HALF A DOZEN PUBS FROM EVERY COUNTY. No. 2 – BERKSHIRE.

Happy Retired Martin Day (22/12), to those of you who celebrate.

Back to my county-by-county trawl through UK pubs, and our second county alphabetically in the traditional GBG (the one I did), dispatched to an unfindable page since 2023. Five picks from me in Berkshire, you choose the sixth.

A solid drinking county, with the main towns more raucous than you’d think and a few bona fide classics.

Same proviso as with Beds, it might be two decades since I last visited these places, but I have made a habit of popping back to the very best pubs since I started this blog, and two of Berkshire’s best are also among the UK’s finest.

Aldworth – The Bell (last visited in 2016).

A classic village multi-roomed ale house, winner of CAMRA national Pub of the Year in 2020, serves Proper Beers (Arkells), with discussion centred on those pub classics of MCC membership and rheumatology appointments.

Reading – Nag’s Head (last visited in 2016)

Getting predictable here. Back street ale house with fantastic beer blah blah blah.

I nearly chose one of those Reading estate pubs that just serve Doom Bar but made the GBG so much fun a decade ago, before remembering just how good the Nag’s Head is.

Oddly, my only photo seems to be of people in the Nag looking worse for wear. What can it mean.

Binfield – Binfield Club (last visited 2018)

I think visiting a social club is an essential part of the UK pub experience, and perhaps Binfield is an essential part of your Berkshire holiday.

A classic family club, with games room, quizzes and a range of beers you’ve heard of that included an increasingly rare malty 6X on my visit.

The presence of my potential sponsor’s crisps in that shot is completely coincidental.

Windsor – Windsor Trooper (last visited 2021)

I do like Windsor, always a great night out, and the tourist pubs near that castle thing are better than you’d expect. Smart pubs, craft bars, brewery taps, backstreet boozers. But it was the Trooper that really impressed us with its riot of drunken racegoers, (“I’m thirty-three, I KNOW myself” said one Prosecco lady. “I already know you too love” said Mrs RM) and breweriana and quality beer.

Maidenhead Conservative Club (last visited c.2008), because you HAVE to visit the UK’s worst town, just to see that I (and Mrs RM) haven’t been lying to you all these years.

Really. Slough gets all the hate and “I can’t believe it’s so close to lovely Windsor” comments but it’s the ‘Head you need to heed, which would make a great tourism. Oh, avoid the red light district.

Right, over to you for a sixth. Votes for the Honeypot, or the Bear, will be forwarded to the authorities.

NB Top magazine too (as long as some idiot doesn’t set fire to it).

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

18 thoughts on “HALF A DOZEN PUBS FROM EVERY COUNTY. No. 2 – BERKSHIRE.”

  1. Happy Birthday Martin!
    Thanks for featuring Berkshire as your county on a special day.
    Thanks also for featuring Ullage, the magazine you like to set fire to! Sadly, there is no Winter 2023 issue as I have resigned as editor after 15 years and 73 issues. A new editor is needed – apply to secretary@westberkscamra.org.uk
    That’s Rich and Sam looking the worse for wear in the Nags Head photo! Rich is in the same quiz team at the Lion, Newbury, as me – a strong contender for Berkshire’s sixth pub. Sam brought a Strata hopped beer he had brewed as Baseplate Brewing to Rich’s annual party which went well with the sausages grilled in the garden over a fire. It was very smoky outdoors though on a windy night.
    BTW I think I met you in the Nag’s Head c. 2016 and from there you set off for a brisk walk to the Eldon Arms &/or the Retreat?
    Also spotted in the post is Will Twomey, in his beard era, at the GBBF on the cover of Ullage in the last photo.
    Come back to Berkshire soon. I know you need to visit the Elusive Brewing taproom.
    Cheers! Tim

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    2. Congratulations Tim, on your long service as CAMRA branch magazine editor.

      I know from personal experience* that it can be a thankless task, especially when no one else wants to take over the reins, so I don’t blame you for wanting to step down after all those years
      ” MMK Draught Copy ,- five years.
      West Kent CAMRA – Inn View, also five years.

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      1. Yes, ten years of researching and writing 70,000 words of Central Staffordshire pub and brewery news took a considerable amount of time but I don’t regret it.

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  4. Yes, the Bell at Aldworth is a jewel in the crown not just of Berkshire, but of British pubs in general. Some National Inventory entries can be somewhat lacking as actual pubs, but that one certainly isn’t.

    There used to be quite a few unspoilt Brakspear pubs in the centre of the county, but most have probably now either closed or gone gastro. One I particularly remember is the Crooked Billet at Honey Hill near Wokingham.

    Happy birthday, btw! 😀

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    1. You’re right about the unspoilt Brakspear pubs, though I mainly recall ones close to Henley over the border. Fairly sure the Crooked Billet has been GBG in recent times, though recent google reviews mention “devilled kidneys” and “pork belly”. As you’ve noted on your blog over the years, there’s a certain sort of better-off gentleman who prefers the simpler sort of pub.

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  5. With the equivalent of a week staying there I certainly know Berkshire better than Bedfordshire.
    I had weekends at Reading University in 1983 ( when Kentish Paul was there ) and 1986 and remember the Rising Sun as a proper Brakspears’s pub. I had a pint between trains in in the Three Guineas on my fortieth birthday.
    A 1992 night in Windsor didn’t offer any memorable pubs and two years later staying in Streatley on Thames had me over the river for the Catherine Wheel and the John Barleycorn.
    For visiting ICL’s headquarters at Bracknell in 1994 I stayed in the Admiral Cunningham but the highlight of that trip was the Draught Bass in the Blue Pig.
    That means nearly thirty years since I’ve spent much time in Berkshire. I must try to get out more.

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