Chequers, Marlow

An old town pub, quite nicely refurbished and ripe for a game of 'spot the original feature', like the splendid plasterwork ceiling in the front room. The bar is off to one side, with a strangely-beamed side area leading to a dining part behind. A Brakspear's house, with beers from the wider Marston's range including Brakspear's Oxford Gold and Bitter (now badged Gravity), Hobgoblin and Sweet Chariot. The adjoining building, labelled the Churchill Tap has a range of craft beers but only opens in the evenings and weekends. Quite a reasonable pub.

Official site of Chequers - www.thechequersmarlow.co.uk

Official site of Chequers - www.thechequersmarlow.co.uk

An attractive looking pub in the middle of the High Street, it looks to be two buildings that have been knocked in to one, and although they now consist of one pub they each have their own identity both inside and out, and in fact I wasn’t entirely until I went in as to whether it was one establishment or two. The left hand bar is known as the Churchill Tap and this was a cosy old bar with a low beamed ceiling that had a collection of jugs hanging from it and leaded windows facing out on to the corridor that separates the two halves of the pub. The flooring is predominantly wood strip with a few quarry tiles around the bar. A few old black and white photographs were dotted around the wall as well as a few strings of hops strung from the ceiling and some copper pans. The right hand half of the pub is considerably bigger and more modern looking, consisting of a bar at the front as well as a couple of further rooms to the rear that looked to be more geared up for dining, and some of these looked quite elegant with wood panelling on the walls. Beers on tap were Brakspear Bitter and Oxford Gold, Rebellion Smuggler and Jennings Hop Commotion. The solitary cider was Orchard Thieves which was a new one on me but very pleasant. Overall I thought this was a cosy old pub and certainly one of the best ones that I came across in Marlow.