The Horn is a funny pub to try and describe. I’ve re-written this introduction about ten times now, because what is it? Is it a town centre pub? A sports pub? A local? Posh? A dive bar? Well, it’s somehow all of those things simultaneously. A jack of all trades. Is it master of any… Read More »
I’m confused, because I’m sure The Turks used to be called The Turks Head. And I have a sneaking suspicion that they changed their name simply because they thought that people would just google “The Turks” and so it was better for the name to match what people search for. If that’s true, it sets… Read More »
I’d heard a lot of great things about the Red Cow in Amersham Road. A bunch of people had suggested I go there – apparently it did great food and great beer. It gets a 4.5 star rating on Google reviews, and 5 on trip adviser (admittedly that’s only from 3 reviews). However, the Nags… Read More »
This is a follow-on from an evening that started with the Hope Tap, moved on to the German Doner Kebab restaurant, and then ended up in the Hop Leaf in Katesgrove. A trio of reviews that in my mind is like the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy (The Hope Tap = Shaun of the Dead, for… Read More »
Update: The Retreat changed management (with the same landlord) in August 2019. This review was done at the time of the old management. In many ways this review began with my good friend Austin brewing some amazing beer which, for reasons that are now lost to me, became named “Dirty Diana”. I can’t remember if… Read More »
I met a bunch of other twitterers (tweeters? twitterati?) at the Blue Collar Meat Fest in the abbey ruins a few weeks ago (hi guys), and amongst other things it was an excellent opportunity to get some feedback on my work so far. The overwhelming feedback was that I was favouring the good pubs, and… Read More »
I’ve lived in South Reading and North Reading, and worked in East Reading. I know them pretty well, and like to think I’ve been in the majority of the better pubs in all of them (and of course many of the not so good ones as well). But even after two decades in Reading, west… Read More »
When the secret society that is actually in charge of Reading* was deciding who should write reviews about the town, I definitely won. Restaurant reviewers can only realistically review one restaurant a night, and event reviewers need to wait for someone to organise an event. I however, as one of the officially appointed pub reviewers,… Read More »
You know how sometimes you find a pub, and you think “that’s not where a pub should be”. Well, the White Horse in Emmer Green is like that. In fact there are two pubs opposite each other, The White Horse and The Black Horse. No other pubs for miles around, but two directly opposite each… Read More »
When Big Gary said he was in the Clifton Arms to watch the football, I knew I had to double check. Last time I thought he said that it turned out that he was in the Prince Of Wales, and I simply couldn’t read. But no, this time he genuinely was there. Other than walking… Read More »
German life expectancy at birth overtook UK life expectancy recently as growth in UK life expectancy growth has stalled. Germans born in 2020 are expected to live to 81.41, while British people are expected to live to 81.39.
