The Bell Inn, Reading

A well regarded pub in an attractive village, this isn’t somewhere you’re likely to stumble across by accident, but is certainly worth making an effort to get to, and for a somewhat out of the way pub, we were pleasantly surprised to find several other punters in there on our Thursday afternoon visit. A sign directed you to “parking in the field” which is up a slope behind the pub, and the adjacent field had a number of chicken’s running around and an old abandoned car that was presumably their roost. The front door leads you in to an entrance hallway with rooms off to either side. The bar counter, if it can be called that, is inset in to the right hand room and also adjoins the hallway. It’s certainly not a bar counter in the conventional sense though, more of a small bar room with glazed windows and hatches through which to serve you. It reminded me more of an old station ticket office rather than your normal pub. The room to the left had old beams on the ceiling, dark wood panelling on the lower part of the walls, and rough, mustard colour plasterwork above. A large fireplace was a prominent feature on one wall with an unusual deep maroon paint job on the bricks at the back. Despite a couple of logs in the fireplace, it was disappointing that the wood burning stove was just an electric imitation rather than the real thing. All sorts of beer accolades were on the walls as well as a large collection of Good Beer Guide books. The room to the right was perhaps a little more atmospheric, although broadly similar in terms of décor with another attractive brick fireplace and plenty more pictures on the wall. Beers on tap were Rebellion Roasted Nuts, Baldrick Mild, Amwell Spring’s Chairman Dave and Arkell’s BBB. The cider choice was extensive and on this occasion consisted of Lilley’s Rhubarb and Apple & Pear, BumbleBee Craft cider and a trio from the local Tutts Clump – Ridgeway, Berkshire Diamond and Traditional Farmhouse. All in all, a lovely old pub and well worth taking the effort to track down.