The Falcon, High Wycombe

Facebook page of The Falcon - www.facebook.com

Official site of The Falcon - www.falconpubwooburn.co.uk

Facebook page of The Falcon - www.facebook.com

Official site of The Falcon - www.falconpubwooburn.co.uk

Sick of Service station ambience I decided to drive past the Beaconsfield turn off to give one of the local pubs a go, The Falcon. Being a rainy Tuesday afternoon the pub was empty except for a vocal group of four other customers. This was confusing because the car park was half full so I was expecting it to be busier. Out the front is a small patio with some bench seating and around the back is a larger well-tended garden with picnic tables, ponds and a large camping tent in the trees at the rear. This rustic low beamed U-shaped pub is in three sections with a bare board seating area along the front where a dartboard and raised stage like area can be found to the left. The L shaped bar counter faces the entrance and runs up the right to a thin raised tile floored central serving area with bar stools. More bare boards are found at the rear where seating runs across, and in the rear wall is a fireplace with log fire that was popping away. Three hand pumps are supported by the bar, one of which was in operation drawing Wadworth’s 6X. I also counted six keg fonts but didn’t note what they were pouring. Food is available, which was good as I’d gone in for a late lunch. I paid around £10 for a bacon, mushroom and brie baguette that came with salad and curly fries. It was very filling and decent quality, worth the money. The governor was very friendly and I enjoyed my stay, but you can only exit off the M40 towards the west and enter towards the east, so I had to drive back to Beaconsfield before turning around to continue towards Oxford. So whilst under the gaze of the M40 there’s a seven mile round trip to get back in the right direction, so this would put me off visiting again as an alternative to the services.

The Falcon is a small picture postcard pub hidden away past trading estates and housing estates not far off the M40, a few miles south-east of High Wycombe, in Wooburn Green. Although in truth it is more located in an area known as Wooburn Marsh, (away from the pubs on the Wooburn Green itself), on part of the flood plain for the River Thames. It is in the valley of the River Wye and this feature led to the water mills and paper-making becoming a very important industry around here. The last paper mill, Glory Mill, closed in recent years., but has given its name to the large trading estate off the A4094, which is probably the easiest way of finding The Falcon. A fine stone building, internally the small space is in two sections either side of the central serving area. The first space is a great seating area with real fire and then the far space next to the garden is set to dining tables. There is a very pleasant beer garden outback, and an unusual feature is the row of stone fish ponds housing goldfish at the front of the pub. A free house, there are four handpumps on the bar which usually support a good choice of regional and micro brewery beers. On my last visit Poachers trial from the Lincolnshire Micro brewery, Ringwood Old Thumper and Addlestone Cider were on three of the pumps with the 4th reverse clipped. And the Ringwood was a well kept pint. If you don’t work in the Glory Mills estate or live very locally, then you will probably have to drive to this pub and one downside is the car park, which is quite small, although there’s enough space in the side streets around. Certainly a recommended place to search out if you are in the area of J3 of the M40, but probably best done on a fine weather day when you can utilise the garden if the inside space is full.