The Clifton Arms, Caversham

In which I journey into Reading, Caversham, and Tilehurst 😨 in search of the first new ticks in my 2025 edition of the Good Beer Guide.
The September forecast was for showers which I naively thought we could dodge.  Hopping off the train at Reading station, we crossed the Thames into Christchurch Meadows, where the heavens opened and I got chastised for not bringing anything waterproof.
Our intended destination was The Clifton Arms...but the Fox & Hounds came first...

The Fox and Hounds (51 Gosbrook Road, Caversham, RG4 8BN)
This is a cracking, well-known, Berkshire pub, with a well-deserved reputation for cask ales and craft beer.
Five cask options to pick from, featuring Arbor, Brass Castle, Wylam, Fyne, and the local Elusive Brewery.  I stuck local myself, with a fine 'Arc' pale ale from Elusive.  Served by a friendly young man who got into a discussion with us about how many people dived into pint measures of sour beers (more than we'd imagine).

This was probably the quietest I've seen the Fox & Hounds, although the clock had only just ticked past noon.  But I didn't need a crowd of folk to be content this lunchtime, sheltered from the rain, pint of pale ale in a handled mug, Fontaines DC in the background never sounding so good.

I know it was only supposed to be a quick stop for a bit of shelter, but I couldn't resist picking something else from the craft selection.  That'd be a Verdant 10 years celebration 8% double-IPA collaboration with US brewery Fidens.  Mmmmm.

Here's a bit of blue plaque history on the outside of the Fox & Hounds...

The rain had stopped.
And we were thirty seconds brisk walk down the road from the new Beer Guide entry, The Clifton Arms.
So, to be honest, we didn't really need to stop to shelter in the Fox & Hounds, which just shows it was a sham excuse to start the day on double-IPAs. 

The Clifton Arms (12 Gosbrook Road, Caversham, RG4 8BS)
I must have walked past this a fair few times, having (I think) visited all the other nearby Caversham pubs.  It's a proper traditional boozer that has been in the hands of the same landlady since 1995.
With a needy dog that gets the best bit of cushioned bench seating in the house and multiple signs telling us she doesn't need buggers like us waking her up to be stroked.

  

The 2025 Beer Guide is looking good, even though I much prefer 2024's Iron Maiden cover to fictional pubs from soap operas.  The counties are back in alphabetical order, which is a very welcome improvement, meaning it doesn't take me five minutes trying to find the region I live in.
I have four new Oxfordshire pubs to visit, and seven to keep up with the completion of neighbouring Berkshire.  We'd reduce that by two on this trip.

But just remember that the Good Beer Guide doesn't always lead you to the places with the widest or most exotic real ale choices...

So, we had a beer I wasn't especially excited by and a dog I couldn't stroke.
But, on the plus side, Mrs PropUptheBar could watch Chelsea winning on the TV (she'd skipped the Brakspear, "the original taste of Oxfordshire" (according to the pump clip), and was drinking J2O).
There were a decent number of punters in for the early hour, someone feeding the jukebox and lining up hard rock classics to compete with the football commentary.

There was no 8% craft beer to tempt me into a second in the Clifton Arms, so we moved on, getting an 'enjoy your day' and 'cheerio' from the locals, which is always a good sign. 
We crossed the river again and walked back into the busy centre of Reading, aiming for somewhere I'd not been for many a year.

Zero Degrees Microbrewery and Restaurant (9 Bridge Street, Reading, RG1 2LR)
Part of a small chain, this brewpub opened in Reading in 2007.  It stretches from a frontage of a traditional red-brick building on Gun Street (the restaurant bit), to the modern steel frame construction at the back on Bridge Street (the bar and brewery bit).
I've always found it a bit of a 'cold' place with a sparse choice of seating around the bar - none of it comfy.

But I've had a fair few good beers here over the years, including getting caught out by a 6% Märzen that didn't mix well with rum cask cider in the Ale House.

On this occasion I was drawn to the Black Lager, the other option being their signature mango pale ale.
Exmoor pull off calling a beer 'The Beast' quite well. 
This 4.6% lager didn't really live up to the name.

Zero Degrees provide the latest shiny brewing equipment pictures for the blog...

Thank you very much to Mrs PropUptheBar for the pizza and beer in Zero Degrees.  Although she wasn't feeling quite so generous to treat me to the Meter-Long...

Doesn't say how wide it is though, does it?!

We drank up swiftly after checking bus times, and jumped straight aboard a waiting Purple 17 to Tilehurst.
Where the sun always shines.
The blue skies over our next Beer Guide listed pub were a dramatic change from the lunchtime rain.

The Victoria (1 Norcot Road, Tilehurst, RG30 6BP)
Of all the new places to visit in Berkshire in the new beer guide, I hadn't expected to be making a trek into Tilehurst again.  Perhaps I should have just started at the sizzling grill Tylers Rest and crawled around the lot, pre-empting Reading CAMRA sticking the next one in the guide!

At the Victoria we found a trio of real ales available: Pride, alongside seasonal offerings from Butcombe or St Austell.
I ordered a pint of the St Austell 'Thunder Struck', 'cos...y'know...AC/DC.

In a previous life this pub was called The White House, under the stewardship of the long-gone Blatch's Brewery of Theale.
It has undergone a big refurbishment in 2014 turning it into everything you'd expect from a suburban all-rounder.

It was doing a roaring Saturday afternoon trade, with sandwiches laid out for some sort of function in one area, and folks being drawn to the garden by the revitalised weather.
We grabbed one of the last remaining tables where we could keep track of the latest football scores on a TV screen.
You'll spot the young lad in his replica Forest kit in the picture above.  I got chatting football with his Derby-county supporting granddad.  Only for the youngster - in his glorious Forest kit - to pipe up "I'm Spurs, me".

Crucially, that St Austell beer was on good form. 
Two new Berkshire pubs from the Good Beer Guide, both serving good beer.  Who would have thought it?

The Haunted Staircase of Oundle

After exploring Peterborough, we opted to call in to the east Northamptonshire town of Oundle for a brewery tap and a pub with a ghost story.

Oundle is an ancient market town that is home to around 6,250 gentlefolk - and I'm sure they are gentlefolk...you're not in the wilds of Wellingborough here.
The market square has been a filming location for The Crown, there's an annual pipe organ festival, and Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickenson attended the 468 year old, very smart-looking Oundle School.

But we were starting our visit right on the edge of town, at a small retail complex where you can pick up some cycling gear, freshly baked bread, and get your kitchen redesigned in contemporary style.  Oundle Wharf - for this is where we were - is also home to Nene Valley Brewery.
They have a taproom next door, opened in 2014 in a renovated waterside warehouse...

Tap & Kitchen (Oundle Wharf, Station Road, Oundle, PE8 4DE)
The Tap has a handy 11:30am opening time, although I still felt wary walking in pre-noon when a staff member pounced on us and asked if she could help.  It's a single room divided into several seating areas.  The kitchen seems to be the main focus, rather than the tap, although we were left to our own devices to order at the bar and chose where to sit.

There were three cask ales on offer, all relatively low strength, plus another six beers on draft.  All listed on a slightly awkward to read blackboard, with no labels on the pumps.
Our choices of 'Blond Session Ale' and 'Simple Pleasures' were...hmm...okay.  Served in decent condition, but just a little bit plain - I should have gone for the 'Egyptian Cream' on keg.

There is lovely seating outside on both sides of an inlet of the River Nene.  Although it could probably do with a bit of a clean-up - I spotted a bit of algae on the water...

No swimming

We made our way into the heart of the town, admiring the numerous picturesque buildings and making a visit to the Chapel of St Anthony. 
This has the tallest spire in Northamptonshire, at 210-feet high.

I'm afraid that we weren't so taken by the interior, but we had been in Peterborough cathedral at 10am that morning, so St Anthony had some pretty stiff competition on the day.
We moved on to the investigate the posh hotel with a ghost story...

Talbot Hotel (New Street, Oundle, PE8 4EA)
The Talbot was rebuilt in 1626 using stone from the ruins of Fotheringhay Castle, although there is believed to have been an inn on the site for many years prior to that.

We strolled into the bar to the right of the entrance archway, then down a couple of steps to the bar counter, waiting patiently (me, patient?!) for anyone from the staff to turn up and serve us.  Top marks to the lady who did eventually arrive to pull the beers - she was super-friendly and helpful, giving us a bit of history of the hotel.

A glance at Whatpub had suggested we'd have to endure a Doom Bar in the Talbot, so the choice of two beers by Digfield Brewery, located a few miles to the south of Oundle, was a nice surprise.

  
Mary Queen of Scots was executed at Fotheringhay Castle in 1587, leading to inevitable claims that she haunts the pub.  The staircase in the bar is said to be the very one that she descended on the way to her execution.
Here's the (allegedly) haunted staircase... 

A well in the yard was reputed to produce drumming noises as a portent of imminent death and there is a story that a picture of Mary's execution has been known to tumble off the wall of its own accord.
I thought I may have found a pub for a 2024 Halloween post, except there really was nothing very spooky about the Talbot Hotel.  All very modernised, with some garishly coloured furnishings, adverts for wedding receptions (from just £3999), and customers tucking into coffee and cake.

We skipped the Rose and Crown - which I'll probably now discover was the best in town - and walked along West Street to the Beer Guide listed Ship...

The Ship Inn (18 West Street, Oundle, PE8 4EF)
This is a fine looking stone pub with coaching entrance to one side and a hallway leading to a restaurant and bar.  It has a pleasing olde worlde feel to it, with black-painted wooden beams, a proper pub carpet, big fireplace, and decorative copper kitchenware.  Being called the Ship, there is a ship's wheel and lots of maritime paintings - they're just missing a display of knots.

We arrived when the pub was quiet - the staff giving the pump clips their weekly polish.
There were two beers on the bar: St Austell 'Tribute' or Brewsters 'Hophead'.  The latter for me - another sub 4% pale ale from the Lincolnshire brewery.

We squeezed in one more Northamptonshire pub after travelling across the county during the afternoon.
We made it to the village of Stoke Bruerne which has a couple of pubs and an Indian restaurant on the side of the Grand Union Canal, by the locks and narrow road bridge.
The Boat Inn is on the left-side of my canal pic - lurking in the shadow to defy a better pub photo.

The Boat Inn (Bridge Road, Stoke Bruerne, NN12 7SB)
This is a grade II listed inn which has been run by the same family since 1877.  It is a much extended place with a modern wood panelled bar on the car park side, and several extensions with tables ready for the food trade.
But step in through the door by the canal and there are a couple of cracking basic pub rooms.

The beer selection from the Marston's stable was plentiful yet not especially exciting: New World, Old Empire, Wainwright, Razorback, Banks's Amber, and a St Austell 'Tribute'.

My 'New World Pale Ale' was a decent form, accompanying a filling plate of food.

I was chuffed to see the Northamptonshire skittles... 

But just had one quick go at knocking down the pins, paranoid at how much noise I was making.

And that was our last port of call.  A day when the locations and September blue skies had been better than the beers, to be honest.
But at least I've got a lovely pub sign picture to end the post on.

Peterborough Pub Crawl

A Sunday excursion to Peterborough, which would take us to micro pubs, a barge, evening meal in Spoons, craft beer, and a heritage pub.
Look at the lovely midday sunshine and blue sky.  Just our luck that it'd be raining by 3 o'clock.

After a short trek around the city centre, we set off south across the River Nene and into suburban Fletton where our first micro pub of the day awaited... 

The Wonky Donkey (102C High Street, Fletton, Peterborough, PE2 8DR) 
On our arrival there was just one couple sat at a table tucking into a cheeseboard - "I'm setting aside this knife as it's contaminated with brie" was the announcement that greeted us.  I'm assuming it was communal micro pub cheese, although they seemed like they were undertaking a challenge to demolish the lot.

A chap trudged back and forth from the rear room/garden, loading his car with his northern soul and 2-tone DJ booth and catering paraphernalia.  Apparently we were one day too late for the Pirate Party.  A fair few locals trotted in, filling all the front room tables, all complaining of sore heads from the previous night's frivolities, although that wasn't putting them off ordering bottles of German lager.
I picked the Leatherbritches ale, guided to it by the Queen connection and 7" style pump clip, rather than the Jester, Chinook, and Citra hop mix.

Good value at £4.40 a pint, with plenty of other ale and cider to pick from if you're fussier than me.
A decent start in a very local micro pub.

Moving on, we headed back to the riverside and to Charters Bar, spectacularly situated on a Dutch barge which dates back to 1907. 

Charters (Town Bridge, Peterborough, PE1 1FP)
This used to be always be a port of call for me on football visits, being just a couple of minutes from London Road.  The difference now is that the outdoor area has dramatically multiplied in size.
We climbed the gang-plank, a Thai restaurant in the top section, the bar in the depths of the boat.  It's a bar that I love - full of character and serving up a choice of beers that could keep you here all afternoon.

One bank of hand pumps serves four local Oakham ales at very reasonable prices; another bit of the bar features the guest beers, as well as  there being some decent keg and cider on offer.
As it was, I opted for the strong (6%) Xtreme 'Xporter', a marvelous dark brew, accompanying a platter of Thai food.

Departing from Charters, we back-tracked on ourselves, venturing into a quiet side street to seek out the Coalheavers Arms.

Coalheavers Arms (5 Park Street, Peterborough, PE2 9BH)
This is a characterful little pub, open-plan, with dividing walls creating three distinct areas.  Most of the punters were settled in the middle part, on bar stools and tables in front of two TV screens showing Sunday afternoon footy.

An interesting fact about the Coalheavers is that it's the only pub in the city to have been hit by a WW2 bomb - this penetrated through to the cellar but didn't explode - the pub opening as usual later the same night.
Cask ales on offer included a couple of Greene King seasonal brews and a Goffs 'Jester 31'
The Goffs for me - top tropical murk...

We took the beer and settled on benches in the rear corner, surrounded by a selection of motorbike racing pictures and memorabilia.  The staff flicked the TV nearby us onto the football and I found myself hooked on the north London derby.
Half time - a quick trip to use the facilities...

Then we were off, making the 5-minute walk to Oundle Road in a handy gap in the rain showers that had come out of nowhere.

Yard of Ale (72 Oundle Road, Peterborough, PE2 9PA)
I was cheerful to see screens in every direction on which I could follow the second half of the footy in the Yard of Ale.  Tough luck if you don't like football, although a couple of chaps defiantly sat reading their books in front of the TV.  There was a nice split of people supporting both sides, plus a man in a Forest shirt in the back room (we won a game, donchaknow!).  I got chatting to him on the way back from the loos leading Mrs PropUptheBar to think I'd absconded through a back door.
 
There was a great selection of cask at the Yard of Ale, from which I opted for the Black Lodge Brewery 'Anytime Cowboy', a viciously strong and fruity 'proper' IPA.

One omission from this Peterborough pub crawl was the Palmerston Arms, just a couple of doors down from the Yard of Ale.  But the rain seemed to have stopped again, and we wanted to try and get back to the centre and check into our hotel without getting drenched.
That done, we ventured back out to our second micro pub. 

The Bumble Inn (46 Westgate, Peterborough, PE1 1RE)
Opened in 2016, this micro is located in a former chemists shop.  It has been a hit with the local CAMRA folk who've named it the branch Pub Of The Year in 2024.

It's a micro of the authentic variety - one room, one WC, no distractions - talk to each other etc etc.
Cask ale on the bar came from Rudgate, Daleside, Hobsons, Thirsty Moose, and Black Hole Brewery.  A sensible 3.4% Thirsty Moose 'Belta Blonde' session ale for me.  

Without football on a telly, we just had the woodland scene on the opposite wall to stare at, with it's hidden ewok and bambi.

Right, enough of these Beer Guide places. 
What we needed next was some sour beer whilst listening to Audioslave.

Blind Tiger (11-13 Cowgate, Peterborough, PE1 1LZ)
This modern central craft bar is well worth a visit.  Seating ranges from the comfy cushioned bench I was on, to high stools, or those rather tragic swing seats suspended from the ceiling.
We arrived to a Sour Beer Showcase, so decided to go with the flow.
Now, here's some proper beer.... (!)

 

All very colourful stuff.  All pretty good as well, although we reached our sour beer capacity for the day with four 1/3 pints between us.
The bar was quiet, just half a dozen other customers, the barman looking thoroughly bored as he counted down the clock to the 8pm closing time.  At least he had a decent grungy alt rock soundtrack to listen to.
There is also some (short-lived, in my case) entertainment to be had from the arcade machines and a table-top Ms Pacman console.  Seriously, is it even possible to get past level 2?!

Leaving the Blind Tiger, we called into the Drapers Arms Wetherspoon branch for a bite to eat and a ginger beer.  A bit of sustenance and fizzy pop gave us the energy to make a 20-minute walk north into the suburbs of Peterborough, a heritage pub our target.
Dusk had fallen by the time we arrived, the un-illuminated frontage plus parking cars making for a tricky pub picture.

The Hand & Heart (12 Highbury Street, Peterborough, PE1 3BE)
It looked so dark on approach that we feared it may not be open, but there was light spilling from the doorway.
This leads into a corridor, with an off-sales counter and doors to the Bar, Smoke Room, and back yard where you'll find the outdoor gents.  The back room was locked, so I didn't get to see that.  Which left us joining the handful of Sunday evening customers in the front bar.

It's an outstanding pub room.  No nonsense seating around two walls, fireplace with darts above it, bookshelf full of beer guides, and a TV showing Allo Allo.
At the end of 2023 we found ourselves in the St John's Hotel in Hull watching Steptoe and Son.  The Hand & Heart provided my second classic British comedy in a pub experience, all the punters keeping at least half an ear on the show and chuckling at the latest mess René had gotten himself into surrounding the stolen Madonna with the big boobies.

There were three cask ales available, with a couple more pump clips turned around.  Mine was a reasonable pint of Brewsters 'Outsanding in their Field'.  A handwritten 'cash only' sign took away the "cash-card-which do you prefer-either" exchange and ensured the staff member got back to his game of cribbage quickly.

A great pub.
Leaving us with just enough time - and barely enough room - for one last beer in The Ostrich.  Another dubious night-time picture.

The Ostrich is somewhere I'll have to visit earlier in the day next time I'm in Peterborough.  I suspect it would be one of my favourite pubs had I started there, or visited when they had live music on.  But this time, I was ready to drink up and make for my bed.

Peterborough had been a winning destination on this occasion - a good variety of places visited and a whole lot missed which should necessitate a return visit.