News
Branch News
Here is the latest news about pubs and breweries in the branch area.
- Swan Supping
Monday 25 November 2024
After 27 remarkable years and 140 issues, we are sad to announce the retirement of Dave Roe as Swan Supping editor. Working alongside Bryan Spink (now sadly deceased) in the early days, Dave has established Swan Supping as a local institution - our deliverers often have copies eagerly snatched from their hands the moment they enter pubs!
As well as managing the editorial content, Dave's contribution has gone far beyond; he's managed everything from advertising and invoicing to typesetting, printer liaison, and providing a point for magazine distribution. His retirement is very well-earned.
This milestone also marks the retirement of the magazine's current format and its distinctive title. While Swan Supping itself may be irreplaceable, we're excited to announce plans for a new branch magazine.
We are now therefore seeking a new editor (or possibly joint editors) whose primary responsibility will be to coordinate articles, photos and local news. There would be some other tasks involved in producing the magazine, such as proofreading and overseeing distribution but it’s possible other members can assist with this.
Recent years have presented challenges, with both the COVID pandemic and shifts in the advertising market affecting free CAMRA branch magazines across the country. Since the pandemic we have moved the production of Swan Supping to an established commercial publisher who currently handles several other CAMRA branch magazines. The new branch magazine will be produced in a similar way, except that the publisher will also format and typeset the magazine. This will allow our branch to focus on providing editorial content.
This represents an excellent opportunity for someone with publishing experience or looking to gain it - indeed, a neighbouring branch's former magazine editor went on to secure a position in the publishing department at CAMRA HQ. If you're interested in shaping this exciting new chapter in our branch's history, please email ku.gro.armac.wva@tcatnoc.hcnarb by Sunday 1st December.
With the retirement of the Swan Supping title, we're running a competition to name our new publication.
Submit your suggestions via our Survey Monkey link below or email ku.gro.armac.wva@tcatnoc.hcnarb.
Branch Magazine Name suggestions
We hope to give a special prize (to be announced) to the winning entry and the best entries will be featured in our inaugural edition, planned for March 2025. Deadline for entries is midnight, Sunday 1st December.
- Good Beer Guide Launch
Saturday 5 October 2024
The branch held a launch this weekend for the new edition of the Good Beer Guide, at the Green Man in Prestwood.
Twenty-nine local pubs have earned the accolade of being included in the 2025 edition of the real ale “bible”. Pub selection was based on votes on beer quality by CAMRA members, collected across the course of the year.
The Green Man is a new entry in the 2025 guide, having reopened last year after a substantial refurbishment. This followed several years of closure.
Twenty years ago, there were six pubs in the village. That number rapidly declined to just two before the Green Man reopened, with only one remaining in the village centre, the nearby Chequers Tree.
The Green Man is run by Simon Bendix, Julie Nisbet and Jade Nisbet. As well as three well-kept real ales it runs events for the local community, such as karaoke nights, charity coffee mornings and Hallowe’en parties (both children’s and grown-ups).
Mike Clarke, Chair of the branch said, “Prestwood is one of our local villages that has been hard hit by pub closures over the past few years so it’s great to see the Green Man thriving again and serving the local community. It’s also good news to see a few other pubs in our area following the Green Man in reopening after closure, such as the Crown in Radnage and the Bow (previously the Long Dog) in Waddesdon.”
This year’s Good Beer Guide is published with two covers, featuring famous TV pubs, Coronation Street’s The Rovers’ Return and Emmerdale Farm’s Woolpack, to emphasise the pub’s role as a community hub.
The new edition of the guide can be ordered online from CAMRA or found in all good bookshops.
The Bucks Herald also covered the launch.
- Central Southern Region Pub of the Year
Wednesday 31 July 2024
The final Central Southern Region Pub of the Year is the Bell at Aldworth. Second is the Cross Keys at Wallingford and third is the King's Arms at Tring.
The presentation to the Bell will take place on Saturday 7th September between 2 and 3.
- Organised Trips to Our Rural Pubs
Friday 14 June 2024
We’d like to hear from our members about the prospect of organising trips to our more rural pubs and have opened an online survey (link below) to canvass opinions.
At our last branch meeting we discussed organising trips to visit some of our excellent rural pubs that are normally impossible or very difficult to reach on public transport. Our branch covers a large rural area, from Granborough and North Marston north of Aylesbury, to Worminghall, Ludgershall and Brill to the north-west, Turville and Hambleden to the south plus many small villages within the Chiltern Hills. There are some superb pubs in these areas which can only be accessed by private vehicles.
According to demand, we would hire transport (minibus or possibly a large people carrier) which would be driven on an itinerary that visited several pubs in one trip, probably with an average of 45 minutes to 1 hour in each pub (e.g. 4 or 5 pubs in an afternoon or evening trip). We would aim to pick people up from central points in our large towns to which they would be returned at the end of the trip (although with evening trips we would try to drop people off as close to home as practicable).
We are open-minded about whether this would be an all-day session or whether trips could be afternoon or evening only (or possibly combined). To gauge interest in this idea, we’ve created an online survey for members to register their interest, highlight the areas they’d like to visit, where they would be travelling from and the price they would consider paying towards the cost of the transport, etc.
If you are interested in a day or half-day visiting country pubs without the hassle of public transport or needing to find a designated driver then please fill in the survey by following the link below.
We will report back with the results. The survey will remain open until 30th June. If there is enough interest then we would look to organise a trip in August or September.