please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Handy for station, very friendly, surprisingly quiet at lunchtime, good selection of beers.
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I hear that new people are running this people and that they are doing a great job, so please don't let my previous comment deter you from visiting today. :)
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Ignore the preceeding reviews. I first visited this pub as a 15 year old in 1972, when I was a Saturday boy at Woolworths. The main attraction then was the exotic dancer at lunchtime. Despite their evident lack of enthusiasm for their profession, they were a welcome attraction for a young lad. Since then the old landlord Tony has moved on - possibly to the great boozer in the sky and the pub drifted for years, becoming ever more tatty.
But in the last year it has been transformed, and is now arguably the leading real ale pub in Newbury. Completely refurbished and selling 7 real ales, it's a terrific boozer. I concentrated on the Good Old Boy from the local west Kennet brewery but also tried the Dogbolter from Tim Taylors. Both were very well-kept. The food looked a little pricey, but if you want a pasty or a cake the legendary Empire cafe is just across the road. This pub is a must visit for a real ale enthusiast, and is just a 250 metre stagger from the station.
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Unremarkable pub within walkable distance of the station. Nothing else to report really.
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Another month, another manager.
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New landlord at the KC. Pleasant chap called Vaughan who wears a continual smile. His good lady Angela will be joining him soon.
For anyone whose not visited for a while, the loos have been completely refurbished.
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in this pub fairly recently, seems to have been decorated (badly) since i was here last. gone is the cold blue and in with a very dark red, probably supposed to be warming but made the place feel a bit oppressive. staff seemed very interested in their phone rather than customers and the chef/landlord seemed to have lost his ability to smile and be welcoming. decent pint was had though and the majority of the clientele seemed happy and friendly. used to be a really good pub but seems to have lost some of the friendliness that it used to be known for. a shame!
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Looks like napkingate knocked the score down. I'm not changing mine but will say the staff have never been rude when I have been in, the landlord always seems friendly, the pints and food have always been of good quality (and not overpriced, nor as limited as this being Greene King would suggest), and Newbury - awkwardly, not over blessed with good pubs - benefits from this being near the station.
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Three women and two men are enjoying themselves in a busy pub -- the King Charles Tavern in Newbury -- on a Saturday night in April 2012. One of them, who happens to have been a once-a-week regular for the last five years, grabs a napkin to mop up a little spill. And to her surprise the landlord goes berserk. Why? Because the napkin was wrapped around a knife and fork. And as you know, it takes an awful long time to wrap up the cutlery in this way...
Okay... Hold on... Fair enough, you think. It *does* take time and energy to wrap those things up. Maybe we should have asked for some unwrapped napkins... If only there had been some of those lying around on the bar... But there weren't, and that spill *did* need mopping up quickly. So what's a girl to do?
... Well, anything but unwrap some cutlery, it seems. The landlord gets aggressive. We're taken aback. "Seriously?!" asks the once-a-week regular.
Apparantly so. We're asked to leave, which is disappointing given that we have full drinks and the night is young. But the landlord makes it quite clear that we are unwelcome in his shitty Greene King pub.
He arrives at this decision very quickly. You wonder if he would have made the same decision if he had thought it over for just a brief fraction of a moment. "Hold on..." he might have thought. "Isn't that the nice friendly girl who comes here every Tuesday night and shares a bottle of red with her friend and always orders food?"
No. Instead he tells us to leave. And as long as he's running the place, we'll never come back. Fuck him.
Please tell your friends to boycott the KC in Newbury. #newbury #napkingate
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I WILL NEVER RETURN TO THIS PUB.... Rude and abusive landlord for utterly no reason .... I was there with my wife and friends and were thrown out for using a napkin without asking.... Not even an exaggeration ... The place is a total dive.
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Awful toilets, probably some of the worst in Newbury.
Too small to be a pub and one of the bar maids always has a proper shitty look on her face.
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Went in this pub friday night. Atmosphere was good but only one barperson behind the bar most off the time, it was busy...........Although thay never stocked my drink it was a nice pleasant place 2 b. Btw there was no loo paper in the ladies tut tut tut
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Rough and ready town centre pub. I assume it's Greene King run, as their usual policy of IPA and Abbot being on and the guest beer being off applied here. The IPA was insipid bordering on undrinkable - ended up leaving half of it though not before being barged in the back by some buffoon carrying a pram in to the pub. If this is 'arguably the best pub in town' I'm so glad I don't live there.
anonymous - 11 Oct 2009 12:43 |
Arguably the best pub in town. Good beer, good food and first rate service. Consequently, it can get packed at times.
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Excellent food-a very pleasant change from the usual microwaved rubbish in the vast majority of the town centre pubs.
Good beer, nice wine list and a couple of open fires to sit by. Can get pretty busy (probably due to it being a small-ish pub) but it gets a big thumbs up from me
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