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Category: Reading

Reading – The Hope Tap (JD Wetherspoon)

Hmmm, I appear to have been so distracted with other pubs that during my visits to Reading, I’ve only briefly popped into the two JD Wetherspoon venues in the town. And this is one of the only two photos that I have of the Hope Tap which I would have taken for Untappd.

The chain say about the venue’s name:

“The site of this pub was once occupied by the Hope Brewery which had its own pub, The Hope Tap. According to the earliest trade directory, 103–104 Friar Street were occupied by the brewery, but by 1860 the brewery had gone.”

This map is from around 1900 and the Hope Tap is located just below the BM, with that inner courtyard now being part of the pub.

I mentioned I had another photo and it is from my visit in September 2025. The two photos are nearly four years apart but are both of the same beer, the Titanic Plum Porter, which was just £2.28 a pint on my recent visit.

Anyway, onto the reviews to amuse me, which are around average for the chain.

“A nine year association with this once good pub is at an end. I have used £sterling over the nine years and a mix of English and Scottish bank notes without question. Tonight I handed over a Scottish £20 note, to have it returned with a stern warning, “although it states Sterling, we do not accept Scottish Bank Notes”, is this racism, it felt like it, I was person non grata. I politely refused to hand over Sterling in an acceptable format. Thank you, Hope Tap for the humiliation.”

Racism because they have stopped accepting Scottish £20s in their English and Welsh pubs because of the amount of fraudulent notes in circulation?

“Ordered food 10.59pm, kitchen closes at 11. Come to my work at 4.59 and we’ll honour that by allowing your vehicle into our workshop for whatever repair/maintenance required. Hope tap didn’t allow us to get our food, a man just came to our table and refused to make us the food ordered, and didn’t answer why, he just smiled and laughed. Pretty poor customer service. Use to love this place. Now I’ll just go hungry, or even better, pop to McDonald’s for a cheese burger, as they’ll always accept money for food no matter what time, or however late from closing time.”

This reminds me that for a while they had a situation where some JD Wetherspoon pubs took food orders until 23:00 and also closed at 23:00 which felt like a sub-optimal arrangement. I personally wouldn’t dare order on the app at 22:59, but each to their own.

“Ordered a Doom Bar and an IPA via the App, arrived at the table, and the kid said, “I don’t know which is which”, then turned to leave. I asked if he could take them back and re-pour them to know for sure, and he proceeded to return to the bar with them, wait 30 seconds at the end of the bar, then return with the same drinks pretending to know. I took them up to the bar, and after explaining to 2 highly confused staff, finally a bad tempered ‘manager’ came in and reluctantly proceeded to pour new drinks with quite an attitude. Par for the course, I guess.”

I’ve had this and it’s not ideal, but I’m not sure I’d send them back as that would admit that I couldn’t tell the difference by taste. But, once again, each to their own. The attitude is understandable in my view….

“i was out for the night with some girls on holiday from Denmark. when we got our drinks, we clinked our drinks together and said woohoo. the short bouncer was very aggressive and kicked us out without finishing, saying we were too loud”

Good, there’s too much frivolity in pubs.

“Organised trip to meet family on basis of Google including it as accepting dogs, but it didn’t.”

How is that the pub’s fault?

Anyway, enough of this excitement. They’ve usually got six real ales on and the prices are about the brand average, although that’s all towards the lower end of the scale.

I’ve rarely lingered for long in here, it can get really quite busy and I prefer the vibe at Siren’s taproom over the road and there are a fair few interesting Good Beer Guide pubs around as well. But, I’ll likely pop back at some point and I might remember to take a couple of photos to surprise and delight my two loyal readers.

April 29, 2026
Reading – The Back of Beyond (JD Wetherspoon)

Just meandering through my old photos and this is The Back of Beyond in Reading, operated by JD Wetherspoon. I visited in February 2022 and was mostly going to pubs in the Good Beer Guide, which explains the limited number of photos that I took in here.

As for the pub name, the chain explains:

“This pub stands on the site of a ginger beer factory, later used as a Salvation Army barracks, and takes its name from its location on the edge of town.”

I remember that this was an odd day as there were gale force winds and numerous venues weren’t opening at all, with all council buildings being closed. This pub is by the River Kennet and the chairs outside were blowing about so much that they were at risk of either losing them or one hitting a pedestrian. A team member calmly came in looking bedraggled from the gale to say the least and suggested “we had better close outside” in a rather understated manner. They certainly wouldn’t have closed inside.

As an aside, the beer is the Red Kite from Vale Brewery, but this was before the days that I wrote commentary on every beer as well as checking them in. Whilst I was there a member of the public was IDed by a polite team member, but they were aggressive and verbally abusive in response which created a bit of extra tension inside. I remember that the team members here seemed efficient and were evidently doing their best.

I remember that the pub was clean and seemed in a good state of repair, but I obviously couldn’t visit the outside area without the risk of being hit by a flying chair. There are some pubs that I visit that it’s the clientele that I worry about in that regard, but it was definitely just the weather on this instance.

Anyway, onto the reviews, with the venue being generally very well rated. The venue is still responding to reviews, which is a little unusual for the chain’s pubs.

“Me and my university friends are regulars at this spoons, my friends accepted a drink that we assumed is a gift from a family member. There was a mistake from the bartender who provided us with the wrong drink. And recognised the mistake and threatened us to be kicked out of the spoons if we didn’t pay, they went as far as stating that we have committed theft, when me and my friend rightfully asked him for his name he did not provide it, he was an older person with glasses. The customer service is a disgrace.”

Amazing how many reviews there are along the lines of “I assumed it was a gift from someone” when a customer has merrily gone and drunk something brought to the table in error.

“Myself & my husband have been regular customers for many many years of The Back of Beyond to eat & drink on Saturdays. We waited patiently at the bar to be served, lady behind bar said who was next & despite my husband saying it was him & putting his hand up she proceeded to serve someone else! We were clearly next as had been stood next to the lady she had just been serving. When we spoke up she said “don’t start anything” At this point we walked out. Needless to say we won’t ever return with that kind of treatment. Staff training in customer service is clearly required here!!”

To be fair to the bar staff, this sort of stuff is going to happen in a busy pub and this is why I like they have an app to order from…

“I’ve never felt so unwelcome by some of the staff here. My friends were celebrating my birthday and they called us out over a microphone for singing happy birthday. Im really disappointed in the service here”

I’m liking the pub even more.

“Got told off by the Quiz Master for singing happy birthday”

Yes, I’m on board with the pub now.

“You should review your age id identification. These days everything is checked online and no one’s carry an id after them.”

They carry an ID with them if they want to be served.

“People took over front part of pub by Office louder than your music on phone I played a little bit on my phone to be told it was too loud, but people can be louder. Brought food for 15 year old daughter with option of soft drink, choose alcohol free cider as in soft drinks, Girl brings drinks over and is Rude her words You got ID You got ID, not can I see ID Please. Also Law say she’s having Food she can have a alcohol free, Please educate your staff in UK Rules on this, Oh and to make us A Family feel even more uncomfortable in this Pub she when over to Bar to tell the other staff/ Managers of this, to which they end up staring at us the whole time in there. I no longer recommend this pub, not for families”

So playing music on a phone and then ordering non alcoholic beers for a 15 year old, it’s not going to end well….. I like JD Wetherspoon’s stance on both and their staff seemed very well trained on them to me.

Anyway, they usually have around eight real ales and it all seemed well run when I was there. The pricing is somewhere around the middle for the chain and it feels as if it has more of a student crowd in there. The venue had first opened in the 1990s and received an investment of over £850,000 in 2021 to modernise the pub, so I visited soon after all of that work was completed. If I go back, I’ll get some more photos to surprise and delight my two loyal blog readers….

April 27, 2026
Reading – Three Guineas

This is the only Good Beer Guide pub in Reading that I haven’t been to, as I had a rather comprehensive stay in the town a few years ago. There’s plenty of history in this Grade-II listed building, which was constructed to be the main entrance and booking hall to what was then known as Reading General Station. It was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel between 1865 and 1867, but the station was reconfigured in 1989 with a new entrance and this building was turned into the Three Guineas.

The real ale selection was extensive although it’s all quite mainstream and it didn’t seem entirely well curated as they’re missing some beer styles here with some heavy duplication. The welcome was immediate and friendly, with the venue being relatively busy with mostly mainly weary looking commuters just arriving back from London.

I went for the Lavender Hill from Sambrook’s Brewery which I hadn’t realised I’d had before a few years ago, but it was well-kept, clean tasting with a floral and sweet flavour to it. The pricing was towards the higher end of the scale, but not unreasonable.

I wasn’t looking to eat here, but there’s a relatively extensive food menu and there’s an open kitchen which always gives me a feeling of some confidence.

This is the main room of the station’s former ticket office, but it’s not that spacious although there are plenty of external seats available. The pub wasn’t that clean, the team members were ignoring the fine array of empty glasses on tables, surfaces were sticky and it didn’t feel that loved. The venue was reconfigured and redesigned in 2017, although it feels just a little tired now.

The history of the pub name.

I rather suspect that this venue is clinging onto its place in the Good Beer Guide given the choice that there is in the town, but the beer was well-kept and the surroundings were comfortable. I like the heritage of the building, although that’s perhaps a little understated and I’m pleased to have visited, I’m fairly confident that they were doing some construction work when I last came to Reading and that’s why I didn’t visit.

September 4, 2025
GWR + South Western Railway : Reading to Farnborough (Delayed and Cancelled Trains)

After a rather pleasant few days in Reading, it was time to return to the railway station and to try and leave. In the centre is the Three Guineas pub which was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, although as a station building rather than a hospitality outlet. On either side is Reading railway station, much developed over recent years following the arrival of Crossrail. I was conscious in advance that this journey would be at least slightly challenging, as GWR had cancelled trains and issued a “do not travel if you can avoid it” notice, although I couldn’t much avoid it.

My rail ticket was for Farnborough North, which is a short direct journey operated by GWR, but the rail network was faced with a large number of cancellations and delays given the weather situation. GWR told me online that I could use any route to get to Farnborough, which adds some excitement to proceedings to work out what is possible. It transpired that the direct line to Farnborough North didn’t re-open for 24 hours, so waiting for that service would have been a mistake, I’d need to loop around into the main station in Farnborough.

I went and asked a staff member how I could get to Farnborough and he said that it was best to go via Basingstoke. I mentioned that the line from Basingstoke to Farnborough was seemingly closed, so after a little conference and debate with a number of other staff, the friendly staff member said that it was indeed currently closed but they were very optimistic that it would reopen soon. He agreed that although it was possible to go into London and back out, that was a much longer route, involved crossing the city and was on the same line as Basingstoke to Farnborough anyway, so it’d be open or shut whatever way I went.

So, I thought that I’d go to Basingstoke. There’s not a huge amount of jeopardy here really, in a worst case scenario I could have got a taxi (although I’d have recalled the cost for some years no doubt) and wouldn’t have been entirely stranded. I’m not sure that I’ve ever been to Basingstoke, but it seemed the best plan that was available. As an aside, one of the many unfortunate outcomes of the destruction of the rail network in the 1960s was that many lines were removed that would allow passengers to divert around any issues. Fortunately, the situation in this part of the country still allows that flexibility, otherwise my journey would have been impossible by public transport. It seems as fast as Network Rail staff were removing trees and branches from lines that more were falling elsewhere, so it was a challenging day and a reminder as to why they pro-actively cut down trees near to railway lines (even if that does annoy the locals sometimes).

It wasn’t an overly busy train from Reading to Basingstoke and it was running nearly enough to schedule. A guard was checking tickets, although he seemed to be just making very cursory checks.

It seemed a shame to be in Basingstoke and not go and pop into the town for a little bit. I went and asked the member of staff at the gateline if I could pop into Basingstoke and she seemed surprised that anyone would really want to do that, but she willingly let me through and thanked me for asking.

And there’s the station, a modern frontage constructed in 2012 hiding the older building behind it, which I’m not entirely sure is that aesthetically pleasing.

A slightly blurry photo unfortunately, but these the bushes outside of Basingstoke railway station. This will mean little to anyone unless they have heard the story told by the comedian James Acaster about his time there, but it’s a tale that is worth listening to. It felt quite an honour to be in the same location, or at least in the same area, I didn’t climb into the bushes.

The same staff member at the gate line let me in after my sojourn around Basingstoke and it transpired that the information provided by Network Rail was complete nonsense. I thought I’d better just ask a staff member and he said that they had abandoned trying to get Network Rail data to match up, so the screens were mostly wrong, but they’d make clear announcements to assist passengers. He told me where to wait as the service I had hoped to catch wasn’t running, and it transpired the information that he gave was correct. There were plenty of customer service staff about, I thought that they were dealing with the problems with trains with some confidence and accuracy.

This screen was vaguely up-to-date, but nearly every “please enquire” was for a destination where the trains had been cancelled.

I was faced with the potentially confusing situation that I needed a train to London Waterloo, but only the 17.34 stopped at Farnborough, so I had to avoid the one at 17.31.This was made easy as they shifted my train to another platform and there were frequent announcements.

It’s always a relief to see any form of public transport which is the one that goes to my final destination and here’s the South Western Railway thunderbolt coming into London.

It wasn’t very busy and passengers could have an entire carriage to themselves if they wanted.

I’ve often wondered what people have tried to plug into these power points in the past to warrant stickers saying laptops only. I remember an edited sign on a train several years ago which said “no microwaves”, so I can only imagine that someone tried that once.

A fair bit after I was meant to arrive, here we are. As a station, it’s a little quirky as there was once a central platform island, but this has now been removed, and more about that in another post.

The exterior of the station building at Farnborough.

And welcome to Farnborough, late, but safely there. Given the mess that the railways were in because of the storms, I thought that the whole situation was handled well by the rail companies and it all added a little adventure to my day.

February 21, 2022
Reading – Reading Museum (Arm Bone)

And another post about things that interested me in Reading Museum.

A bit of bone this time. This is what most people do on a Saturday isn’t it? Go and look at bits of bone in provincial museums? If they don’t, then they probably should.

It’s a woman’s arm which dates to the medieval period that was found in the 1890s, near to where King’s Road and London Road meet in the town. I’ve managed to spend (or waste, depending on how you look at it) thirty minutes discovering that there is a lot of nonsense written about where the leper hospital was in Reading, as it wasn’t in the abbey precincts as numerous writers have suggested. It was likely located to the east of the abbey, near to where the Hope & Bear public house is located today and the hospital was constructed between 1131 and 1135.

There’s already a problem though, it was thought that the leper hospital was for men only, so they shouldn’t be finding a woman’s arm here, but the cemetery might have been for those suffering from a wider set of ailments. The copper had been bent around the woman’s arm which have likely been covered with an ivy leaf dressing.

But, all that aside, I thought that this was quite intriguing, the bone of a woman from 800 years ago or so, likely who only coped because of the generosity of the abbey who felt that they should assist those with leprosy (although help them from some way away, as there was a fear of it spreading).

February 20, 2022
Reading – Air Raid of 10 February 1943

Reading was mostly free from air raids during the Second World War, with one tragic exception which is marked by this plaque next to St. Laurence’s Church, when 41 people were killed on 10 February 1943.

The plaque is located in the gap visible in the centre of the photo between the church and the house and there’s a lot more about the events of the day at the website of Reading Museum as well as an interview with the late Michael Bond, the creator of Paddington Bear.

This isn’t a particularly clear image, but it shows the damage in front of the church and is what was used in the Reading Standard to report the incident. It’s actually a little odd, as the Reading Standard must have been operating with some censorship limitations as they had to explain that the bomb had hit a “Home Counties town”, but I think it’s fair to say that most people reading the Reading Standard would be aware which town it was, but perhaps they wanted that a secret kept from the Germans. Focusing on the positives in terms of the swift return to normal, the newspaper reported, still not naming the town:

“A number of people were killed and injured in a hit and run enemy raid on a Home Counties town, with several men and women still unidentified. The raid was soon over. One of the bombs fell in front of a church, partially wrecking it and adjacent office buildings. A police constable on street duty nearby was killed outright. Other victims included people who had rushed into the church when the enemy raider came over”.

Part of the damaged church, from the main tower, which is now in the churchyard. This could have easily been destroyed or ended up being flogged off to a private collector, I like the foresight that someone had in securing it at the rear of the church.

The plaque is just visible towards the left of this photo, an understated reminder of the tragedy that happened on that day. The German planes had tracked the railway line and had already attacked Newbury, with the bombing of Reading likely a failed attempt to hit the town’s railway station.

February 20, 2022
Reading – Reading Museum (Crossrail Helmet)

And continuing with my irregular series of posts about what I liked in Reading Museum.

Yes, it’s a helmet and I’m justifying an entire post about this, and not even to please my friend Liam who I think craves more content about civil engineering. But this is what will likely transform Reading and although Crossrail trains already reach Reading, the full service across London isn’t yet in operation as it stops at Paddington Station. There was no inevitability about the line going to Reading and that was only confirmed in 2014, with earlier plans having the service terminating at Maidenhead.

I’ve seen a lot of exhibits relating to railway mania in the middle of the nineteenth century and items were often kept by forward thinking individuals as they knew they would be seen as important for future generations. The National Railway Museum in York has huge piles of such exhibits in their stores and the railway did transform many towns and cities. Crossrail reaching Reading will also likely mean that the authority can justify another wave of house building in and around the town, given how easy it will be to get the service into the centre of London and beyond.

So, although this might be one of the most intrinsically dull exhibits in the museum, in 100 years I’ll wager (and I’m not at risk of paying out here) that this helmet is still in the collections as a reminder of the transformational moments in Reading’s transportation history. This post is definitely a flight of fancy, but there we go…..

February 20, 2022
Reading – Ibis

Not to be confused with the nearby Ibis Styles hotel, this complex was built on the site of the Boar’s Head pub and also contains a Novotel. But Novotel is a bit expensive for me in the UK, I’m not back in Poland now to afford that sort of decadence….. The welcome from the staff member was, well, memorable and she was so enthusiastic, but full marks for that, it’s nice for staff to make an effort. The staff member mentioned she saw my Accor profile asked for rooms higher up, but she said on this occasion she was going to give me a lower floor as they were banging about higher up with the ongoing refurbishment programme. I very much liked her “if there’s absolutely anything we can help with, just let us know”, it reminded me of Christian from Channel 4’s Hotel series (he ended up in prison though, I have much higher hopes for the kind staff here). There was a WhatsApp number that anyone could message and I’m a fan of this, I hate phones (they’re very last century) and I prefer messaging complaints using text based services, not that I had any on this occasion…..

It’s reassuringly brand standard and that’s by no means a negative comment. Clean, functional and the same as most other Ibis hotels. The window opened, the television was modern (I actually turned it on to cast Only Fools and Horses to it from my Britbox account) and the temperature was just as I wanted it.

The bar and lobby area, this is nicely done given the space that they’ve got available to them. The atmosphere was cosy and I liked listening to the conversation of the Polish guests nearby. Not in a nosy way, as I struggled to have a clue what they were talking about, it just reminded me of Poland, which anyone who reads this blog occasionally (and few read it regularly, so I’ll take the occasional readers) will know I frequently miss. They do offer a basic menu of food, although there is so much competition locally that I suspect they don’t have many takers.

The welcome drink of London Pride and this is OK with me, it’s a nod towards having a proper beer and not offering me Bud or Corona.

“We kindly ask you not to be alarmed”, seems a reasonable request.

There was a blandness to this hotel which I found really quite reassuring, it’s a corporate and peaceful location and I didn’t have any noise issues either internally or externally. The customer service was excellent, a friendly welcome which made me feel welcome, and the prices are towards the lower end of the scale. The management felt competent, the surroundings were clean and everything seemed in its place, other than I had no idea where the stairs were to reception and got caught having to take the lift.

I’d stay here again (and probably will) and there’s more about the hotel here.

February 20, 2022
Reading – Ibis Styles

The reviews of this Accor hotel in Reading are, being honest, dismal and they’re sitting at 3.2 out of 5, which is about the sort of territory that the dreadful hotels operated by Britannia are running at. I wasn’t expecting the most decadent of stays, as there didn’t seem much that was pointing in the right direction for this hotel.

On the morning of the booking, the hotel phoned me, and unusually I thought I’d better answer as I didn’t want to discover that my hotel booking had been cancelled. It was the hotel asking if I really wanted two rooms, and I replied that I didn’t, but it seems that Accor took a duplicate booking due to a technical error. I should have noticed this as they did email me, but it was easy to miss and the booking didn’t duplicate on my future Accor bookings which I would have seen. Anyway, the staff member was really quite charming and said the hotel was happy to cancel one room, I just needed to phone Accor.

And Accor were bloody dreadful. They said they couldn’t do anything about it, although they were polite whilst being annoying. This is the problem with this awful global call centre operation that they have, their call handling staff have no discretion or flexibility. If the call centre for each country was actually within the country in which their hotels were, then their call staff could have a much more personal relationship with the hotels they’re meant to be serving. In short, Accor said they couldn’t help as they had no way of contacting their own hotel. I mean, by phone I would have thought was a possible way, but apparently call centre staff aren’t allowed phones. I wasn’t best pleased with Accor at this stage.

Anyway, I phoned the hotel back and the wonderful lady I had been speaking to answered and she clearly wasn’t going to accept this sort of nonsense from Accor. Within about three minutes an email came through from Accor confirming the cancellation of the duplicate room and the hotel called me to confirm that they’d fixed it. My impressions of the hotel had now firmly shifted from sceptical given the reviews to really liking their customer service. As an aside, Accor should have a set-up which allowed them to do this, but I was just pleased that it was all resolved.

It’s an interesting building, it’s an old hotel that was originally known as the Ship and then became the Royal County Hotel.

And here’s the plaque at the hotel’s entrance to prove it. The member of staff at check-in was personable and helpful, giving me all of the information that I needed about my stay. At this point I was really struggling to establish why they were picking up so many bad reviews.

In the area at the base of the stairs, I can’t imagine when this would have last been used for coats, but it felt like part of the hotel’s history. The hotel is old and so there are windy and twisting corridors all over the place, I thought it was all quite charming.

I stayed at this hotel twice and was given the same room on both occasions, it was Indian themed and that seems to be a throwback to before it became an Accor hotel. The decoration was quirky, but the room was clean and comfortable, so I was still wondering why the reviews were poor.

The bathroom which wasn’t exactly modern, but it was clean and functional.

The welcome drink arrangement is unusual, it’s offered by the Indian restaurant that now seems to be separately owned, but was once the hotel’s main restaurant area. On the first occasion a staff member asked what beer I’d like and an interfering manager behind said “it’s Cobra only” which was an unnecessary intervention I thought as I’d already said Cobra would be fine. On the second occasion, I asked for a Cobra and was surprised to see I was being given the much larger bottle. The interfering manager looked horrified, but the bottle was already open before he could stop it. There’s clearly a customer service issue here, but I’m not going to blame the hotel for that.

As the hotel’s breakfast room now has an Indian restaurant in it, there’s a free takeaway bag offered, which unusually includes a refrigerated carton of milk instead of some odd slightly chilled UHT arrangement. I thought that the breakfast was entirely adequate and there’s a room where guests can get free coffees and teas at any time, although these facilities are also in the room.

The customer service throughout at the hotel was impeccable and the staff here were as good as I could have expected at a higher end Accor property. Indeed, I very much liked this hotel, so I felt that a closer look was needed as to why so many other guests were annoyed at their stay.

“If I could rate this 0 I would. The worst hotel I have ever stepped foot in. Do not waste your time or money. Staff are rude and their customer service is appalling. All rooms are awful, they were that bad I made other arrangements to stay elsewhere as I physically could not stay there. Shocking”

This review is from a couple of days before I visited. All the rooms are clearly not awful, but I’m puzzled how one person manages to find all of the staff rude whereas the four staff that I encountered were all very customer service focused.

“Probably the worst hotel I’ve stayed in, and i travel a lot. Broken shower holder, so water went everywhere . Water either very hot or cold. Very squeaky floor boards. Dated room and had to keep my shoes on when moving about. A-lot of drunks in the hotel keeping us awake during the night and close to the main road so also kept awake by local traffic. If you want a cheap room for a night out and don’t care where you sleep this is ideal. If you’re with your family then I suggest elsewhere. Definitely won’t recommend to anyone.”

It is possible that this is why I had a different experience, or at least to some degree, as the room they gave me was at the rear of the hotel and near the end of a corridor, so I was far away from any noise. But perhaps I just got lucky….. There are also several reviews annoyed that no tea and coffee facilities were included, but my room had a kettle and it’s not as though I was upgraded to a suite.

I do have some history with this hotel, as they cancelled a booking on me last year, which was disappointing, but it was a fair way in advance of the booking. They tried to transfer me to the nearby hotel but there was a mess-up with the bookings and I just gave up, which is partly why I came back this time. I’d be surprised if they remember those interactions, although I found the staff helpful then as it wasn’t their fault they were closing, but maybe they wanted to be helpful after the problems of last year.

Either way, I liked this hotel and would happily return. It is though an older building and the set-up is old fashioned given that, it reminds me of the Ibis Styles Croydon which has a similar old hotel arrangement. For anyone who likes new and shiny, there’s the Novotel and Ibis hotel which is just around the corner, so something for everyone (or nearly everyone).

There’s more information about the hotel here.

February 20, 2022
Reading – Reading Abbey (Burial Place of King Henry I)

Monarchs have had a variety of outcomes with their burial surroundings, as many found themselves buried in buildings that were torn down following the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Several are buried in France, such as William I, and some such as William II were fortunate that their burial location in Winchester Cathedral has been left relatively intact. Richard III ended up under a car park before his recent move to Leicester Cathedral and some such as Richard II got lucky and are at Westminster Abbey.

King Henry I, the son of King William I, died in France and was brought back to Reading Abbey, which he himself had funded. He died on 2 December 1135 and it’s said that this was because he ate too many lampreys, which isn’t an ideal way to go. His body took some time to be brought back to Reading, but the grand funeral took place on 3 January 1136. The great and the good turned up for this, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Winchester and the Bishop of Salisbury to name just a few. And he would have remained buried here with some grandeur if it wasn’t for the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the ultimate destruction of the abbey buildings.

And there’s no happy story here about finding King Henry’s remains in a car park, although that’s actually potentially where he is. His burial site is now used by a school and there is a car park, so stranger things have happened. People have looked for his grave, but it’s likely long gone, probably shattered soon after the Dissolution from pesky locals wanting to have a peer into what remained. There’s a stone plaque here now which is dated 1921, although was heavily restored recently so it looks modern. During the recent restoration work the archaeologists did think they might have found the former Monarch’s grave, but it transpired to be a religious burial that was from a later period. There’s a chance that King Henry is under the Victorian school, but it feels excessive to take the school down to have a quick look, although I suspect some historians would think it was a sacrifice worth making.

If King Henry could look down on the current arrangements, I think he’d be annoyed. He financed one of the grandest abbeys going, bigger than some cathedrals today. His grave would have been pride of place if the building had survived, something of a tourist attraction and it would have likely been given a lovely big slab of some expensive marble to put him under. But, history went another way, and his remains are lost, but at least not forgotten. But I don’t think that he’d think that the situation is ideal.

February 20, 2022