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Beer of the Week (w/e 27th April 2025) with Thuck Phat on the Pub Forum

The George & Dragon, Reading

Church Road
Swallowfield
Postal town: Reading
RG7 1TJ

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Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7½ of 10) Add Review see review guidelines

Blue Scrumpy left this review about The George & Dragon

Lovely old pub some way out of Swallowfield village itself. Now run by the same owner as Siren Brewery, I was expecting a better range of beers than I found. The two cask ales available were Siren Memento & Windsor & Eton Guardsman. Craft beers were Siren Soundwave and one from the Suspended In ... range.

The interior has plenty of character with a low beamed ceiling and a few dark corners. As mentioned previously, food is a speciality. The other 5 customers were all in for food and some of them were raving about the food. 2 other customers were sat drinking lager in the small pub garden. The barmaid was friendly and cheery.

I quite liked this place and it seems to have a lot of potential. However, I was surprised how quiet it was for a weekday evening. Hopefully footfall is higher than this at other times.

On 27th June 2024 - rating: 6
[User has posted 3040 recommendations about 3038 pubs]

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Moby Duck left this review about The George & Dragon

A lovely looking pub but as mentioned before, It's predominantly a restaraunt, the difference is that now, it's owned by Siren Craft Brew prompting my visit. The car park was full on arrival, not just with dinners but it was obvious drinkers as well were coming for the beer. Two handpumps were on , or so I thought, the two ladies behind the bar obviously knew little about barwork and less about cellarmanship as after lots of furious and fruitles pulling of both handles it took a local customer to go to the cellar and find out both barrels were empty, they were not replaced. still I was happy enough on the keg selection with a pint of Soundwave albeit not cheap. Overall a disappointing visit but I'm prepared to give it another go on the strength of the ownership, I'm just a little suprised what I consider to be a top Brewer leaves untrained staff in charge of their beer.

On 20th December 2021 - rating: 6
[User has posted 2151 recommendations about 2118 pubs]

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Ian Mapp left this review about The George & Dragon

Small, low beamed roof, setup mainly for diners.

Decent menu - at the top end of pub dining prices - Cheese and Biscuits was £8 to give you an idea. Good at table waitress service.

Ringwood Bitter was OK - nothing out of the ordinary.

On 16th July 2015 - rating: 7
[User has posted 1563 recommendations about 1543 pubs]

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Quinno _ left this review about The George & Dragon

Popped in again the other day, the entire pub was set out for diners with the only drinking space being at the bar. Three ales (Pride, Doom Bar and Ringwood) in decent shape but if you can't drink them in civility, what's the point?

August 2009.
Revisted the other week. Similar experiences as before except that the beer wasn't as good and the girl behind the bar was friendly but clueless - I've not seen a simple order for a pint and a half of beer take on such a surreal form before. Kafka would be proud.

19 October 2008
Only popped in for a beer so can't comment on the food, as pretty much the entire place was set up for dining with no real drinking area. The interior is quite pleasant though, imagine it would be nice on a winters evening with the real fire blazing away. Two ales on (Pride and Brakspear) both fairly good. Service was a bit of a let-down, the Kelly Osborne-a-like was pretty surly, guess she must be the landlord's daughter as it looked like she didn't really want to be there. Overall, I wouldn't bother if it's just a beer you're after.

On 30th June 2012 - no rating submitted
[User has posted 5552 recommendations about 5533 pubs]

Please Note: This review is over a year old.

Dave Everitt left this review about The George & Dragon

This is a traditional pub with a restaurant area to the front and a rather nice selection on the menu. You have to believe there is a pub on the road, its very country ... and this week (28/11/08) the road was closed from one direction, so you really had to want to find the pub too.

On 29th November 2008 - rating: 10
[User has posted 29 recommendations about 29 pubs]