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Detail Pages
John Barleycorn, Reading
Goring
Postal town: Reading
RG8 9DP
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 7 of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blue Scrumpy left this review about John Barleycorn
Another corner pub in Goring and another Marston's pub. This one looks and feels older than the Catherine Wheel, but it is actually the Catherine Wheel that is the oldest of the two.
On entering, a door to the left leads to a lounge and restaurant. I chose the right-hand door which takes you into a bar and a small games room containing a bar billiards table.
The bar is at the rear of the room. There is an outdoor courtyard beyond. Service was friendly, with ales listed on a small board on the bar (handpulls are on the lounge side). As with the Catherine Wheel, the regular beers are Brakspear Gravity & Ringwood Forty Niner. The guest here was Eagle Bombardier.
Poor beer selection, but a nice interior full of character nonetheless.
On 2nd April 2022
- rating: 6
[User has posted 2474 recommendations about 2473 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about John Barleycorn
A traditional whitewashed two room pub, with lounge/dining to the left and public bar to the right. Three ales available, two Ringwood and a Brakspear. The handpumps, as mentioned below, are only visible on the lounge side of the bar so if you go in the right hand-side you’ll need to ask. Ale quality has been a bit hit-and-miss. Quarry tiled flooring in the public bar, with a random layout of seating with rickety pew style seats, thrones and small tables. The fire was not lit but a log shed in the garden indicates that it will be at some point. A bar billiards table is located in room up a step off to the right. Go up a different step (needing to get past the inevitable local blocking the way) in order to access the nicely-kept grassed rear garden. Not as much atmosphere or quirky charm as the Catherine Wheel – the interior is bright and over-lit, plus the paintwork is tatty. Basic pub grub offered and the pub is dog-friendly (public bar). Accommodation available. Bogs were well-scrubbed.
On 22nd September 2015
- rating: 6
[User has posted 5099 recommendations about 5082 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Will Larter left this review about The John Barleycorn Inn
A back-street local with a proper country village atmosphere about it. The central entrance gives a choice of lounge and restaurant to the left, public bar to the right. I chose the latter, which has three small rooms, a sort of bar snug towards the rear with servery from the three hand pumps which face the lounge bar, the main room with a fairly modern-looking (20th century rather than 17th) brick fireplace and the small room up a couple of steps in the corner of the building, where there are a bar billiards table, two up-turned barrels, a modern pine dresser featuring commemorative Bells whisky bottles and two handsome wooden armchairs. There are terracotta floor tiles and cream painted walls throughout.
There was a friendly welcome from landlord and locals, and the beer was excellent: Brakspears Bitter at £3.20 a pint, plus Oxford Gold and Ringwood Fortyniner. Certainly the best of the Goring and Streatley pubs that I tried on my recent visit.
On 11th May 2012
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3748 recommendations about 3484 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Malden man left this review about The John Barleycorn Inn
A pleasant old village pub which retains two rooms either side of the entrance. There is also a garden accessible from the rear of the bar. Very low beamed ceilings, the preferred room for the locals seems to be the bar, with the lounge being empty late afternoon. I received a genuine friendly welcome from the landlord and the group of locals collected around the bar. The handpumps were not visible being in the lounge side, so I had to ask. Brakspears Bitter and Oxford Gold on plus Ringwood Fortyniner. The bar has a quarry tiled floor, a few pictures, a random layout of seating with rickety pew style seats and small tables. A side room off the bar has a bar billiards table and a collection of commemorative Bells Whisky porcelain bells in a display case.
The bar fireplace is a more recent brick built affair, however the large timber beam over suggests it was once a much larger opening. The pub has the smallest pub TV I think I've seen, being a portable type balanced in the corner with the scores and league tables showing on Sky Sports News via an attached Freeview box. The 1965 Brakspears price list displayed made interesting reading.
I enjoyed it here and would recommend a visit
On 25th April 2010
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1708 recommendations about 1681 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
train man left this review about John Barleycorn
May feel a little more homely when the newly-painted smell dissipates. Entrance splits to rooms either side of the bar; the public to the right with a small adjacent room given over entirely to the bar-billiards table, to the left a similar lounge giving on to a dining area. Some pew-style seating in both bar-rooms. The two beerpumps, stationed only on the lounge side, offer Brakspear bitter & special, beers not bad but not as perfect as the nearby Catherine Wheel.
On 2nd December 2007
- no rating submitted
[User has posted 412 recommendations about 411 pubs]