Not already a member?
Join our community and
- Rate & review pubs
- Upload pictures
- Add events
JOIN for free NOW
Chat about:
Beer of the Week (w/e 28th April 2024) with rpadam
on the Pub Forum
Detail Pages
The Cunning Man, Reading
Burghfield
Postal town: Reading
RG30 3RB
Pub Type
Vintage Inns (Mitchells & Butlers)Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about The Cunning Man
Not much change here bar the beer range moving round a bit - Sharps predominated the other week. Usual hit-and-miss staff.
May 2011
Foody pub with a nice garden and thatched roof (apparently burned down a few years back). The inside is quite tidy but not anything to get excited about. Usually a couple of ales on – Bass plus a guest. Beer is usually decent but served far too cold and randomly sparklerised. Bit of product knowledge wouldn’t go amiss. A decent summer pub.
On 24th August 2016
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 5099 recommendations about 5082 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Steve of N21 left this review about The Cunning Man
This is a fairly attractive, old looking pub from the outside , being built of solid stone and with a thatched roof. But in reality it is a fairly new build, having been built about 2001 when it replaced a much older building on the site and was built in the same style. The older building was also a pub with the same name but had been gradually destroyed by repeated flooding of the nearby Kennet.
The pub's name comes from a local legend of a good wizard who would help to protect people from dark spirits and witches.
The new incarnation is a pub & restaurant and is part of the Vintage Inn chain. Internally it’s a modern décor with lots of exposed brick, wooden beams and tables and stone flooring and open fireplaces. In essence one large long room that is sub divided into several different areas with most being set to tables for dining. The bar area is in the middle of the pub and is quite small compared to the rest of the space.
By road the pub is a bit in the middle of nowhere, so most people would drive here and for that purpose it has a large car park.
But one of the big plusses of the Cunning Man is that it is located on the Kennet and Avon canal, accessible from the tow path and is half way between Theale and Reading. So if you’re are cycling or walking between these two it is a very handy half way stop.
It also benefits from a huge outside drinking area in three parts, a large green space to the front of the pub with a couple of bench seats, but then a much larger double area to the side of the pub by the canal with plentiful bench seating.
Most people come here to eat and although we didn’t, the menu looked like traditional British pub food with a good mixture of baguette type snacks and then more substantial mains.
Like other Vintage Inn establishments they do have real ale and there are three hand pumps on the bar. Sharps Doombar and Brains Reverend James seemed to be the house ales and Black Sheep Bitter was the guest. Tried the Revered James and it was a decent pint.
It was very popular on last Sunday afternoon, especially due to it being a fine weather day, and like a lot of these food orientated establishments, they never have enough staff to cope with the busy periods.
And as the small bar area is the only place for placing food orders and ordering drinks it was a complete scrum and took 10 minutes to get served. Usually I wouldn’t tolerate this, but as the young bar staff were obviously working their socks off to get through the crowd and I was in no great hurry to get back on the bike, I stuck it out to enjoy a nice pint in the afternoon sunshine by the canal.
On 13th October 2010
- rating: 7
[User has posted 2111 recommendations about 1992 pubs]