Rose & Crown, Slough

By far the best pub in Slough and it was my local when I was working the town a few months ago. Two small rooms both guarded by the friendly pub dog. A quiz machine in the back room which the locals don't seem to have sussed how to win on yet, so I often win a free pint. Three handpumps on the bar, one is usually serving a beer from Rebellion, the others are constantly changing. It's a bit of a walk from the other end of Slough where I was working, but it's worth it.

I think things may have changed a little since the previous reviews, the general layout remains the same but upon entry it seemed akin to walking into a small hotel or guest house bar, not in the slightesy pubby at all, there was no sign of any real ale, just standard keg stuff, just as bad no sign of any service at all, a quick wander around and then another minutes hanging about by the bar produced no change, so left it at that.

One thing you don't expect to find as you trudge along Slough's depressing High Street, is a 17th Century pub, so the Rose & Crown comes as a pleasant and most welcome surprise. The place looks very attractive on approach thanks to a bright whitewashed facade studded with colourful flower baskets and a neat front patio seating area with a quaint gate to keep the friendly pub dog in place. You enter into a compact front bar with the servery to the left and a small seating area to the right. The suggestion is that there was once a corridor through the middle with separate rooms to either side, but it's all opened out now. The bar has a short, smart counter, with a juke box crammed into the front corner and a couple of slot machines along the front wall. Seating is rather limited, but a couple of tables are available, with the best spot probably opposite the fireplace to the right. A passage leads through to a rear room with a couple more tables and benches, dartboard, TV screen showing muted golf and various bits of breweriana on display. There is also a small section of servery back here, but the handpulls are all in the front bar, so it might be best to order from there. Beyond is a rear games area with pool table that I didn't get round to exploring fully. Just the two beers were on the go when I arrived on a Sunday afternoon, one of which was a house beer called Rose & Crown Best, brewed by the Vale Brewery. I decided to give this a try and thought it was a very pleasant pint of bitter of the sort you could easily enjoy a session on. I seem to recall the other beer was also from Vale, so no complaints from me on that front. The barman was friendly, offering a cheery farewell as I left. This is quite an old-fashioned pub in many ways, seemingly popular with a predominantly male clientele, but offering good beer in a reassuringly traditional environment. I enjoyed my visit here and spent much longer than I'd originally intended, although I was glad that my other half had opted to go shopping instead, as I'm sure she would've hated it. Almost certainly the best pub you're going to find in Slough.

The most anticipated pub on my Slough crawl, a regular GBG entrant and seemingly the only beacon of ale excellence in Slough outside of the JDW juggernaut down the road. A whitewashed exterior with dark blue trim, some foliage and a prominent Welsh flag. The inside is a warren of small areas with the bar situated to the left, a small snug to the right and a mini corridor that leads to a rear room with a dart board. Beyond that is a tidy covered outside games room with pool, more darts and red sofas. A bit of a disappointment on the ale front, with the four pumps dispensing only two ales (from Vale and Three Tuns) which were both in good nick. On a Saturday, surely scope for more? The pub was a bit cold (which turned out to be a Slough speciality). Football was being quietly shown, with a bit of disagreement as to whether people should be cheering on Reading or Q.P.R. Apparently free BBQ food is offered on Sunday afternoons though I didn’t see promotion of it. Got some gyp/banter from a fat Gerry Francis lookalike when I took a snap of the exterior on leaving, maybe he was gutted to see Q.P.R. failing to turn over Reading. Perhaps I caught it at a quiet time but I left somewhat underwhelmed. It’s good for Slough, certainly, but not a destination.

The Rose and Crown is a small, slightly quirky traditional pub at the East end of Slough High Street. Well described by previous reviewers so not much for me to add except to confirm that this GBG regular usually has something interesting on its three Ale and one Cider pumps. And fortunately it's small size usually means that it is not afflicted by the Slough detritus, who don't seem to have the wit to get past the Moon and Spoon at the other end of the High Street.

A GBG regular and accurately reviewed by Mr Fastard below. I'd guess that this is the place to go for real ale in Slough and we weren't disappointed. The whole place is welcoming being an old building in a very modern town centre. The greeting from behind the bar was friendly and chatty and there's a lot of banter between the locals who were very inclusive. Only two beers on: Binghams Space Hoppy IPA, which went down very well and Adnams Lighthouse. It's a lottery as to what you might get as the beers here continually rotate but on our experience that's a risk well worth taking. The first place I'd head to if in Slough.

One of the few old building in central Slough ,this pub had the cosy ambiance of a village local and a friendly welcome at the bar.It really is quite small with two front sections,to the left the bar and a darts board in one corner by the window,while to the right there is an area with a chimney breast housing an electric fire and a fitted seating bench in red velour around the walls with a few tables and chairs.At the back of the pub is a marginally larger room ,again with an electric fire and traditional furniture.There are four screen dotted about to show sport,but this tends to stimulate a lot of banter and it is easy to get chatting to the friendly locals.There is a fantastic collection of regional accents among the regulars,it's a melting pot like the rest of Slough. A real feature is the huge collection of pump clips adorning all the walls.Some feature long defunct breweries,other show how branding has changed over the years at some top microbreweries,it's worth gazing around.There is a rapid turnover of constantly changing ales with Adnams Explorer and Bingham's Space Hoppy IPA on great form during my visit augmented by a pokey cider on the third handpump.Deservedly a regular in the GBG ,I would always use this pub on any infrequent visit to Slough in the future.