The Purple Turtle, Reading

Visited on a Wednesday evening, this usually loud and vibrant pub in the centre of Reading was pretty quiet. Music was on but at a decent level. Once inside it is long and narrow with a stage down the far end. No ale here just a decent selection of lagers. I had a Kronenbourg at a fiver. I didn't mind it too much here and would probably visit when they have music on.

This is a decent sized town centre pub and live music venue with a good sized main bar and performance space and some smaller, discreet sweating areas off to the side. I came here specifically to watch a band playing, so perhaps I didn’t get to see the place exactly how I might’ve done were there not large areas cleared for people to stand and watch the show. You enter into quite a pleasant looking front seating area where a few comfortable bits of furniture offer you a relatively bright spot in front of the shop style windows. As you move towards the rear, the room narrows slightly due to the positioning of the servery down the right-hand wall, leaving just enough space for some drinking ledges down the opposite side, with more towards the rear, in the space that acts as the dancefloor thanks to the stage being positioned along the back wall. There weren’t too many punters in when I visited, so I had a good view of the band, but the stage is very low, so this could pose a real problem on a particularly busy evening. As you might expect, the walls are covered in what appeared to be copies of old gig flyers and various music-themed posters and the whole place had a bit of a student-pub feel to it. A door next to the servery leads through into a couple of small seating areas to the side of this main space, which look decent enough, if a bit disconnected from the rest of the venue, whilst out the back there’s a decent split level decked garden with loads of additional seating and a good amount of shelter. Sadly, there was no cask ale on at the bar, but they had managed to get a few craft keg options on, albeit of the fairly mainstream variety such as Brooklyn Lager. There were plenty of people manning the bar, so queues were kept to a minimum and service was polite and friendly. This is a decent enough place to go and watch some local bands play - it seems quite well set-up, with slick organisation and some nice spaces to escape the noise if required. Assessing it solely as a pub though, it falls down on the beer selection, most notably the lack of cask ale, which is a common problem at such music venues. Not the worst place you could end up in, but no need to add this to a town centre crawl.

Long narrow and trendy music bar with a stage at the far end and a terrace garden at the rear. Alongside the predictable range of craft and other keg had 3 handpumps serving New Wharf Brewing beers at time of visit: very tasty and nicely-kept too. Pleasant enough early evening but not sure what it might be like when busy.

Surely the oddest entry in the Good Beer Guide. American diner style booths, live music stage, eclectic furnishings. Lovely patio entry around the back, discovered for the 1st time tonight. I've been before and the beer choice was a damn sight more interesting than Doom Bar and Hobgoblin on offer tonight. Also tend to avoid any place that requires bouncers. Visit blogged at http://bit.ly/2i4SbeS