Mad Squirrel, Chesham

The Chesham Brewery Shop is technically a beer bottle shop, but because it also contains a tiled pump wall of 10 taps dispensing 4 cask ales, 4 craft keg beers, 1 sparkling cider and 1 still cider from behind a small bar serving area, it rightly takes its place on this Pub review site. It is a fairly new venture from the Hertford Red Squirrel Brewery, and was opened in September 2013 on the Market Square in the cobbled main Chesham High Street in a building converted from an Italian delicatessen. However before this it was once a pub called the Globe, (thanks to Mid Chilterns CAMRA branch for that historical fact). The bottle shop section covers two and a half walls and a wide selection of beers, mainly from South of England brewers are available, alongside a limited selection of wines. There is a small amount of internal seating in the shape of a couple of bar stools and some seats in the front window and if Chesham council ever finish repairing the pedestrian section right outside the shop there will be a small number of outside tables. The beers served from the tiled wall are dispensed via an air compressor and are available for carry out as well as drinking in. Red Squirrel Brewery product was available on four of the taps (including Hopfest and the excellent Black Squirrel Craft Keg black lager) and then the rest were guests including one from the Tottenham Redemption brewery. No other drinks are available and also no food, with the exception of some bar snacks that they have just started selling. And with the Red Squirrel beers priced at £2.40 a pint or £1.20 a half it meant that for the first time for many a moon my halves cost me less than the packet of dry roasted nuts.. So not a traditional pub experience, but the Chesham Brewery Shop is certainly a welcome addition to the fairly thin real ale scene in Chesham and it will certainly appeal to fans of Cask and Craft ales and I wish it success.