Pubs Galore - the UK pub guide

Royal Standard in High Wycombe

The Royal Standard is located on a country lane behind a row of picnic tables and a red London phone box that has been repurposed as a book swap. Up the right of the pub is a large car park and a hut that acts as a covered seating and smoking area. The interior is long and thin with a wooden floored bar area to the right where an L-shaped serving counter on the rear wall faces seating across the front and in the front windows where small tables with stools can be found. On the right-hand wall is a dartboard. Premium keg was available alongside Fosters and Neck Oil and I spotted four hand pumps, each badged with two clips, so the offering of eight cask options were Stardust Brewery’s Just Stout, Grumpy Farmer 6.5 % Cider, St Austell’s Proper Job, Pictish Brewing’s Wai-Iti, Crouch Vale’s Yakima Gold, TT Landlord, Otter Bitter and Rosies Pig Cloudy Cider. A double-sided chimney with a burner on a plinth separates the bar from a red carpeted left-hand side where there’s lots of seating that was being used by diners during a recent midweek lunchtime visit. Some steps in the left rear corner descend to a wooden floored snug that was also being used by diners. I decided to join the party by having a sausage baguette that came out very quickly, to be honest I’d have liked the onions to have spent a bit more time in the frying pan, but it was tasty. The service was polite and there were no electrical noise distractions to interfere with the chatter of locals and diners. Worth a visit, it’s just a shame that a designated driver is required.
Reviewed by Strongers .