Aylesbury Vale & Wycombe

The Good Beer Guide 2026, the UK's most trusted and authoritative guide to exceptional cask beer pubs, launches on 25th September as a testament to the remarkable resilience of Britain's pub industry.

With more than 50 pubs included in the guide, Buckinghamshire is strongly represented, demonstrating the area's exceptional cask beer heritage, which includes many fine local breweries.

Chair, Mike Clarke, visited one of the guide’s long-standing entries, the Bird in Hand in Princes Risborough to present licensee Katie Baldock with a copy of the book. He said, “The Bird in Hand exemplifies the community spirit celebrated in this year's guide and continues to win awards.” The Oak Taverns pub, the branch’s 2023 Pub of the Year, was recently named in the Telegraph’s Top 500 pubs in the country.

As the definitive guidebook to pubs serving great cask beer across the UK, The Good Beer Guide maintains its position as the complete resource for beer lovers and anyone wanting to experience Britain's finest pubs. The guide's pubs are selected by CAMRA members based on consistent beer quality.

The launch comes at a critical moment for the industry, with the upcoming Budget representing a make-or-break moment for the local pubs and breweries championed by CAMRA branches nationwide.

CAMRA continues to lobby for government support and tangible legislation to protect pubs across the UK, with many establishments struggling under the weight of business rates, VAT, beer duty and energy costs.

“Use them or lose them,” is a phrase often used about our treasured locals. The new edition of the guide shows that, for now, there are still plenty of excellent pubs in Buckinghamshire in which to enjoy a pint of cask ale.

The new edition of the guide can be ordered online from CAMRA or found in all good bookshops.

The General Havelock in Loudwater was voted our Summer Pub of the Year for 2025. The family-run pub has been recognised for its excellent real ale quality and decades of service to the community.

Famously, it’s a pub whose location has long been a matter of dispute. Some maintain it is located in Loudwater (including CAMRA’s own Good Beer Guide). However, others locate it more precisely in Wycombe Marsh, an address found on the pub’s own website.

Whatever its precise whereabouts, the pub is widely acknowledged for its consistently excellent cask ales, from the Fuller’s portfolio. The General Havelock has been a regular fixture in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide for decades. The award of Summer Pub of the Year additionally recognises the pub’s peaceful, enclosed garden, furnished with enough tables to enable an exodus into the sun to enjoy the pub’s fine ales.

Marc Porter is the current licensee, the pub having been in the capable hands of the same family for nearly forty years.

Branch Chair Mike Clarke commented: "The General Havelock delivers exactly what CAMRA champions – consistently great real ale in a pub that's the heart of its community. And, weather permitting, drinkers can sit and sip a pint in the pleasant garden, confirming we have a deserved winner for our Summer Pub of the Year." .