Sweeney & Todd, Reading

Not a pub and I doubt that anyone comes here just for the bar, but a geat concept for beer drinkers – real ale to accompany a quality pie. Steak with stilton, kidney, or mushroom, plus exotics like pigeon & peach, and the Sweeney – a 3meat combo - some featured on a standard printed menu & others on a good daily list announced at table. Four handpumps included Adnams, 6X, Tanglefoot, ours in good nick. We managed to snag the ‘booth' opposite the bar but beyond that was more seating to the rear. Early evening & our pies came with chips, so unsure about prev comments about chip curfew. Your pie chips & pint will get up toward £10 but a great way to re-fuel before continuing on a crawl. I have to doff my cap to one of our company who will henceforward be known as TPC, or Two-Pies-Chas, impressive eating mate!

Totally bizarre experience and not at all what I was expecting. I had read reviews of the food and liking a pie, though I would investigate. Its a supermarket deli in the front, with all the pies in a chiller. No worries, I can see a bar. Unmanned but 4 real ales on. Then the tables are in the back. I sit down. An elderly waiter ignores me for 5 mins. I go to the bar where the same elderly waiter is pouring drinks and doesn't even acknowledge that I exist. I walk out.

Arriving in Reading at lunchtime, I made a beeline to this pie and ale house for some hearty grub and a pint before heading of to the football. You enter into a small delicatessen with a counter on the left offering a few tempting goodies, but steps to the rear lead you into the dining area with a proper dark wood servery along the right hand wall. The room is very narrow, with bare floorboards and a row of booths down the left hand side, each furnished with hard settles and partitioned with small curtains. The walls are painted white and have been decorated with a few black and white photos, period wall lamps and a brewery mirror. Two small tables with standard chairs have been squeezed along the right hand side just past the bar, before you reach a second, larger room which is carpeted and has a skylight allowing plenty of light in. Plates are suspended from the dark wooden beams and large art prints cover the walls. Seating is a lot more comfortable looking here, with lots of high backed padded chairs throughout. The staff were all very friendly and helpful, with a welcoming matriarch running the show with her winning charm offensive. The pie menu is pretty huge, but not all varieties are available, so you'll need to ask for a run through before ordering to make sure you get what you want. I paid £7 for a huge steak and kidney pie with a side of chips, which was delicious. On the bar, there are four hand pumps which were dispensing Adnams Southwold Bitter and Explorer, Hook Norton Old Hooky and Wadworth 6X. I opted for the Explorer, which I've not had for a few years, and I thought it was a very good pint in excellent condition. I tried to gauge whether you would be able to pop in here just for a drink without ordering any food, and I have to say I'm not sure this would be possible. However, for the purpose of my visit, everything was pretty much spot on and I would happily recommend this place to anyone wanting some honest grub with a good pint of beer to wash it down. 9/10 as a pie shop but this is not a pub, so my score has been adjusted accordingly.

Official site of Sweeney and Todd - www.sweeneyandtodd.co.uk

Official site of Sweeney and Todd - www.sweeneyandtodd.co.uk