The Griffin, Chesham

Formerly known as the Griffin, the Gamekeepers Lodge on the Bellingdon Road just north of Chesham Town centre has been a pub since 1864. Internally it still retains a two room Public / Saloon bar set up with the public (known as the Poachers Bar) housing a pool table, darts board and fruit machines along with a large screen TV for the main sporting events. This bar overall has a sporting theme with the walls being adorned with many sporting items such as old wooden pool cues and cricket bats . The Saloon (or Museum Bar as it is known) is a much more characterful and interesting and strange place to have a beer. Old style décor with a large fireplace, patterned carpet and burgundy leather seating, not an inch of the wall surfaces and seem to be without a collection of something or other. One section seems to focus on local history with tons of old photos, then there is another area with stuffed animals and animal prints and then a separate section completely festooned with pictures of what I believe were former RAF and Navy servicemen from the area of Chesham. And then beyond this space is also a separate restaurant section laid for dining and Chinese food seemed to be available in this section. The Saloon bar was certainly an interesting area to sit and sup a pint and in this respect the usual draft options are available along with four ale hand pumps on the bar. Wadsworth 6X, Doombar , St Austell’s Tribute and Wight Gold from the Island brewery for IofW was on for my visit. The pub appears to run quiz nights, pool nights and have occasional live music, so on the strength of this visit the Gamekeepers Lodge seemed to be functioning as a solid community pub, and long may it do so.