The Swan Hotel, Newbury

The two pubs in East Isley are a stones thrown from each other on opposite sides of the road. The Swan is the less posh of the two. It has a modern, multiple area’d interior with third-length wood panelling and modern flagstone flooring, with orangey-red paintwork. There was a wood burning stove though I was sceptical as to whether it actually worked. Some spirit miniatures in glass-fronted cabinet, plus a pub dog. Our Sunday visit coincided with a bingo session, something I’ve not seen in a pub for years. It was pretty-well attended and the locals clearly preferred this to what was on offer over the road as we found out. Two ales on, Morlands (pretty good nick) and Wadworth 6X. Not a huge amount of character but decent enough, I thought.