The Great Shefford, Hungerford

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Quinno _ left this review about The Swan Inn

There’s obviously been a change of management here; on the plus side, the terrible decals have gone. On the downside, it felt a bit tired inside compared to previous. Two pumps, no local beer now (one was Black Sheep Holy Grail and the other had a barrel label taped to it claiming it was Purity) made me think ‘here we go…’. So I was pretty stunned when the Purity came out in great shape. World Cup football was on the go inside, so it was decided to decamp outside for a bit of peace and quiet. The garden area overlooks the River Lambourne but it feels like more could be done to make it appealing. So a more mixed bag this time.

January 2015
A pub that looks to have had a bit of a refurb and upmarket lift whilst at least still retaining some character. Low ceilinged interior with three rooms. To the right on entry is the bar area, with some comfy seats, bay window, wood panelling and flagstone floor and beyond to the right rear is a formal dining room with a lovely riverside view and access to a riverside patio. There’s a pool/darts room off the left of the bar. They’ve obviously discovered Etsy here as there are some wall decals – from the Neanderthal man serving fast food in the main bar to the rather tasteless ones on the doors of the gents. Unchallenging 50’s easy listening music and muted TV news as background. At the bar were three ales from the local Butts brewery; Traditional, Barbus Barbus and Blackguard Porter. I sampled the latter two and they were in very good shape, much better than I had anticipated. Overall, this was a good find and assuming the ale quality holds up, I’d be happy to recommend this one. Rated 8

On 1^st July 2018 - rating: 7
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