Whale, Buckingham

Living in a village which had seven pubs at the turn of the century, now reduced to three, I'm always appreciative of resurrection efforts such as this. Previously a Fuller's pub named The Whale (and before that The Whale Hotel) this now has "pub and smokehouse" as part of its nomenclature, so burgers, ribs and pulled pork abound. Goth-like internally, with a colour scheme veering from black to red to white, this is three-stepped, entered from the front of the building with the bar one step up to the left. I'm not quite sure whether the Fuller's vestiges have completely gone as a two-ale salvo of London Pride and St Austell Trelawny with keg options of Montana and Frontier suggested the association isn't that far. Hats off to a rejig, and it was busy, so let's give them credit for trying something different.