The Bernard Arms, Great Kimble, Sept '14

Having driven past this pub every day for the last few months, we thought it would be an idea to actually stop and see if we could have a look. There is warning tape across the car park entrance but the pub is in the middle of nowhere so no trouble.

The pub has an interesting history, it is very close to Chequers, the Prime Ministers holiday home in the Chilterns, and a number of high profile political figures have stayed in the rooms upstairs, including Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and Boris Yeltsin, as well as a number of British Prime Ministers from the last 30 years. David Cameron visited during Great British Pub Week 2010.

Sadly there is a lot of water damage in the building, which limited our explore to the ground floor. There are a number of places where the ceiling has already fallen in and water is still dripping through, limiting access to the guest rooms upstairs and the cellar.

The pub closed in late 2011, we believe around the end of October due to the presence of a carved pumpkin behind the bar.....

It was quite dark inside and we only had Maglites and a point and shoot camera so apologies if any of the pictures are a bit out of focus. The post is a little pic heavy.


Outside of the pub
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Clever piece of advertising
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Specials Board...
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Fan-powered
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Looking a bit low in the pantry
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The boiler had seen better days
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Health and safety...
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Wouldn't want to flick that switch...
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Pipe come well away from the wall
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Ladies loo
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In case of fire....don't bother
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Entrance to the restaurant
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Fire alarm panel. Didn't notice the cross until we were looking back on the pics
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Fuse box
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Old beermat
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What was left of the beer dispense system
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Door to the gents
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Coaster
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Old bottle of port, 2005 vintage
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Accommodation offer, ending August 2011....
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The old till drawer
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The pumpkin....
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The back bar
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The underside of the upstairs landing. Hence why we decided not to explore upstairs
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An old brewery sign
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The stairway down to the cellar
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The only bit of graffiti/vandalism we found
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The rusty old kitchen extract system
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Thanks for looking, see the whole set at https://www.flickr.com/photos/127025179@N08/sets/72157647207362516/

Amazing how many prominent people have stayed here!Great collection of photos.

Thank, interesting history.

However, if it's real the pumpkin would have decayed within a few weeks of being carved. Even without carving they turn into a collapsed, soggy mess quite quickly!

Blimey that's gone down hill for only 4 years of abandonment!
Brilliant, cheers for sharing!

thanks,i love old pubs and clubs