retiredmartin

If these little posts were pub write-ups in the Beer Guide they’d be “Try Also”, a short-lived feature from the early 2000’s that was created so as not to upset pubs that would have sued if they’d been completely kicked out of the Guide.

The Elm Tree in Beech Hill deserved its entry in GBG21, and if I’d ignored it completely on retiredmartin I’d have upset those nice people at Reading & Mid Berkshire CAMRA who put Doom Bar-led estate pubs in the Guide.

I like the fact Greater Reading has posh pubs and rough pubs side-by-side in the Guide, even if the folk in Beech Hill would never venture into Theale on a Friday night (with good reason).

You could, technically, make a pre-match walk from the Madejski to the Elm Tree for your pint of Ringwood and “Creedy Carver Duck Breast served with Dauphinois potatoes”, but you’re too lazy.

Nice door, possibly stolen from Downing Street.

And even nicer tight beer range, which even the blokes sitting at the bar can’t hide.

It’s an unfussy gastro, where families were in for unfussy leisurely lunches but I didn’t feel out of place with a beer. Sadly the families limit my photos (it’s fine to take photos of Old Codgers in unfortunate poses with Baa Baa Toure), so this one is from their website.

Note the absence of scatter cushions. No, it’s pitch forks here, so folk can arm themselves against the steady advance of craft beer from Wokingham.

OK, OK, the hand wash is the poshest I’ve seen in the Home Counties (WTF is “Oud”), but there’s an easy banter between staff and locals and the Razorback is a 3.5, so it’s a pitchfork up from me.