Tag: Reading

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.

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….