please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Now the Royal as previously commented. Recently under new management, this time by someone with plenty of experience in the trade which should help the new changes. On recent visits it has always been friendly with a good example of pub banter going on! Has pool and darts, tv's (but not intrusive) and the food I've had has been superb at very reasonable prices. I'd thoroughly recommend popping in - it's a world away from how it used to be.
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Advertising real ales but don't actually have any (yet?)..
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The Polish pub has shut but we undestand that the old Battle Inn will re-open soon as The Royal.
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The Battle inn has re-opened but it is a POLISH PUB now
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This pub has now opened as a Polish pub and i popped in last week for an afternoon drink and i must say it is lovely inside now. I did not eat but someone was having some food and it smelt lovely!
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New pub will be called Gospoda, which is also listed on BITE.
I too anm looking forward to giving it a sample, I hope they do well. The Nags Head has proved beyond doubt that turning a dump round into a must-visit venue can be done, even if you're on the Oxford Road!
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Its not quite open yet, and the signs say it will also be a restaurant, I must say I'm looking forward to it
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Now re-opened as a Polish pub.
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Being turned into a 'Polish Pub' - good luck to them.
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Currently boarded up, future uncertain.
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I like The Battle. Yes there are an assortment of drunken oddities that drink there, but I found it friendly and a great laugh with a killer bee juke box.
I am somewhat at a loss to understand what some reviewers want from a pub. This place has character and good beer. I'd much rather spend the evening in a place like this than a plstic, anodyne wetherspoons any day of the week.
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Spot the green painted building with iron bars over every window. If you don't like real ale, enjoy the company of drunken Irishmen and don't mind leaving with bloody-nose, black-eye or in a coffin (if you're really lucky), you'll love this pub!
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Good fighting Irish pub
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Battle inn...... Battle out !!!! if ya want a good fight ......... heres ya place
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This is the local watering hole for the dregs of Reading. If you want to meet just-out-of-the-bog Irishmen then heres the place for you. Its caters for those with serious alcoholic problems, you know, the drinking never eating tramps, the sort you see on benches on the Oxford Road. The toilets are middens, the staff are rough as you like. I made sure to use a handkerchief to wipe the top of the glass before putting it to my mouth. Demolishion is its only way to go....preferably while the clientele are still inside
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What can I say about the Battle Inn, cheap if you want a late night drink and a dance without going into the town centre and you're drunk, really bad if your sober on a fri or sat night. During the day is quiet. I used to frequent every weekend due to the cheapness but i ended up avoiding a punch up every time. You can however get the local shoplifters to nick to order when they enter this place which is a unique idea.
anonymous - 3 Feb 2007 13:20 |
I entered and exited this place so drunk my eyes were rocking back in my skull. Don't remember much apart from a celtic influence, were Clannad playing? probably not.
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Sort of oirish. Sort of craic, sorry crap.
No ales whatsoever.
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Some really negative views here.....but I have been to the infamous Battle Inn on a few nites out and in particular really enjoyed the late friday and sat nite disco !!!!.....very 1970's style iwht great music, great atmosphere and a very friendly bar staff...quick service and great guinness !!
I admire the staff for creating a great traditional atmosphere and yes it's a bit rough but hey when you have an atmosphere and a few eccentrics propping up the bar.great music and a friendly atmosphere...who cares about the decor or lack of refinement...may be I 'm just getting old though ha ha
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I took this place on as part of a Reading boys drinking day, you know the "lets drink in the worst pubs in town type affair", I was pretty far gone by the time we got here so some of my recollections may be filtered via drink. However you look at it though, this isn't a good pub, it's not rough, i doubt the regulars there are in any condition to start a fight, unless its with themselves, the beer was rank i do know that, I've not been back but I go past it on the bus most days and it doesn't look better in daylight.
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I can't believe this place is still open; it's been utterly dire for decades. It genuinely is the worst pub in Reading, even worse than the Alfred�s Head round the corner which if I�d been in there first I would have said was impossible, I wonder if you can give a pub negative points because it's very existence ruins the business of nearby pubs. For example I didn't drink in the Butler, 300 yards away, for years because I thought it would be like the Battle Inn.
Let�s go for the review here, the beer is poor to vile, the pub actually smells, and I�m not talking flowers here, it smells unclean or soiled. I shudder to think what the toilets must be like. Apparently it does sell food, again I shudder. The regulars, or clientele, whichever you prefer don't look like ABC1 punters and can frequently be found staggering round outside the pub swearing at passers by.
Seriously this pub ruins the area it's in and the area will never improve until this pub is closed and preferably bulldozed out of existence.
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oh noooo, not the battle inn. I simply won't drink in there again. The place is so bad that a beer there is an almost traumatic experience. You might get flashbacks or something. Its got a sale sign outside it now, which has been there for ages. Never a good sign that.
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Why is this place still open? I've only drank here twice, once by accident and once because i couldn't believe it was as bad as i had remembered it. Awful place. Grim dark almost fetid atmosphere, poor beer, surly service and from what I could see of the regulars, I could tell that I wasn't in the presence of the berkshire glitteratti set. Avoid.
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Dreadful pub, less in need of the attentions of an interior decorator than an arsonist. I can't see how this pub can be redeemed, it's on the wrong site, the building is delapidated, the regulars are barely human and the quality of service and product leave vest amounts of improvement to even be called poor.
It's been on sale for the last two years and i can't see anyone being daft enough to take it on as a going concern. One for the pub "X" list, knock it down.
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My husband and I were landlord and landlady at the Battle Inn from 1976/77.......when we went there it was a rough pub, but we managed to clean the place up and had some very nice customers....how sad I am to see that it has gone back to how it was.
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A truly regrettable establishment by reputation. I have been to some of the roughest pubs in Whitley and Coley where individuals flanked with brawling scars parade their love of violence. Where the landlords are proud of the bloodstained carpet and upholstery.
In comparison to the Battle Inn, give me the bloodstains any day.
anonymous - 16 Jan 2006 12:30 |
I agree with the review below totally - Auschwitz was more fun than this. If you like trouble, drunken bores and a clientale that make gary glitter seem a good bloke by comparison then the Battle Inn is your cup of tea. Bloody awful pub. Even the Carousel in Whitley was upmarket next to this!
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Shockingly bad pub, claims to be the best Irish bar in town, which is one of the biggest lies in the history of pub advertising. Terrible beer, terrible decor and terrible regulars. The sooner this place is knocked down the better.
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