Off The Tap, Maidenhead

Official site of Off The Tap - www.offthetapbar.co.uk

Official site of Off The Tap - www.offthetapbar.co.uk

The first stop on a recent Maidenhead town centre crawl. We were lured in by the white horse pub sign symbol being the same as the brewery of the same name leading us to believe the pub would sell White Horse brewery ales. Wrong. Only ale available was London Pride and it was poor. We didn't linger although the pub decor seemed pleasant enough. Football was being shown.

Ultra-modern sports bar refurb in a building that’s pretty old, situated on a small stretch of road that’s been poshed-up - a lot of money has bee spent here. Once inside, you see football screens everywhere, including above the bar, along with plenty of shouty punters (and, in a couple of cases, aggressive). Token ale in form of Pride, which was actually fairly good. The atmosphere got more lairy as the time ticked by and we decided to make an exit to calmer pastures. If our Saturday afternoon visit was indicative, I wouldn’t chance it here again.

Dating back to at least 1796, the White Horse was previously called the Brewers Teahouse but was extensively refurbished 5 or 6 years ago. Behind the trendy signage lies what is more of a potential town centre trouble spot aimed at the under 30’s and has more of a Sports Bar feel with a diet of football across its multiple TV’s. The U shaped interior had a mix of tiled/stone/carpeted flooring and décor was quite modern and nondescript with little that really stood out. One side contains a dart board and pool tables and they also have occasional live music. I did not note the garden but it is probably one of the pub’s better attributes judging by comments elsewhere. Although the place was recommended to me, I can’t say that it made any great impressions on me following by my brief visit, not helped by some well oiled characters about to launch into a domestic squabble and this was barely 6 o’clock. The beers were limited to the usual suspects with London pride the only ale available although quality was decent enough. I had not initially included this as part of my jaunt around town and with hindsight should probably stuck with my judgement although if you just need somewhere to watch some televised football, it will serve its purpose