Second time around for Butchers Arms in Balscote
A 19th century pub owned by Hook Norton Brewery has been voted best in the county for a second time. The Butchers Arms in Balscote, a village off the A422 Banbury to Stratford road, typically serves two or three of the brewery’s beers – Hooky, Old Hooky and sometimes a seasonal ale such as Haymaker. It previously won the Oxfordshire award in 2023.
On Thursday July 2, from 6pm, the brewery will be launching Haymaker, a 5% premium pale, at the Butchers. North Oxfordshire CAMRA will be on hand to officially present the pub with the Pub of the Year Award.
Real ales at the Butchers are served direct from casks behind the bar rather than from hand pumps. It has been a Hook Norton pub since 1878 and there was once a slaughterhouse on site, hence the name.
Four pubs made it through to CAMRA’s Pub of the Year competition for Oxfordshire. Oxford CAMRA’s choice was micro-pub the Crafty Pint in Witney, which has built a strong community around its great choice of ales including two hand pumps (serving mainly local ales) and six independent keg taps. Outside space in better weather adds to its capacity, and it holds regular live music sessions.
The King’s Arms in Wantage was chosen as the Vale of White Horse branch winner, and as at all Oak Taverns pubs, real ale and cider take centre stage with up to six rotating real ales that can come from anywhere. The large garden is a rarity in the town centre.
South Oxfordshire’s champion pub this year is the Cross Keys in Wallingford, another Oak Taverns pub and a previous winner of the Oxfordshire round. This fairly small pub retains its original layout and again has an extensive garden, with regular live events and weekend visits by a range of food vans. Up to four real ales are available – including “Howse Bitter”, brewed by local independent Amwell Springs, Dave and Emma Howse being the landlord and landlady.
The Butchers now goes forward into a regional competition with the top pubs in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire. The winner of that round has a chance of being named top pub in the UK.
- Free samples of Haymaker will also be available from 6pm on July 2 at the following Hook Norton Brewery pubs: The Castle, Oxford, the Butchers Arms, Kings Sutton, The Great Western Arms, Aynho, The Hare & Hounds, Wardington, The Star Inn, Sulgrave, The Bell, Adderbury, The Red Lion, Steeple Aston, The Elephant & Castle, Bloxham, The Coach & Horses, Shipston-on-Stour, Ye Olde Reine Deer Inn, Banbury, The Fox, Chipping Norton and The Pear Tree, Hook Norton.