The Stag’s Head, Westbourne is having a beer festival over the August Bank Holiday weekend (that’s Aug 28–30 if you don’t have your diary handy) with up to 25 different beers and ciders. There’ll also be a hog roast, live music in the evenings, and a tug of war competition during the day, as well as limited over cricket and other activities.

Camping will also be available: handy since the nearest station is a fair walk away!

Contact Fred Gordon on 01243 372393 for more details.

The White Swan in Bosham closed earlier this year, but the locals aren’t taking it lying down: they have formed a campaign to buy the pub and run it as a community-owned facility. The meeting held last week was well-attended (and started half an hour earlier than the local paper said, so we missed most of it, alas) and showed strong support for the plan.

Details of the campaign to save the White Swan, Bosham are available at the Bosham Community website.

(The White Swan is a former branch pub of the year: another local example of a community-owned pub is the current branch pub of the year, the Duke of Cumberland Arms, Henley.)

The Olive Branch (formerly the Black Dog) in Yapton has been closed for a few months now, with occasional signs of work taking place. It has now opened again (on May 15, just in time for the Yapton Beerex!)

We’ve not had any reports so far (plenty of us in the area last weekend, but we were a tad busy) though it’s believed to be selling Greene King beers. (Update: last Sunday, the beer range was Greene King IPA, Fuller’s London Pride, and Courage Best, though the Best was turned around at the time.)

Down the road, the Shoulder Of Mutton And Cucumbers has an “under offer” sign outside. Whether the offer involves it staying as a pub is unknown…

The branch’s Pub of the Year is the Duke of Cumberland Arms in Henley.

This country pub has an unspoilt interior, beers (including Langham Hip Hop and Harveys Best) served on gravity, and some original gas lights. The large rolling gardens feature trout pools, and there’s a real log fire in the smoking area!

The food’s pretty good, too: the cod and chips was the approximate size of a whale…