Aylesbury Vale & Wycombe

We have been celebrating the publication of the new edition of the Good Beer Guide for 2027, the guide to the pubs serving the best cask ale across the country.

On publication day, Thursday 24th September, branch members celebrated at the Hop Pole Inn , Aylesbury. This year the pub marks an incredible twenty-one consecutive years in the guide, making it one of the longest-standing entries in the local area.

The pub, on Bicester Road, is described in the guide as a "temple of beer", regularly featuring nine cask ales in excellent condition. It also serves a well-chosen range of lagers and bottled beers.

Mike Clarke, Branch Chair said: "The Hop Pole is a superb example of a pub that serves its community, offering a regular programme of events such as live music, quizzes and ukulele nights. The pub demonstrates the benefits that excellently run pubs can bring to a local area." The pub also stages regular beer festivals, including its own Oktoberfest at the end of September.

On Wednesday 30th September, we visited a pub that is new to the guide this year – the Seven Stars at Dinton. This popular 17th-century Grade II-listed pub is owned by the local community.

Mike Clarke said, “The Seven Stars is a great local asset, and its ownership by the village will safeguard its future for real ale drinkers and for many other community uses.”

Stephanie Guiraute, licensee of the Seven Stars, said, “I am delighted the pub is featured in the new guide. It’s great to be recognised for my cask ales. I really enjoy my English bitters.” The pub is situated in the centre of the village, is popular with cyclists and can be reached by public transport via a short walk from the Aylesbury-Thame main road.

The new edition features thirty pubs from across the Aylesbury Vale and Wycombe branch area, including perennial favourites alongside several new entries. The Good Beer Guide 2027 can be ordered online from CAMRA or found in all good bookshops.

The branch presented a special certificate to the licensees of the Wheel, Naphill, Mark and Claire Christian. This marked their twentieth anniversary of taking over the pub in the summer of 2006.

Branch deputy chair, Elvis Evans, presented the certificate to Mark and Claire at the pub’s “Ronfest” on 11th July. Ronfest is a music and beer festival that is held for charity annually at the pub in memory of local resident and pub regular Ron Williams, who passed away in 2021.

Mike Clarke, branch chair said, “We recently held a branch meeting at the Wheel and when we heard it was Mark and Claire’s twentieth anniversary at the pub then we immediately decided it should be honoured with a certificate. The Wheel is hugely popular with local real ale drinkers and can always be relied upon to serve a well-kept pint.”

When Mark and Claire took over the pub in 2006, it had seen better days but they rapidly transformed it into a real-ale destination. It has been a regular fixture in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide for almost the whole time Mark and Claire have run the pub. It is also a hub of the local community in Naphill and, being close to countryside in the Chilterns National Landscape, is popular with walkers.