Nags Head Reading

& Two Further West Reading Pubs

In my humble opinion, the Nags Head in Reading is the best pub within less than an hour of my front door.  I reckon it ticks all the boxes for what brilliant pubs should be.
Yet I've never gotten around to covering this or any of the other good drinking establishments in Reading in this blog.  Early January saw a Nottingham Forest fixture at Reading so with tickets booked for this I decided I'd focus on three pubs across the A33, just to the west of Reading centre.

The Nags Head, Reading 

I've dug out an old picture of The Nags Head  (5 Russell Street, RG1 7XD - website) - we didn't have nice blue skies like this on our January visit.

Hopcraft Stout and the football news

Arriving early, I settled down and grabbed one of the daily papers from the rack.
The news had broken on Friday morning that Aitor Karanka had asked to leave his role as Forest manager, propelling the club into a bit of disarray yet again. 

This only made a small corner in the paper's sports section of course, with anything outside the self-styled 'Greatest League In The World' being largely inconsequential.

I pondered whether all the upheaval yesterday would effect the team's performance on the pitch this afternoon?
**Spoiler**
Yes. Of course it would.

But before having to endure 90 minutes of football, I had 120 minutes to enjoy the Nags Head.  So why's it so great?

Firstly they have a fantastic drinks selection, once billed as a "beer festival every day" and pretty much living up to that promise.  Twelve cask ales are lined up along the bar from a mild on the right, increasing in strength to the dark stuff on the left. 
Should nothing take your fancy in that line-up, a keg-wall was added a couple of years back offering up all manner of crafty delights, as well as lots of boxed cider and Belgian bottled beer being available.

Sports fans are catered for with all major football, cricket and rugby fixtures shown across two screens. 

And when the volume isn't turned up for sport the musical soundtrack isn't too bad either.

And there's a roaring log fire on grey winter days like today.

And there's some old Elm Park memorabilia...

The pub became progressively busier, with a pretty limited demographic of middle-aged blokes with Reading tops & scarves this afternoon.  Arsenal were on the TV screens being beaten by West Ham.  My pick of the beers was the 'A.W18 Bitter' from Cloudwater and 'Campania' a milk stout from one of my favourite breweries Hopcraft, but we got through a few more than this and all were good.

There's a special match-day bus from the Nags Head to the football ground, so at a quarter-past two we drank-up and climbed on board.

The Nags Head Football Special

.....
  .....
So, let me go back a couple of months to a visit to this part of town at the tail-end of 2018.
Trust me, it's better to reminisce from last year than to report on the turgid football that we endured at the Madejski Stadium this weekend. 

Foresters Arms, Reading

Foresters Arms (79-81 Brunswick Street, RG1 6PE)
This is a Good Beer Guide listed pub that I'd somehow completely missed, so I set out to rectify this.

Impossibly white trainers.

It's located on the outskirts of town, around a 25 minute stroll from the centre.  Along a residential street it's unmissable with a prominent emerald green tiled front wall.  
We were the only customers when we entered, disturbing the lady behind the bar from tinkering with her iPad. 
There was a simple choice of two ales on the bar: Palmers IPA or Tim Taylors 'Landlord'. 
We sat in the peace of the front room, with rugby on the TV, supping our pints.
And then a third customer came into the bar wearing impossibly white trainers.
Here was a no-nonsense punter: pint of Fosters and a whisky chaser, quick fag outside then back in for another pint.  He propped up the bar and asked for the TV to be changed to ITV4 for the horse racing.
Nooooo...horse racing on TV.....it's almost always a signifier that you've found yourself in a 'certain type' of pub.

The Foresters is a real back-street local, serving up a decent pint of ale and I appreciate it would probably be a different experience when busier.

Back to the present, and we'd witnessed a miserable 0-2 defeat at the hands of Reading (not so miserable for the home fans on the bus back though).  Two red cards and an awful display - I really should have stayed in the pub.

Post-match we were looking for somewhere to watch the evening kick-off between Chelsea and Newcastle - to see how proper football teams played.
Much as I love the Nags, it's never busier than when the Madejski bus disgorges it's passengers on a Saturday afternoon, so we headed just around the corner to....

The Butler (85-91 Chatham Street, RG1 7DS)
This crept in the GBG in 2018 but seems to have lost it's place this year.
Towered over by a multi-storey car park to the right, it's got a stand-out frontage of many colours.  Inside there is a side room to the left with sofa's and a trad cosy section just to the rear of the bar, where we found a seat in good view of the smaller TV screen.  To the right there is a bit of an empty-looking area where bands set up, then a back section with the focus on the TV.
Beers available on this visit were a 'Proper Job' from St Austell, Tim Taylor's 'Landlord' aand, my pick, 'Crouch Hold Engage' from Andwell Brewery.  A reminder that the Six Nations is just around the corner again.

The Butler, possible one of Reading's best-looking pubs?

Outside toilets are a bit of a rarity these days, although often the mark of a great pub.  The gents at the Butler are out the back through a small yard and are bitterly cold this evening.
But this may be soon to change.  There is currently a planning application to add upstairs rooms for bed and breakfast use and move those chilly loos to the first floor.


By Monday lunchtime Martin O'Neill had been appointed as Forest manager.  A success or another ex-player sullying his reputation in the managers hot-seat?  Only time will tell.
As long as both clubs stay in the same league I'll be back next season for my annual grumble as we lose to Reading, but at least I'll be guaranteed a few good pints beforehand.