The White Horse, Brentwood

Official site of The White Horse - whitehorsebrentwood.co.uk

Official site of The White Horse - whitehorsebrentwood.co.uk

As proclaimed on the side of the pub as you approach, the White Horse is now the official brewery tap pub for the Brentwood Brewery housed in a farm just down the road. It now boasts 10 real ales on pump, including several beers from the brewery, alongside guest ales, bottled ales and real ciders. For my visit there was a good mix of beer styles available and alongside the Brentwood Breweries BBC2, Gold, Hero, the seasonal Summer Virgin and Bledlow’s Silence (which was a bit of a surprise as I thought these Discworld homage ales were available in bottle only), there was Fullers London Pride, Banks & Taylor Black Dragon Mild, St Austels Proper Job, GK Abbott and GK IPA Reserve. And then a chalk board by the side of the bar indicated what beers were waiting to be put on. Tried a couple of the Brentwood brews and they were in tip top condition, as you would expect considering how far they have travelled. Apparently it has had a makeover since becoming the tap pub and as this was my first visit to here I cannot say if this has improved matters, except to say I found it a very decent pub. Internally it is two areas either side of the central serving area, but make sure you go into the larger left side on entering as all ten hand pumps are on this side of the bar. And now the pub has an extensive patio area with comfy chairs out back and then a large additional garden area beyond this providing a large space for Al Fresco drinking and an area for the kids to play in. Although fully open for our perfect weather bank holiday visit the patio area is covered by a marquee in winter months meaning that it is an all year round space. The only issue with the White Horse is its location, being a long way from any transport links (the bus connections on the Ongar road are about a 20 minute walk away), so driving here is probably the only sensible option. Although there are a lot worse ways to get to a pub than a stroll through the nearby excellent Weald Park open space.

A traditional pub with two bars and pleasant outside seating area at the front and back. Normally six real ales to choose from, with Fullers London Pride as the regular offering, all at sensible prices. Real ale festival each summer, with a mini festival in the spring. Fortunately close to where I live so I can visit it regularly.

Courage Best and Wadworth's 6X on handpump. The 6X was excellent. This is a hidden gem of a real pub, retaining the separate rooms that were so common until they started to be combined in the 70s. Excellent pub - the real deal – highly recommended.

very good pub with a well kept fine selection of ale