Whilst a cat, a horse and a swan would normally have you racing back to the ticket office in demand of an immediate refund, this special #Tryanuary safari is a pub crawl of Mid-Chilterns boozers that take their namesakes from the animal kingdom. Doesn’t sound so bad now, does it?

Tryanuary is a volunteer-led campaign, founded in 2015, to support beer businesses throughout the month of January (traditionally the toughest month of the year for pubs, bars and breweries).

Taking inspiration from the campaign, we’re giving you a pit-stop tour of three local pubs that will make for amazing days out when they can open their doors once more.

Whilst there are thousands of animal-inspired boozers throughout the UK, here are just three in the Mid-Chilterns that should be top of your beery bucket list:

The Old Swan, Cheddington

Set in the Buckinghamshire village of Cheddington, The Old Swan is a charming 16th-century Grade-II listed thatched freehouse that prides itself on a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

The bar area offers an open fire and beautiful feature beams, with local ales served and dogs welcomed. Other spaces include an expansive garden for summertime imbibing and a restaurant boasting locally sourced, home-cooked food. Diners are delighted and so too are walkers, with close by routes including the Grand Union Canal and the Ridgeway Path. For those enjoying a well-kept ale or two at The Old Swan (for which there are many to choose from), Cheddington Station is just one mile away. Whether it be a grand day out or a relaxing evening cosied up to the fire, The Old Swan is a fantastic choice. Cheers to The Old Swan at Cheddington!

The Black Horse Inn, Chesham

The Black Horse Inn (Chesham Vale) is a classic country pub and four time consecutive winner of Your Chesham Magazine’s ‘Favourite Pub’ award. Along with its’ beautiful valley backdrop, this vibrant pub offers a jam-packed calendar of exciting events throughout the year. Visitors to The Black Horse Inn can enjoy acoustic evenings, special theme menus and even a thrilling movie night in the impressive barn bar.

Log fires banish cold chills in the winter and a large garden affords long, pleasant evenings in the summer. Local cask ales flow bountifully in this establishment, an establishment that welcomes dogs and children. As a one-stop shop for entertainment, lush food and exquisite ales, The Black Horse Inn really does have it all. Cheers to The Black Horse Inn at Chesham Vale.

The Black Cat, Lye Green, Chesham

The Black Cat at Lye Green (Chesham) is a cosy, inviting pub that pours many a well-kept local beer through its’ pumps. A pint of ale from the bar serves as the perfect accompaniment to an impressive array of traditional games such as dominoes and crib. Memorabilia of black cats and breweries adorn the walls and offer intrigue, with regular quiz nights to satisfy the most inquisitive of minds.

With its’ wonderful beer garden and parking a-plenty, visitors to The Black Cat may never wish to leave (good job they have food, fires and a function room).

The Black Cat welcomes both children and dogs so rally your crew for an amazing day out! Cheers to The Black Cat at Lye Green.

All change here as our whistle-stop tour of three fantastic pubs in the Mid-Chilterns draws to a close. Whichever animal they may be inspired by, we hope you can enjoy The Old Swan, The Black Horse and The Black Cat on a local ‘pub safari’ very soon.

Cheers!



*To find out more about the #Tryanaury campaign, please visit their website HERE.

Mid-Chilterns CAMRA is thrilled to be taking part in #Tryanuary 2021.

Tryanuary is a volunteer-led campaign that encourages consumers to support beer businesses in the difficult month of January.

This could be the most difficult January in decades for pubs and breweries, so we will be campaigning in their name throughout the month!

Along with a weekly cheers in our virtual boozer (@….), we will celebrate the local beer scene with blogs and social media posts, giving you experiences to look forward to in the year ahead.

Our weekly ‘Cheers!’ invites drinkers to raise a glass to Mid-Chilterns pubs and breweries, many of which remain open for takeouts. The location for our virtual ‘Cheers!’ is the Mid-Chilterns Arms – our local branch Facebook group.

Much like a physical pub, the Mid-Chilterns Arms offers a safe space for friendly conversation and a drink or two. As the best are, we’re an inclusive establishment, so no matter if beer isn’t your tipple-of-choice!

Cheers to a new year of hope, starting with #Tryanauary

*To find out more about the #Tryanaury campaign, please visit their website HERE.

An Old-School Boozer

Do you ever enter a pub out of unquenchable curiosity? An A-board on the roadside advertising Oakham Ales should help you along..

Frosted windows keep the interior of The White Lion in Apsley a closely guarded secret, something only known to those who venture in off the pavements of London Road. London Road is awash with small-businesses; high-fi, hardware and hair extensions can be found dangling in shop windows, interspersed by the occasional takeaway. The London Road in Hemel Hempstead tails off from a large business park adjacent to the A41 and can be seen as a gateway into ‘New Hemel’.

Apsley Lock has enjoyed substantial rejuvenation in recent years and now boasts many brand-spanking-new homes and ‘marina nightlife’; with restaurants and pubs decorating a spotlit curving bridge, akin to newer parts of canal side central Birmingham.

George, a vetted regular of The White Lion, would argue that Aplsey is a gateway to the town’s past also.

There are records of a ‘White Lion’ pub in Apsley dating back to the 1600’s, at the time Apsley was a village, just like Boxmoor and Leverstock Green and also Hemel Hempstead old town. It was not until later in Hemel’s lifetime did it see the amalgamation of these suburbs and the creation of many more. In the 1600’s Aplsey was independent of Hemel Hempstead, and many local residents, including George, still sight distinction between local borders.

Politics (no matter how localised) don’t belong in the pub right? Back to The White Lion.

Records from the 1600’s show a ‘White Lion’ pub selling beer in Apsley at the time, it is interesting to note however that the pub is said to have been in Featherbed Lane, a couple of (small) roads away from where The White Lion proudly stands today. I could only rely on the landlords’ knowledge to solve this gap in the pub’s timeline.

Peter and his wife Caroline took on The White Lion three years ago seeking to make a change for local drinkers. Although they saw the old-school charm of this boozer, they felt the offering to be a little dated – in a bad way.

Previously a tied bar, Peter and Caroline applied for permission to curate their own beer pumps at the Fuller’s public house. Over a year since and the couple have not once looked back.

Peter professes to me that he is not a drinker himself, and I believe that implicitly, so why would a dry landlord want to curate a range of real ales?

Because Peter and Caroline are devoted to their regulars, that is why.

With Watling Street, Paradigm, Tring, Haresfoot, Mad Squirrel and many more local brewers regularly on rotation through the four handpulls, drinkers of cask ale will never get bored in this beautiful street corner establishment.

Beery memorabilia graces the wooden backbar, peppered with several presentation cases of Fuller’s Vintage Ale, looming in the shadows.

The wooden backbar accompanies the wooden front bar, which accompanies the wooden booths with seating in the form of wooden stools. The frames of the booths (which used to divide the lounge bar and the saloon) hold up beautiful stained glass windows. In the darkest of nights, glowing orbs of soft lighting can be seen floating and dancing in the beautiful panes.

Back to the history..

In the middle of the 20th century (just after World War II), close to 500 people signed a petition to extend the licensing of The White Lion, changing it from a beer house (exclusively) to a premise that could sell both beers and wines. Clearly the establishment had become a hub within the Apsley community.

It was in the mid-1840’s when The White Lion relocated from Featherbed Lane to its’ current address on London Road. The move was due to the construction of the London and Birmingham Railway Line which required the upheaval of much earth throughout both Apsley and Boxmoor.

The move would see the pub open its’ door to construction workers utilising what is now Aplsey’s main road, a road which falls directly in front of Frogmore Paper Mill.

Frogmore Paper Mill houses the world’s first mechanised paper machine, and was owned by the industry leading ‘British Paper Company’ during the 20th century. When the whistle blew in Apsley, there were many, many workers in need of liquid sustenance!

At this point I have pestered Peter and Caroline on a busy Friday night for long enough. Content with my findings, I retreat to finishing my pint of Watling Street (which had been kept in excellent condition), before disappearing into the night. This is where George comes in.

A tall silhouette falls on the outside of the frosted glass, already Peter can tell it is George and begins pouring his favourite brew into his jug of choice. Peter then proceeds to the entrance to give George a hand in. Sitting entranced by my mobile phone in the company of other drinkers in this ‘old-school boozer’ simply felt rude and inappropriate, I engaged George while polishing off my pint.

Four pints later and George is still going, explaining to me the geographic boundaries of Aplsey, how his father used to drink in this very pub (and probably his father before him), and that the pub had once been a Mann’s tied house, before becoming a Benskins’ tied house. As George opens up the secrets of the pub’s past (some unknown even to the landlords), others begin to horseshoe around – we have an audience. It’s not just me asking the questions anymore. George entertains the whole front bar with the history of The White Lion.

Anyway, back to my drinking experience. I left The White Lion with a renewed appreciation of local history and a strong idea of where the pub itself had played a role.

I had relished in the fact that Peter had offered me some Pope’s Yard ale, the first batch from a former Watford based brewer who have now set up production seconds away in Frogmore Paper Mill!

I had drunk with people I had never met before and shared stories over numerous pints of well-kept local ale.

What was meant to be a pitstop flyby for a short-read piece had quickly unravelled. This piece became about a pub with one foot in rich heritage, the other in the grassroots of Hertfordshire’s growing beer scene. The continually sidetracked nature of this narration is a perfect homage to the pub itself.

Take a trip to The White Lion in Apsley. Venture beyond the frosted windows. Peak around the stained glass booths and you might just fall down a very beery rabbit hole…

CHEERS TO THE WHITE LION, APSLEY

On Monday January 6th I paid a visit to Simon Crichton’s brewery which he has built in a garden shed behind his house in Wigginton, near Tring. Simon retired early from a career in hotel food and beverage management to fulfil his ambition to brew beer. He started brewing in 2016 on a very small scale, learning the process and using the knowledge gained from attending a course at Bakewell Brewing School. In the summer of 2019, having extended the floor space of his shed, he installed a larger brewing kit and brews in 150 litre batches, using mainly English hops and malt grains.

He has a range of six bottle conditioned beers bearing suchlocally familiar names as ‘The Grain Train Robbery’ an ESB style 4.3% beer, ‘Peter the Wild Boy’, a 4.5% Pale Ale,and a 4.8% Export Porter called ‘Hell Fire’. An unusual IPA called ‘Grand Union’ using four hops and three malt varieties has an abv of 6.5%, ‘Beacon Sunset’ a 4.6% Ruby Ale which takes its name from Ivinghoe Beacon, and ‘Nell’s Obelisk’, a 5.5% traditional style IPA completes the range. I enjoyed a verysatisfying tasting of several of Simon’sbeers during my visit; the setup in his brewery is topped off with a bar of ideal elbow-resting height, a dartboard, a comfortable stuffed sofa and a television for watching sports with family and friends (with drinks in hand!).

His beers can be found for sale exclusively in Wigginton’s Community Shop (openMon-Fri: 7.30 to 6pm; Sat: 8-5pm; Sun 8.30-1pm); Simon has plans to extend the availability to other small retailers in the locality.

– Richard Healey

Welcome to the NEW Mid-Chilterns Website, designed to be both functional, and of course aesthetically pleasing.

Some of the functions of the new site include:

• Interactive branch map
• Interactive calendar
• An introduction to each of our branch brewers
• Links to our current Pub of the Year winners and Good Beer Guide pubs
• Written history of the Mid-Chilterns branch
• All the latest news and blogs from the local area

We hope you enjoy the new site, if you have any feedback or suggestions please do not hesitate to head over to contact page, or pitch it to us direct over a pint or three..

Cheers!