High Wycombe Pub Crawl

Bottle shop at the Beer Emporium

I hadn't visited Wycombe for many a year - since August 2011 for a midweek league cup football match to be precise, so it was a fine time to make the trip again and head off on some pub explorations.
On arrival we made a beeline from the train to the Mad Squirrel Brewery Shop Emporium (4 -5 Church St, HP11 3DE).  This is a craft beer fan's delight with 20 taps on the bar and an interesting bottle shop opposite - surely something to please everyone here?  Around 8 of the taps are devoted to Mad Squirrel's own beers, whilst the others feature notable breweries: Track, Electric Bear and Vibrant Forest on our visit, plus a couple of ciders.
This was a good enough selection for us to change our plans, realising that we couldn't do the place justice with a flying-visit.  The staff were helpful and friendly; the beer choice superb; the pizza delicious and the toilets very cold!  I thoroughly recommend a visit to the Emporium - perhaps too good a start to the crawl?

Bar at the Chiltern Taps with, horror of horrors, the 'countdown to Christmas'.

Next up was a swift half in the Chiltern Taps (120-123 Oxford Road, HP11 2DN) close to the bus station.  This is somewhere I can remember drinking pre-football in 2011 when it used to be the William Robert Loosley Wetherspoons.  In it's new guise sport rules with numerous TVs throughout, plus pool tables on the upper floor.  After the choice in the last venue the 4 ales were a little underwhelming, although there was a good selection of Lilley's cider as an alternative.

This is where my plans fell apart somewhat.  I intended to catch a bus out to West Wycombe, a couple of miles along Oxford Road, to visit a heritage listed pub The Swan.

Front room of West Wycombe's George & Dragon

It occurred to me on the bus that perhaps a village pub may not be open all day and....sure enough....of course it wasn't. Fortunately there are two other pubs in this village to prevent me having to hang around by the bus stop back being moody.  We opt for The George & Dragon Hotel (High Street, West Wycombe, HP13 3AB).  This proved a pretty good alternative destination, dating back to 1760, with a charming historic front room.  It's dimly lit with fire place and wooden beams and columns.  This is a Rebellion Brewery house and we choose the seasonal ale 'Braveheart'.  The George is reputed to be haunted by an 18th century serving girl, but we were too busy drinking-up and missing our bus back to spot any ghostly presence this afternoon.

After this diversion we make it back to the centre of High Wycombe.  My 'interesting fact' about the town is that it is the only place which carries out the tradition of 'Mayor Making'- weighing the mayor to ensure he hasn't grown too fat on taxpayers expenses.  Yep, wifi on and I'm Googling crap in Heidrun (14 Paul's Row, HP11 2HQ). Google tells me that Heidrun is a Norse mythological goat, which grazes on a sacred tree and produces mead for the fighters in Valhalla.  To accompany my trying to discover the origins of the bar name, there's a good selection of beers on 20 taps.  I opt for the only (I think) imported option - a New England IPA from German micro Fuerst Wiacek, which is a tasty tipple.

The next stop is Bootlegger (3 Amersham Hill, HP13 6NQ) very close to the rail station.  This is busy with a mix of football fans returned from Adams Park and rugby aficionado's bellowing at the League World Cup on the TVs.  We find a quieter spot by the bank of bottle fridges to the side of the pub and I'm happy to have found a pint of local ale available from Fisher's Brewing Co.  They set up in 2015 but have only moved into their own High Wycombe premises in 2017.

There's just time to clock up another pub before heading homewards.  A five minute walk from the Bootlegger takes us to the Belle Vue (45 Golden Row, HP13 6EQ).  This is a pleasant, relaxed corner boozer, regularly appearing in the Good Pub Guide.  I finish the day on a Rebellion IPA, straight from the barrel in the tap room, reflecting that this has been an interesting and varied pub crawl.  Easily accessible by train, I think I'll be back for another day here, maybe checking the opening times for The Swan next time and visiting some of the good looking pubs that I couldn't fit in today.