The Purple Turtle, Reading

This is a decent sized town centre pub and live music venue with a good sized main bar and performance space and some smaller, discreet sweating areas off to the side. I came here specifically to watch a band playing, so perhaps I didn’t get to see the place exactly how I might’ve done were there not large areas cleared for people to stand and watch the show. You enter into quite a pleasant looking front seating area where a few comfortable bits of furniture offer you a relatively bright spot in front of the shop style windows. As you move towards the rear, the room narrows slightly due to the positioning of the servery down the right-hand wall, leaving just enough space for some drinking ledges down the opposite side, with more towards the rear, in the space that acts as the dancefloor thanks to the stage being positioned along the back wall. There weren’t too many punters in when I visited, so I had a good view of the band, but the stage is very low, so this could pose a real problem on a particularly busy evening. As you might expect, the walls are covered in what appeared to be copies of old gig flyers and various music-themed posters and the whole place had a bit of a student-pub feel to it. A door next to the servery leads through into a couple of small seating areas to the side of this main space, which look decent enough, if a bit disconnected from the rest of the venue, whilst out the back there’s a decent split level decked garden with loads of additional seating and a good amount of shelter. Sadly, there was no cask ale on at the bar, but they had managed to get a few craft keg options on, albeit of the fairly mainstream variety such as Brooklyn Lager. There were plenty of people manning the bar, so queues were kept to a minimum and service was polite and friendly. This is a decent enough place to go and watch some local bands play - it seems quite well set-up, with slick organisation and some nice spaces to escape the noise if required. Assessing it solely as a pub though, it falls down on the beer selection, most notably the lack of cask ale, which is a common problem at such music venues. Not the worst place you could end up in, but no need to add this to a town centre crawl.

Long narrow and trendy music bar with a stage at the far end and a terrace garden at the rear. Alongside the predictable range of craft and other keg had 3 handpumps serving New Wharf Brewing beers at time of visit: very tasty and nicely-kept too. Pleasant enough early evening but not sure what it might be like when busy.

Surely the oddest entry in the Good Beer Guide. American diner style booths, live music stage, eclectic furnishings. Lovely patio entry around the back, discovered for the 1st time tonight. I've been before and the beer choice was a damn sight more interesting than Doom Bar and Hobgoblin on offer tonight. Also tend to avoid any place that requires bouncers. Visit blogged at http://bit.ly/2i4SbeS

Called in today for the first time expecting the worst, but was reasonably surprised, best described as a music themed bar and fairly empty on my early Friday daytime visit I found five hand pumps and no real usual suspects, I had a pint of XT 15, served in a handled dimple mug ,described as an English IPA and being first pint pulled of the day was in very good condition,there was also a real Cider in the form of Tutts Clump. A single bar set up with wooden floor boards although the middle section did have some carpeting, the walls are adorned with posters of rock stars through the ages and similar memorabilia and artwork, there is as befits the name a lot of purple in evidence. The music theme was continued amusingly by the bar stools being in the shape of bongos and the overhead lighting above the bar in the form of various styles of drums. There is a stage at the far end of the bar and hosts various bands as well as stand up comedy and DJs. A good selection of daily papers are available to read over a pint while sat at one of the tables dotted around the bar. Music was playing unsurprisingly but at a decent level and a pretty good mix from the likes of the very modern, I have no idea what, through the Arctic Monkeys and back to the likes of Pink Floyd The Kinks and Beatles, all good stuff.Signs pointing through a doorway told of a cellar bar and a terrace area ,I didn't get round to investigating these.Although very sedate on my morning visit I am sure its a different beast once darkness descends, aimed at the under 30's I would guess, but on my visit I found it to be fine even being on the wrong side of 50, and no sign of the punchbag mentioned below, perhaps things are on the up,and although not normally the type of place I would look to seek out, I would have no hesitation on a return for a pint in the future, something I wasn't expecting to say before today's visit.