please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Had the place to myself at 7pm on a Monday Night.
Decent pub - in the Good Beer Guide. Most of the beers were from the Hop Back brewery. Ever going against the grain, I went for a New Forest Ale from Downton Brewery.
Decent visit blogged at http://bit.ly/2i4SbeS
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Quite a trek out from the town centre but a good range of beers and surprisingly quiet (perhaps BECAUSE it was so far out) on a Friday lunchtime.
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The Hop has been my local, on and off, for the past decade during a couple of periods living in Reading. During that time, I don't think it's ever made the good pub guide. Who knows why, as the quality of the (mostly Hop Back) beer is ALWAYS terrific, particularly the Summer Lightining which is more or less the house beer.
Maybe someone who has a grudge? Perhaps, as the Hop is frequented by a cast of characters who some mightn't take a liking to. But both my girlfriend and I love this place and the locals and it's one of the few things about Reading that I'll miss.
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A right bunch of oddbods and eccentrics in this here hole. This is also clearly where the jobless go when the Wetherspoons won't take them! Not to mention the overpriced ale selection. Avoid.
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Why on earth this pub is not in the Good Beer Guide I do not know - do the local CAMRA members have some petty gripe against it? It hasn't been in for about 8 years yet the ale is as good as ever. I go in every time I am back and am never disappointed by the quality of the ales - 6 Hop Back beers plus a Downton (this time their Imperial Stout at 9%). Superb.
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The GFB was excellent today and at �2.30 (special offer) was brilliant value.
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Went in on Wednesday afternoon in December. Worth the 10 min walk from town centre to visit this place. Tried the Hop Back - Heracles & Hop - Back Winter Lightning. Also there were other Hop Back brews and draught Cider.
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Great pub on the outskirts of the town centre. Large open plan area with a bar billiards table to one side.
8 pumps which yesterday featured 4 Hop Back beers, one guest and a cider. The GFB was a very reasonable (for Reading) �2.45.
Friendly locals, quick and polite service.
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Really enjoyed our visit again at the end of our pub crawl & the ale was excellent as ever.
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The most authentic unspoilt pub in Reading - although it does great ale there are no fudging yoghurt knitters in there.
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good pub five minutes up the hill from the horrible centre, has the entire range of hop back beers on, and two guests,
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Bit out of the way unless walking back to town from Chennai Dosa or Kathmandu Kitchen ?
Summer Lightening (!), friendly regulars, everyone knows everyone, so not a good place when you're breaking a relationship ...
But a big recommend for a proper local with good beer !
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Pleasant little pub. Newspapers on offer incl. The Telegraph, The Sun and The Times as well as a few local papers. Nice little library. Pub quiz machine, darts and bar billiards. Cosy. Entire Stout on offer during my visit and was much enjoyed!
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Not a bad pub. Very quite on my last visit and no Entire Stout available unfortunately. Worth a visit ,but not Reading's best and there are better Hopback pubs elsewhere.
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An old student haunt of mine; best pub in the area by far (and there's a lot of them). Very popular on Friday / Saturday evenings when there's usually a pretty good atmosphere.
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Great hospitable little pub.
Excellent Downton Chocolate Orange Stout at �2.70 per pint as well as nice Hopback range with GFB at �2.25 per pint.
By car one has to negotiate the tortuous Reading one-way system and parking nearby is not easy - but well worth the effort.
Will return asap.
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Update: This pub IS on the website but you need to click on the (unlabelled) red dot near Reading to bring up the details. Not very clear in my opinion - could do with a redesign.
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Wiltshire's Hopback Brewery's pub in Reading with a range of their beers plus a guest and 9 ciders. A few kegs but I didn't take a lot of notice with Summer Lightning et al being on offer. Basic non-descript d�cor with a mix of scrubbed pine and dark traditional furniture, with some pewlike benches arranged booth fashion. The brick built bar looks a bit naff but the beer going across it, served by on the ball staff, is nothing less than excellent. There is a bar billiards table at the back and a small narrow room to the side. A big screen lurks in one corner but looks like it's only wheeled out for the bigger sporting occasions. Mixed, friendly, clientele including a few oddballs.
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Thanks Quinno
That is the 'official' hopback site though isn't it ?? You'd think they would know which pubs they operated in Reading...
Got me worried it might be a 'phishing ' site now .. :-(
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It most certainly is a Hopback pub, unless they've changed it in the last week!
The Jolly Anglers, however, most certainly isn't. And never has been as far as I know.
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Have been to this pub a lot recently. It has great beers, serves pitchers with a pound off the price and has darts, bar billiards and outside seating. It's a nice comfortable pub but my experience has been soured after having a banknote stolen by the quiz machine.
This was no-ones fault, and shouldnt be a big deal, but the lady behind the bar kept saying "anyone can walk in and say that", so being made to feel like a fraudster lead to me and my friend feeling less than welcome.
A week later they discovered the note lodged in the machine when the engineer came (they phoned me) and still the woman said the same thing to me.
I, along with some of my friends, will not be going in any more unfortunately.
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Good range of Hop Back beers plus guests from Downton, can't say much more than that. Came in just as Jenson Button won the Monaco GP which was nice.
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I suppose you could describe this pub as an ordinary English pub, what makes it extraordinary is the 8 real ales on, 6 of them from the Hop Back brewery. An absolute must visit for fans of real ale.
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Tried out this pub for the first time a couple of weeks ago and really liked it. I was surprised how big it was inside and the real ale and cider were great. Will visit again!
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Now also serves two real ciders (Westons Scrumpy and Old Rosie) plus a Perry (Westons again).
Also check out the heat-based range of bar snacks!
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Good range of beer (especially Hop Back but also interesting guests), friendly staff, and a good mix of locals as well. Sadly we had already over-indulged at the Nag's Head before visiting, so our stay was brief. Will definitely pay another visit.
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Beer still excellent, good range on including guests from Downton brewery.
Often frequented by the University Real Ale Society and for good reason.
Darts board often in use and a warm community atmosphere inside. Quiz machine wants to pay, although it flickers something chronic, so don't put a quid if you�re epileptic. Bar Billiards table as well, which quite often gets used.
One of my favourites in Reading, worth the short walk from the town centre.
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Busy, welcoming pub serving the full range of Hop Back beers including Odyssey, which I hadn�t heard of and regret not trying, esp now I read HB�s interesting tasting notes (coffee & marmalade?). Reading is something of a concrete mess but cherry-picking the handful of pubs that are so rightly praised on this site makes a visit very worthwhile, although getting around the 4/5 best ones will certainly result in a hangover as you�d have to be very disciplined not to want several pints in each.
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Miserable old landlady now gone the same way as the cat, definately a more friendly experience for it too. Beer quality first class, would now wholeheartedly recommend.
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Well the former landlady has now left and been replaced by an Agency Landlord who is now making an effort to cater for the punters, without any cat kicking or door slamming antics! This is a great pub and now the p!ss paddling pool that made going to the gents an adrenalin sport, has been drained the old place is almost sanitary.
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One of the best, if not the best pub in Reading. Excellent beer, which is served at a cheap price too for Reading pubs.
anonymous - 12 Nov 2006 15:00 |
Mardy goat behind the bar whose face would turn the beer sour. A little bit of a hike out of the city centre but well worth it for the beer, not for service with a smile.
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Well the surly woman is still there and it's probably her name over the door along with the other two licensees.This pub always let down by its extremely smoky atmosphere...the worst in Reading..ok so there's the Hobgoblin. Smokers sit at the bar even at the place that says 'no sitting here.' Sort out the smoking/surly bar staff and this would be a fine boozer.
The pub serves good beer (note good - as it once would have rated excellent) but it is not a patch on its sister pub (The Duck Inn in Laverstock)
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The start of our Reading pub crawl last Saturday.
Got there 5 minutes before opening. Surly-looking woman opens the door bang on 12 and looks rather disappointed to see paying customers, eager for (as i have been hyping it up to my mate) a quality Hop Back brew.
Go in, pat resident cat on the head, order two GBF's and sit down. Surly woman disappears out the back, shouts "get out of the f*ckin way" and boots the poor moggy into the middle of next week, judging by the unholy howl it emits.
Surly woman returns 5 minutes later with sandwiches, sits at the end of the bar scowling at her platter and ignores us (which was a shame as we were debating the ins and outs of mystery shopping, a subject I am sure she could have contributed to) until we finish and leave.
In short nice place and great beer, ruined by atrocious customer service and atmosphere.
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My second favourite pub in Reading after the Hobgoblin.
Always has good beer and a friendly crowd. Has a bar billiards table so you can watch the students make the rules up as they go along.
Has been a bit smokey in the past and slightly dated seating. Excellent beer though and a nice mix of students and locals.
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Nice, comfortable pub with a good range of ales available.
blamm - 19 Apr 2006 14:15 |
Lovely pub indeed, Great beer (summerlightning mmmm), good snacks, late hours at weekends, bar billiards and just a 100yards from home. Nice.
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I like this place, the beers are great and well kept. It's definately a drinkers pub but none the worse for that.
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well smoky but the beer makes up for it, all mod cons, even darts computers for when the intake of excellent ales hampers the process of subtraction. a hidden beaut of a pub.
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To be honest I was a bit disappointed. I have visited Hopbacks pubs in South Wimbledon and Weymouth and enjoyed myself at both of them. Here was not as friendly, the woman (don't know if she was landlady but a young scottish woman with glasses) behind the bar was rude and customers very cliquey. Awful fruit machine which involved a 'pinball' type mechanism which makes you lose was there. Not the best Hopback pub there is
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Nice pub with darts and bar billiards. But for some reason I cant get on with these hopback beers. Fortunately they also serve Stowford Press cider - very nice! Fond memories as I saw Ireland beat England on the telly here in last years 6 nations!
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Nice place, cracking beers on tap include Erdinger Dunkel and Weiss. Shame about the smoke though
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A wonderful pub, excellent ales, good atmosphere, bar billiards, fine selection of whiskies if thats your thing, just an all round great place, 10 out of 10 !
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Great pub, one of the best beer selections in Reading with interesting guest ales plus HoffBrau!
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A sign on the door suggests that smoking "at the bar" is prohibited as from 1 Jan 2005. I went there last weekend & saw two old boys merrily puffing away with their ashtrays on the bar in clear view of all the bar staff. So, as far as this pub's concerned it's a case of "up yours" if you're a non-smoker & fancy a decent pint in clean air. A great shame, because the beer here is excellent. Maybe one day they will realise that non-smokers would visit more often, stay longer & spend more money if the place didn't stink.
anonymous - 12 Jan 2005 16:36 |
An absolute goldmine. Friendly atmosphere, excellent beer and very reasonable prices.
Bob - 13 Nov 2004 19:01 |
Went to the Hop Leaf on way to Reading v West Brom game in May. Great pub, friendly welcome, good food and wonderful beer - what more could you want!!
Tony Vass - 28 Jun 2004 11:36 |
This is my local and a great pub. Best beer in town, a CAMRA favourite and not at all strictly for wrinklies. Not since they put tellies in for the footie anyway - it attracts all types these days. My favourite Reading pub.
Justin - 21 Apr 2004 22:52 |
One of only a few beers tied to Salisbury's marvellous Hop Back brewery (think Summer Lightning), the Hop Leaf is a friendly local that caters for everyone. The newish management are having a real go at running a proper community pub, with raffles, a new menu and a pub football side. The best thing though is the beer. This place is always rated highly by CAMRA and should not be missed by anyone who really likes their beer. It's just fantastic.
Justin - 21 Apr 2004 22:50 |
nice firendly contry pub atmosphere but in the town centre. Great selection of beers.
julian - 29 Feb 2004 18:31 |
They have bar billiards. No idea how to play it, but great fun when your legless.
anonymous - 27 Jan 2004 11:11 |
Strange place, full of crusty old miseries crowded round their cribbage or something.
Strictly for wrinklies and crumblies.
PsychO - 16 Dec 2003 18:59 |
Excellent pub and always has well kept beer! Christine will remember your drinks order until the end of the evening.
I - 8 Oct 2003 19:45 |
This is a pub with proper beer (real ales from the Hop Back brewery) well served and with friendly bar staff - like a pub should be!
S - 20 Jun 2003 14:59 |
