The Royal Oak, Reading

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Quinno _ left this review about The Royal Oak

This place is now one Reading suburb's better ale venues after the installation of two no-nonsense licensees a few years back. The interior and exterior have both had a big makeover. There are up to four ales of good quality with a fairly varied selection (within a list) plus a cider (Westons Scrumpy). The focus is on making the place a `proper community local'. It's busy (previously I'd never seen more than half a dozen people) with a good customer mix. Staff are polite and on-the-ball, a family-run concern. The pub runs pool teams and has a quiz night on Tuesdays. Hot food is available at weekends and sandwiches are available during the week. It can be reached easily by taking bus 33 from Reading station and is worth a trip out there if you’re local to the area.

January 2009
A bit of weird one - this is located away from Tilehurst town and is in the leafier suburbs, up a little hill. I was certainly expecting something good when I got off the bus but was pretty disappointed when I got there on my visit just before Christmas. It was unkempt outside and felt like a very low-grade local inside, split over two levels but with none of the attendant intrigue one might expect. The ambience and general feel of the place wasn't at all welcoming, especially the bright neon ‘Drugs will not be tolerated’ signs – a sure sign of a drugs problem! Two ales on offer, both Courage, condition poor. Could be a brilliant community pub in the right hands, I am surprised that no-one has made the effort.

On 22^nd April 2017 - no rating submitted
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