Black Horse, Readingback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
One of the best pubs I have ever visited! Beer is very good, rolls are the only food but very good. Welcome is super friendly and all the other customers are so lovely.
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Seems to be a non-premium phone number: 01491 680418
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Totally agree with previous comments and reviews - this is a fabulous old pub but ! - it is not in Reading. It is not even in Berkshire. It is up a narrow country lane in the vilage of Checkendon in Oxfordshire and off the A4074 some 10 miles north of Reading. Can somebody in BITE please change the details so that it is at least in the right county.
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My Local (I wish) . I have nothing to gain from these comments . Do try. Its and absolute pleasure in everyway.
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What absolute pleasure to visit this family run pub very welcoming and friendly . Beer was excellent lunchtime baguettes where perfect . Also it has felling of time travel about it well worth a visit.
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I'm not saying anything good about this pub because that might encourage too many people and we love it just the way it is. PS: lovely bacon baguettes last time we were there...
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A national treasure, and I can't believe I haven't heard more about it before. For best effect, try finding it without any modern gimmickry.
The feel is like one of the handful of remaining parlour pubs, but it's more akin to the Bell at Aldworth than those pubs in West Wales run by octagenarians.
Apart from the domestic style and outside toilet, I particularly liked the pricing (�3.14 and �3.16, cheap for the area); the beer was good but not great.
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Beautiful and homely, give it a try if you can find it.
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Found this place by chance whilst out on bikes with my brother a few years ago. Stunned - it was like stepping back to the 1930's. The two ladies 'running' the bar, both wearing jodphurs, were slightly surprised to see us and we were the only people in the place. Two pints of ale (I can't remember which), two cheese sandwiches, we sat on the old cracked leather sofa in a bare and slightly cold room, happily taking in the ruralness of it all.
As we cycled off into the early May evening, I still wasn't sure what year it was - until I saw a car in Checkendon.
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As has been said before - this is a superb pub in the true country inn traditional. However - please be aware that it is a good 8 or 9 miles north of Reading and you will need a car to get there. It is in Oxfordshire despite the RG postcode. Don't let this stop you getting there though as it is well worth seeking out.
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utopia. west berks brews direct from the cellar casks, open fires, silence, food-free and suitably hard to find, if you seek features such as plasma tv, sports channels, juke box, bingo, kegged beer, dj, piped muzak et al, stay well away. the Horse is as it would have been found 200 years ago and epitomises pub perfection: embracing pub fundamentals of hospitality, beer, cosiness and atmosphere effortlessly. A gem and one of only a handful of its type left on the planet
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utopia. west berks brews direct from the cellar casks, open fires, silence, food-free and suitably hard to find, if you seek features such as plasma tv, sports channels, juke box, bingo, kegged beer, dj, piped muzak et al, stay well away. the Horse is as it would have been found 200 years ago and epitomises pub perfection: embracing pub fundamentals of hospitality, beer, cosiness and atmosphere effortlessly. A gem and one of only a handful of its type left on the planet
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When I was young, this was how pubs were. Chaucer understood them, as did Shakespeare, Dickens, Mann and Chesterton. What a pity big brewers and daft tarts with home economics degrees don't. Bless you, honest innkeeper. Your beer's too cold but your heart's in the right place.
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The "Black Horse" came as a great and welcome surprise and shows that pubs that have been managed by the same family for a long time tend to be the best. Easy conversation in the bar with locals and owners, first rate West Berkshire beers and, on warmer nights, enough benches and tables outside to find somewhere to contemplate the trees and quiet countryside. Yes, there is no real food option (except occasional sandwiches I understand), but if you're not after a meal, it would hard to fault this rural pub. Certainly enough local people seem to value it very highly.
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Have to agree whole-heartedly with previous reviews. Have been coming to The Black Horse for years and it is one of the most characterful pubs i've ever been in. These types of pub are sadly a dying breed (I thoroughly agree with one previous reviewer's comments about The Bell at Aldworth being of a similar type) with antiquated methods and fittings, but in a world of chain pubs, continental lagers and juke boxes it is a blessed relief to go back in time now and again.
Most of the ales have to be fetched from the cellar upon being ordered, the gents' toilet is outdoors with no roof and the urinal is really just a wall with a trough, the indoor seating areas are more akin to a living room than a pub and the pub itself is not the easiest to find for the uninitiated (particularly coming from the Wallingford side) being as it is down some country lanes that don't immediately promise much in the way of life. All these features add to up to the make The Black Horse a true hidden gem and one that should be treasured and preserved for as long as possible
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An unspoiled country pub in a hard -to-find narrow lane. Completely unspoiled by modern intrusions of any sort, The Black Horse is a veritable time-warp. Quinno's description of the outside gents' toilet is quite accurate! I think the open fire in the small front bar must be a real treat on a cold winter evening.
We were made very welcome this lunchtime and our small party - the only customers - enjoyed the West Berks and Butlers beers until long after the nominal 2pm closure time. Very friendly indeed.
Food was simple - filled rolls with a choice of cheese, ham or beef.
A total gem. Visit before it becomes a gastropub, or gets a makeover. One of a vanishing breed.
Cheers,
AR
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A wonderful pub with a lot of character, seems to be very 1930's in character and detail, but I guess the building is much older than that.
Three separate rooms inside; spartan main bar, along with two plush lounges further down, which one suspects were proper pipe-smoking rooms a few years back. Very nice.
Beer available is usually a choice between Butlers and West Berks, served well, along with some excellent pickled eggs! Check out the wooden till, too.
Outside is a nice place to sit (front or back garden), in the front garden you can cross over the road to have a chat with the long-haired Aberdeen Anguses in the field.
Gents are a comedy outside affair, a right git in the winter.
A super country pub and well worth a visit - combine a stop here with a trip to the Bell at Aldworth, you shouldn't be disappointed.
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Fabulous pub. Like going back fifty years (without the smoke).
The pub did close at 3:50 on a bank holiday afternoon, which I found a bit strange. Not as strange as the Americans found it, they having walked out from Checkendon and arrived five minutes after it shut.
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This is a pub with character, good beer and food. A great area for walking and cycling, welcoming.
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