The Rising Sun, Aylesbury

Cosy and modernised local (2015 refurb). Unusual layout, three rooms knocked together lengthways into one, you enter halfway with the bar off to the left. Clashing two tinge green colour scheme including the tongue and groove wood panelling plus a gold and red swirly pub carpet. Nice rear garden. Six pumps with five ales on, probably a couple too many based on my tasting on an early weekday evening; 2x Big Hand (Seren NBSS 3), Bastion (2), Downlands Best (2) plus 2x XT. Noticing that the toilets were labelled ‘Bonnies’ and ‘Clydes’ sealed my opinion. Buckinghamshire CAMRA Pub of the Year 2019. Well, it is Buckinghamshire I suppose…

Taken over by the Oak Taverns team who were behind the successful makeover of The Cross Keys in Thame this has been turned into the go-to pub in the large village of Haddenham. As noted below, XT have adopted this as their brewery tap, so of the six handpumps, XT 3 and 4, Animal Fox and Hop Kitty were XT-related along with two beers from Magpie (Hoppily Ever After and Thieving Rogue) from their brewer exchange programme (both Magpie beers were excellent) along with their keg Eisbar as a fizz alternative. This was well-populated on my Monday evening visit, with the hubbub of local drinkers drowning out the barely-audible background muzak. This is a brisk 5- to 10-minute walk from nearby Haddenham & Thame Parkway on the Chiltern main line and is definitely worth a look-in if in the area.

Official site of The Rising Sun - www.risingsunhaddenham.co.uk

Official site of The Rising Sun - www.risingsunhaddenham.co.uk

This pub has had a makeover and adopted by XT brewery as their brewery tap. It is very much a locals pub. There was a good beer selection and we chose XT 1, XT 4 and Yeovil Lynx Wildcat.