The Pointer, Aylesbury

Blue Scrumpy left this review about The Pointer

Of the 2 pubs in Brill, this is the one that can be found in the latest Good Beer Guide. This is a food-dominated pub that was doing a brisk trade in Sunday lunches on our visit. Having looked at the WhatPub website a few days beforehand, I was expecting real ales to be Vale Best IPA alongside a couple of changing beers, with one tending to be a stout. The three handpulls can be found at the end of the bar. On arrival, I found just 2 of them clipped with XT Pointer (a branded version of XT 4) and Fuller's London Pride. A quick glance at Untappd revealed that the range has been restricted for quite a while and looking again at WhatPub, I can see that they have updated their website over the weekend! Whether these 2 beers will keep it in the 2025 Good Beer Guide remains to be seen.

Service was a bit strange here. We ordered and were invited to take a seat, as they would start a tab. Being on a bit of a crawl, I was only staying for one and remained at the bar to pay. However, they asked us to take a seat, which we duly did opposite the bar. However, they continued to deal with other drinks orders in addition to handling other customers who came to the bar and managed to walk off with drinks. Seeing our drinks sat on the bar waiting to be delivered 2 foot to our table seemed vaguely reminiscent of Covid times and I was sorely tempted to get back up and fetch them myself. Eventually, they did arrive.

The pub itself has a front bar with slate tile flooring and low beams. One is padded, as most people would have to duck to pass underneath. There is the odd patch of wallpaper with pheasant decorations, which seemed odd as it is the other pub in the village that is called the Pheasant. There was also an odd display of feathers in one of the windows. There may well have been a further dining room to the rear, but the prompting to take a seat suggested that they didn't particularly want customers wandering around. So, we did not explore further. The venture also appears to have some kind of accommodation block in a separate building on the opposite side of the road. We were initially uncertain as to which premises was the pub.

I'd have to agree with Komakino's assessement over 8 years ago, that this pub has a real pretentious feel to it. In fact, it is far more of a restaurant than a pub. The more limited beer range these days would also suggest that it is heading in the wrong direction, as far as drinkers are concerned. Overall, I preferred the Pheasant at the other end of the village.

On 1^st July 2024 - rating: 5
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