The George & Dragon, Reading

Lovely old pub some way out of Swallowfield village itself. Now run by the same owner as Siren Brewery, I was expecting a better range of beers than I found. The two cask ales available were Siren Memento & Windsor & Eton Guardsman. Craft beers were Siren Soundwave and one from the Suspended In ... range. The interior has plenty of character with a low beamed ceiling and a few dark corners. As mentioned previously, food is a speciality. The other 5 customers were all in for food and some of them were raving about the food. 2 other customers were sat drinking lager in the small pub garden. The barmaid was friendly and cheery. I quite liked this place and it seems to have a lot of potential. However, I was surprised how quiet it was for a weekday evening. Hopefully footfall is higher than this at other times.

Facebook page of The George & Dragon - www.facebook.com

Facebook page of The George & Dragon - www.facebook.com

A lovely looking pub but as mentioned before, It's predominantly a restaraunt, the difference is that now, it's owned by Siren Craft Brew prompting my visit. The car park was full on arrival, not just with dinners but it was obvious drinkers as well were coming for the beer. Two handpumps were on , or so I thought, the two ladies behind the bar obviously knew little about barwork and less about cellarmanship as after lots of furious and fruitles pulling of both handles it took a local customer to go to the cellar and find out both barrels were empty, they were not replaced. still I was happy enough on the keg selection with a pint of Soundwave albeit not cheap. Overall a disappointing visit but I'm prepared to give it another go on the strength of the ownership, I'm just a little suprised what I consider to be a top Brewer leaves untrained staff in charge of their beer.

Small, low beamed roof, setup mainly for diners. Decent menu - at the top end of pub dining prices - Cheese and Biscuits was £8 to give you an idea. Good at table waitress service. Ringwood Bitter was OK - nothing out of the ordinary.