Here’s a picture of where I live. Well, very near to where I live. By the sea in west Cornwall, close to Hayle’s famed three miles of golden sands. So you can appreciate why, even though I originally come from not that far from it, I had quite a set view of Reading as, well, not terribly interesting.
A visit to two pubs there yesterday has changed my view. Yes, just two pubs, but what absolute crackers. Very different, but both now on my bucket list for a return visit (I was in them because I hitched a life on the Coastal Brewery dray which was delivering in Oxfordshire, Surrey and Reading).
The Alehouse, at the bottom of Broad Street, in the town centre, has a narrow front, but goes back a long way inside, with cubby hole seating, bare floorboards and tons of atmosphere. They had seven or eight handpumps, including three regular West Berkshire Brewery beers, real ciders plus an impressive range of bottled beers, including lots of continental brews.
It is the antithesis of the modern shopping area outside, with a buzz of conversation and wide age range of clientele. I could have happily stayed there for a couple of hours or so, were we not trolleying casks of Coastal brews to the hard-to-get-to cold store right at the rear of pub (the casks are rolled right through the middle of the bar).
Further out of town and close to the railway station, on Greyfriars Road, is The Greyfriar. This place, run by an amiable chap called Andy, reminded a little of Camden Town Brewery’s Horseshoe pub in Hampstead, London, with its clever, contemporary mix of real ale on handpump and craft keg, along with more great bottles in the chiller cabinets behind the bar. Here I did have a beer (plenty of time as the beer delivery was a simple drop through a cellar door in the street), a terrific Mosaic from the Lymington-based Vibrant Forest Brewery. They were due to take part in a tap takeover that evening, and I’d have been fascinated to try some more of their beers.
With Zerodegrees in town, which I love in Cardiff, and the multi-award-winning Nag’s Head shining out from the pages of CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide, it looks like I should be booking a ticket back to Reading soon for, at least, an overnight stay.
• Apologies about the quality of the Greyfriar pic. I had interior shots of both pubs, or so i thought, but it seems my soon-to-be-abandoned phone had other ideas…
