point, but not in January. Instead we ended up on the high tables in front of the bar in a rather spartan interior.
Crikey, what's that murk?

Two hand pumps dispensed cask ale in the form of 'Directors' or 'Wainwright', whilst the Blue Boar usually has a couple of decent guest keg lines. This gave me the chance to grab a Tartarus 'Kitsune', a sensible-strength double-dry-hopped pale ale.  That's what that murk is.

You'll also be wanting to see the cracking pump clip which drew me that beer, and the seat covers... 

 

A couple of minutes walk around the corner took us to the Oak Taverns-run King's Arms.

The King's Arms (39 Wallingford St, Wantage OX12 8AU)
Back at the Blue Boar, a large group of jovial ladies on G&T's and takeaway pizza had been responsible for 90% of the noise within the pub. Once they'd departed I could actually hear the music from the speakers: a bit of Mgmt and Duran Duran.  We caught up with the same group in the King's Arms, badly timing it so as to be behind them at the bar.  Oh well, at least that gave ample time to pick from a hefty choice of cask, keg, or boxed ciders.

I was relishing the first chance of the day for a dark beer, picking the Mighty Oak 'Solstice', a 4.1% rich chocolatey porter.
The King's Arms really needs a crowd of folk to make it click and Saturday late afternoon provided that nicely.  We shared the back room with a fair few dog walkers and chaps on the corner of the bar glued to the snooker on TV.

As the Shoulder of Mutton sits straight across the road from the King's Arms, we felt we should really call in whilst so close.
This used to be an absolute old-fashioned gem with a quirky layout, rustic feel, and outdoor loos.  I was a bit gutted when it underwent a refurb, getting pristine toilet facilities, eradicating the single-table snug, and adding a smart skylit drinking space where the back yard used to be.

The Shoulder of Mutton (38 Wallingford Street, Wantage, OX12 8AX)
Yet I really quite enjoyed this revisit and have to grudgingly accept that most folks drinking here on this occasion would probably have steered clear of the original incarnation.
The old chalk board for listing beers is kept above the fireplace as a relic, replaced at the bar by an electronic display showing an impressive keg and cast selection.
I picked the Vale '80/' as something a little different. 

And we ended up staying longer than planned and moving onto the Vibrant Forest golden ale.

Then, when we finally left, something unusual happened. 
We timed it perfectly for a bus and didn't need to call into the Bear for a half of Arkells.

Stratford Upon Avon Pub Explorations

For the first (very delayed - Blogger photo issues) post of 2026, we set out on a crisp cold January day to explore Stratford-Upon-Avon...not a renowned pubs and beer destination, although I think we did fairly well.

Stratford-Upon-Avon is, of course, the birthplace of historian George Macaulay Trevelyan, James Richton, the keyboardist from indie rave act The Klaxons, Corrie actor Daniel Brocklebank, and...nope, no-one else comes to mind.

The Warwickshire town welcomes over 2.5 million visitors a year. The sub-zero temperatures and the post Christmas/New Year lull didn't seem to be deterring anyone at all.
The central streets and the footpaths alongside the Avon were bustling with people, Gail's Bakery was doing a roaring trade, Bridge Street was proving a traffic nightmare.
We headed away from all this, walking to the smart terraced streets of the old town where our first pub of the day lay beyond the reach of most tourists.

The Bull (9 Bull Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 6DT)
Which meant it was very quiet.  For the first...and almost certainly not the last...time in 2026, PropUptheBar visits an almost empty pub at off-peak time.  Saturday lunchtime, but a Saturday when many folks were reflecting on how much they've spent over Christmas and faffing around with Dry January.
The staff at the bar took the opportunity to take the bottles off the back shelves of the bar for a bit of deep cleaning.

The Bull has been an Everards house since 2023, providing us with this cask choice...

'Festive Ale' for me.  A top option for the cold weather, brewed with dark malts and molasses, served in fine condition and disappearing from the glass far too quickly.
We sat in the back section of the pub, on some jazzily colourful seats, with the weather forecast handily displayed on the TV screen.

Inevitably, little of excitement to report from this quiet pub visit.
Which is when I resort to taking a picture of pub toilet signage...

We took the picturesque route back to the centre from The Bull, through the grounds of the Holy Trinity church, then along the riverside through Avon Bank and Swan Gardens.
The intention was to stop at the GBG '26-listed Dirty Duck for lunch, but everyone else seemed to have had the same idea and there wasn't a seat to be had.
The alternative was the Rose & Crown...

The Rose & Crown (15-17 Sheep Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 6EF)
This is a Tudor-framed pub which dates back to the late 16th century. It stretches back a fair way with various dimly-lit nooks and crannies, the long bar counter towards the rear in a barn-like extension.  Hand pumps served an 'Abbot Reserve' or Tim Taylor 'Landlord'.
The Rose & Crown seemed to have attracted a mix of tourists and real Stratfordian folks, perhaps those banished from Wetherspoon's across the road, or drawn here by the sport on the TVs in the back section.

From one Tudor-fronted, wooden-beamed pub to another.
We strolled up the road to the historic 'must visit' hostelry in town... 

The Garrick (25 High Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 6AU)
This photogenic building traces its history back to 1596, part of a building boom that followed a couple of wicked fires which ripped through the town in the two prior years.
The Garrick is on the left, Harvard House (built by the grandfather of US University benefactor John Harvey Harvard) on the right. The pair are sandwiched between the slightly less impressive Fresh sandwich baguette emporium and Hoorays Gelato Kitchen.

The Garrick has a flag-stoned corridor leading to a a rear room, but you really want to be diverting through the first door into the tiny front bar...  

This would be a classic pub room if only it featured uncomfortable bench seating rather than a couple of hideous high tables with leather cushioned seats which seem out of place in this olde worlde setting.

Cask offering was a the regular Greene King 'Abbot' or the pleasing sight of a North Cotswold 'Hung Drawn and Portered'.  The latter for me - a delicious chocolatey dark brew that went down a treat.

I hadn't visited the Stratford micro since 2014, so figured it was high time for a return. 

Stratford Alehouse (12B Greenhill Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 6LF)
Opened in 2013, this is located in a run of modern retail outlets on Greenhill Street where there is not a timber-framed building to be found.  It's a cracking single-roomed place, with beery decorations, seating at high tables, beer straight from the barrel, and a friendly welcome. 
It was also doing a roaring - seemingly 90% local - trade.

The midlands cask selection came from Slaughterhouse, Milestone, Froth Blowers, and Bewdley Brewery.  The Froth Blowers 5% pale 'Hornswoggle' was my pick - a lovely pint packed full of flavour and served in top condition.
We settled on the big round table by the window, where we could rest of glasses on Bass beer mats, persuse the local papers, or catch-up on the latest from Anfield.
Hang on a minute, that's a signed football programme - a less honest punter would have pocketed that and stuck it on e-bay.

We actually tackled the next pub in the dark, but I rather prefer my picture from the early-afternoon pass-by when we failed to nab a table...

The Dirty Duck (Waterside, Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 6BA)
In a super spot by the river, a few minutes from the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, the Dity Duck is a pub of two names.  There has been an inn here for many a year and one known as the Black Swan since 1776 - and that's still the name on the signage today.  Yet, somewhere along the line, it acquired the nickname 'The Dirty Duck'. The Food and Drink Guide tells us this is the only pub in the country to be licensed under two names.

Inside, there are various sections to the pub surrounding a central bar counter, although it's the Actor's Bar to the right which is the best spot in the house...

The walls are covered in signed photos of people I've mostly never heard of.  The seating includes some great wooden settles, and cosy spots to nestle down in on a chilly evening.
Okay, so it's our third Greene King pub of the day, meaning the beer range includes more Abbot Ale and GK IPA, but my seasonal 'Fireside' wasn't half bad.

We figured my could squeeze one more beer in on the walk back to our lodgings for the evening.  I fancied the chance for a pint of Davenport's - a West Midlands beer that doesn't make it the extra hop down into my neck of the woods.
Apologies to the Coach House for the usual lacklustre nighttime photography.

The Coach House (42 Rother Street, Stratford-upon-Avon, CV37 6LP)
We braved the bouncers on the door, although what they were bouncing I'm unsure - most of the evening trade seeming to consist of gentlefolk diners and the Coach House was relatively quiet within.
It's a Grade II listed building, originally a 16th century house, although inside this is very much a recently refurbed pub, the beer adverts, tiles, and leather cushioned seating reminiscent of other Davenport's outlets I've visited.

With a choice of their IPA or Gold Ale.

Stratford is far to well-heeled and respectable to deliver mild smut in the gents, but the Coach House did deliver a saucy seaside postcard collection...

With the Davenport's branded glass empty, it was time to call it a night.

Yep, Stratford isn't Warwickshire's top pub destination, but it had served us well for one winter evening with some characterful old inns and NBSS 4 beer in the Alehouse.  Unfortunately, it's the second time I've visited when craft bar Ya-Bard has been closed, and there is no chance to drink Windmill Hill beer al-fresco from a Dutch barge in the middle of winter.
I also seem to have forgotten to include any culture on the blog post and forgot to take a picture of the swans.  Business as usual in 2026, then.