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The Hope & Champion (JD Wetherspoon), Beaconsfield
Beaconsfield
HP9 2SE
Pub Type
J D WetherspoonReviews (Current Rating Average: 6 of 10) see review guidelines
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Hope & Champion (JD Wetherspoon)
Been meaning to come here for years, but this proved a conveniently well-placed stop recently. Reasonably sized bar area, with a bit more seating upstairs and plenty of outdoor tables at both front and back. I found four of the five handpumps being used, with Doom Bar supplemented by Twickenham's naked Ladies and a pair of Rebellion beers from Marlow: IPA and Roasted Nuts. Overall, not bad for what it is.
On 27th November 2023
- rating: 6
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Nick Davies left this review about The Hope & Champion (JD Wetherspoon)
If we fancy a stop on the M40 we have a selection of pubs we know will do the job, but after a particularly tedious day in London, time was pressing and a very quick one was required. Like others, I was rather surprised, and the terrace to the rear made a nice spot to unwind for twenty minutes or so. Of course, it wasn't 100%. It is, after all, a JDW, and a motorway services: you don't expect an olde Englishe pubbe. But the service was surprisingly cheerful given the aggro service area staff have to put up with; the Knight of the Garter, a snip at £2.49, hazy but drinkable. Only real annoyance was trying to spend a Camra voucher, which caused much fiddling with two tills and was eventually abandoned, my voucher remaining unspent.
It is fine for what it is, you wouldn't go out of your way to visit, but if you are stopping the night in the adjacent Ibis you'll be mightily glad it's there.
On 1st August 2019
- rating: 5
[User has posted 567 recommendations about 559 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Graham Coombs left this review about The Hope & Champion (JD Wetherspoon)
I was pleasantly surprised, both by the 'Spoons and by the Services generally, which are a cut above the average. The pub is very modern and nicely fitted-out, with a long bar in the busy ground floor room and a quiter upstairs level with some nice 'compartments' overlooking the bustle of the main food court. There are outdoor tables both at the front and rear. Usual Wetherspoons fare with an emphasis on Windsor & Eton beers. Although there was considerable opposition to the thought of a pub in a motorway services, this one makes a pretty good case for having more.
On 28th November 2017
- rating: 7
[User has posted 3351 recommendations about 3288 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Aqualung . left this review about The Hope & Champion (JD Wetherspoon)
I arrived at Beaconsfield Services on the X74 bus from High Wycombe amd had to endure a very dull walk in the rain through the petrol station, lorry park, coach park and car park. I was fully expecting this Spoons to be something of a nightmare but ended up being pleasantly surprised.
Inside it's just like one of those modern office block Spoons but as it's fairly new the fixtures and fittings are a bit better than older outlets.
The bar has five hand pumps which had no doubling up and four beers from local breweries. The duff one was the nefarious Doom Bore and the locale beers were Rebellion IPA & Blond plus Windsor & Eton Guardsman and Conqueror. I went for the Guardsman but it was right at the end of the cask so I tried the Conqueror (£2.50) which was in excellent condition. I suspect the food prices are dearer here than most Spoons as the £2.99 breakfast was advertised at £3.79 and the 99p standard coffee £1.29. I've always found the food at motorway services to be expensive and pretty awful, so whatever ones opinion of the standardised Spoons food offering it has to be an improvement.
As somewhere to go for a drink I would rate it at 5 but that isn't really the purpose of it. As somewhere to stop on the M40 I would rate it at 9. It's a shame that the close proximity to London makes it a less convenient place to stop if travelling to or from there.
On 20th September 2015
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2143 recommendations about 2143 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve C left this review about The Hope & Champion (JD Wetherspoon)
The transient nature of the Hope and Champion clientele gives this pub an airport bar atmosphere, as stated by Steve below. I still found it to be better than the melee next door in the service station proper. I thought the interior was smaller than I had imagined from the outside, although I did not venture upstairs. The interior décor, food and drinks are much as one would expect from this chain of pubs. I counted five hand pumps on the left hand bar in amongst usual draught suspects.
There is some outside seating that faces the huge car park which is cold during the winter and polluted during the summer.
Does the Hope and Champion pub improve the Beaconsfield Services experience? Probably.
On 6th February 2015
- rating: 5
[User has posted 5263 recommendations about 5231 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about The Hope & Champion (JD Wetherspoon)
Shock, Horror !!, a pub in a Motorway service station. What an outrage.
What a blindingly canny business decision by Tim Martin more like.
Anyone who has ever visited the Wetherspoon’s outlets in Southampton, Felixstowe or any of our UK ports will be aware that a significant section of the UK Road Haulage industry is kept going by lorry drivers fuelled on Wetherspoon mixed grills and pints of Diet Coke. (they don’t keep those amazon physiques by drinking full fat Coke you know !!)
And anyone who has had the misfortune to have to stop at the Beaconsfield services will concur, why not target the relatively new build service station, which despite having the largest petrol station and lorry park of any current motorway service station, has a main building built on the cheap and three years after opening still has no decent eating options with only the mostly piss poor fast food refreshment choices of Starbucks, McDonnalds, KFC, Pasty Pretso, El Mexicana , and Le Petit Four, positioned around the limited central seating area where your eating experience is enhanced by the world and his wife walking through you to go for a piss. So compared to this the plastic Wetherspoons food menu must appear as a laminated card of gastro delights.
Anyway, back to the pub. This Wetherspoons is similar to and has the same ambience as the ones located in airport terminal buildings rather than those located in town high streets. You can enter either from the front or from an entrance from the service station interior.
The central serving area is a lot smaller than normal ‘spoons, with one bank of fizz taps and one bank of 5 real ale hand pumps. The seating is on two levels and is brightly lit, reminiscent of the airport ones. The windows at the front afford an absolutely fantastic view of the service station car park, whereas the ones at the back lead out to much nicer lake area with its outside seating
For the record the hand pumps were dispensing the permanent house ales of GK IPA, London Pride and Doombar fortunately complemented by two guests from Windsor & Eton, Windsor knot and Knight of the Garter. And another thing in line with the airport outlets is the pricing structure. No cut price drink offers here. Lagers start at 1p shy of £4.00 and a pint of pride is £3.55 and my guest ale was £3.05. All soft drinks are 99p though.
Despite the furore it caused when opening earlier this month clearly this outlet is designed as an eating establishment which happens to have an alcohol licence and outside those couples/families or coach parties, most visitors will be professional drivers tucking into the Curry and soft drink/coffee deals. And the only alcohol sales are likely to be where hubby has convinced his partner to drive the next leg of the journey.
But that still didn’t stop several band waggon thumpers from seizing the opportunity for self publicity, a typical example being Brake spokesman Richard Coteau: “The opening of a pub on a motorway is a serious concern, presenting a potentially deadly temptation to drivers”. Now the initial reaction from one who drives for a living and spends an inordinate amount of time on the UK motorway system may be “what a knob!”. But this was then replaced with a feeling of envy for Mr Coteau in that if I displayed such a singular lack of understanding of my chosen field, I would be sacked immediately.
On 31st January 2014
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 2111 recommendations about 1992 pubs]