Mine's a Pint Issue 55

THE MAGAZINE FOR READING AND
MID BERKSHIRE BRANCH OF THE
CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE
IN THIS ISSUE...
PUB NEWS
BREWERY NEWS
ABBOT COOK TO
ZERODEGREES
THE OUTHOUSE BREWERY
& MORE...
FREE
The Ale Trail Returns!
Authors Evelyn Williams, David Cliffe and John Dearing at the book launch of Abbot Cook to
Zero Degrees - An A-Z of Reading’s Pubs and Breweries. Photo by Christopher Widdows
ISSUE FIFTY FIVE WINTER 2021/22
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Branch Diary
All meetings and social events are relaxed and friendly. Nonmembers
are welcome to all events except business meetings.
Check the website before setting out in case of any lastminute
changes. www.readingcamra.org.uk
If you are planning to arrive at a social more than 30 minutes
after the start time, please email to confirm where we are.
Social Secretary: Christopher Hinton
social@readingcamra.org.uk / Telephone: 01189 873203
Branch contact: Katrina Fletcher
contact@readingcamra.org.uk / Mobile: 07794 019437
This is a guide only and the Reading & Mid Berks Branch
cannot be held responsible for any loss due to the alteration
or cancellation of any of these events.
FEBRUARY 2022
Saturday 12th: (14:00)
Annual General Meeting
Meeting at Griffin Function
Room, 10/12 Church Road,
Caversham, RG4 7AD.
CAMRA members only,
please. Followed by pubcrawl.
Monday 28th: “Of the Year” Selections. Close of voting for
POTY, COTY and cider POTY.
MARCH 2022
Tuesday 1st: (20:00)
First Tuesday of the month
social, Fox & Hounds, 51
Gosbrook Road, Caversham,
RG4 8BN. All welcome.
Saturday 5th: (12:00-16:00)
Ale Trail launch, at the
Retreat, 8 St John’s Street, RG1
4EH. Come along to collect your
booklet (£2 cash only) and your
first sticker. This is also the only
opportunity for swapping your
2020 booklet for a 2022 booklet for
FREE. All welcome.
Contact Us
Useful contact details for this magazine,
CAMRA and other important things…
Mine’s a Pint Circulation: 3,000.
Outlets: Over 70 across the region.
Editor: Zoë Andrews
editor@readingcamra.org.uk
minesapintrdg@icloud.com
07985 199101
Magazine published on behalf of
Reading and Mid Berkshire CAMRA
by: Neil Richards MBE at Paper Red
Media
01536 358670 / 07710 281381
n.richards@btinternet.com
paperredmedia@outlook.com
Printed by Zenith Media, Units 9-13,
Pontyfelin Industrial Estate, New Inn,
Pontypool. NP40DQ
www.zenithprintgroup.com
Reading & Mid Berkshire CAMRA
www.readingcamra.org.uk
Contact for all other branch matters:
Katrina Fletcher
contact@readingcamra.org.uk
0779 401 9437
Local Trading Standards
From time to time, drinkers receiving
poor standards of service or poor
quality products may wish to raise the
matter with Trading Standards. You
now need to do this through Citizens
Advice, an organisation which provides
free, confidential and impartial advice
on consumer issues.
To contact Citizens Advice Consumer
Service call 03454 04 05 06 or visit
www.citizensadvice.org.uk and click on
Consumer.
The next issue of Mine’s a Pint will be
published in early Apr 2022. Please
feel free to submit any copy or ideas by
start of March and you could see your
name in print!
The opinions expressed in Mine’s a Pint
are not necessarily those of the editor or
the Campaign for Real Ale. © Campaign
for Real Ale 2022.
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Saturday 19th: (12:00)
Social hosted
by SWM
CAMRA branch.
Maidenhead
pub walk led by
Steve Goodall,
meeting at the
Lord Grenfell, 22
Oldfield Road, SL6 1TW. All welcome.
APRIL 2022
Thursday 7th:
(20:00)
First Thursday
of the Month
Social. Ale trail
pub crawl,
meeting at the
Castle Tap, 120
Castle Street, RG1 7RJ. We will move on at
20:45 to more Ale Trail pubs. All welcome.
Tuesday 19th:
(20:00)
Branch Meeting
at the Allied
Arms. CAMRA
members only.
MAY 2022
Thursday 5th:
(20:00) (TBC
by A Hawkins).
First Thursday of
the Month Social.
Ale trail post box
(8 to 9pm) at the
Butler, 85-91
Chatham Street, RG1 7DS. All welcome.
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From the Editor
Welcome to the winter edition of Mine’s A Pint.
It’s mid-January as I write this, so Happy New
Year and I hope you’ve all kept as safe and well
as possible in the ever-changing circumstances
in which we find ourselves once again. And, I
sincerely hope that by the time the next issue
is being pulled together, as spring positively
comes upon us, life will be finding its way back
to something a bit more familiar.
As stressed previously, thank you all for
your support of our local pubs, breweries
and producers. It all counts and it is more
critical than ever. We are very fortunate to
have a thriving beer scene across Reading
and Berkshire, and on the other side of this
pandemic, we want it all to remain standing.
There is lots to share in this issue. We have
an update on local brewery news thanks to
Phil Gill and a return of the Ale Trail which
is fantastic to see. The Ale Trail is the event
that better reacquainted me with the Reading
and Mid-Berkshire branch when I returned to
Reading seven years ago and it’s good fun. If
you are interested in this, please also review the
Branch Diary kindly pulled together by Chris
Hinton - a couple of the events listed are Ale
Trail friendly and will allow you to tick off and
drink at the pubs on the trail.
We have an update on pub news from Evelyn,
information around how to become a beer
tasting panellist (and we really would love to
have more of you doing this in our branch), and
the return of the CAMRA official beer festivals.
Moreover, we have some features to share.
First we have an interview with the authors of
Abbot Cook to Zero Degrees, a brilliant tome
of a book that is a must-have for any pub fan
and anybody interested in local history. We also
have an interview with Peter Rhodes of The
Outhouse Brewery over in Wokingham, where
he shares with us how his brewery came about
and his hopes for the future.
Wishing you all a safe and healthy time ahead,
seeing you all on the other side of the clocks
going forward.
Correction to MAP 54
Zoë
Editor, Mine’s a Pint
editor@readingcamra.org.uk
With regard to the article on ‘Beer Mat
Collecting’ by local CAMRA member and
writer Paul Dabrowski:
As part 1 of the article appeared in MAP 53 and
was inadvertently reprinted in the last edition
ahead of the intended part 2 (delineated by the
solid black line on page 26), it meant that the
illustrations for the latter were wrongly placed.
Consequently, those on page 22 should have
appeared on page 26, that on page 23 ought
to have been on page 27 and those on page 25
should have been on page 28. Apologies for any
confusion caused.
Contents
Branch Diary & Contacts: 3
From the Editor: 5
Pub News: 6 - 8
Brewery News: 10 - 12
Ale Trail 2022: 14 - 15
Could you be a
CAMRA tasting panellist: 16
Book launch
at Zero Degrees: 18 - 21
It’s Festival Season: 22 -23
The Outhouse Brewery: 25 - 27
Join CAMRA: 30
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Pub News
Caversham
The Fox and Hounds in Gosbrook Road is
open all day everyday. They run regular tap
take overs and a recent event was the ‘Elusive
Brewing x Thornbridge Beer Launch Takeover’
on 21 st January. Landlord Kevin Durkan tells
us that they
have featured
more Double
Barrelled beers
than any other
pub and sell
more Siren
Craft than
anyone outside The Fox and Hounds
of London. Since the beginning of Covid they
have run 14 events featuring breweries such
as Arbor, West Berkshire, Wild Weather and
Kernel Brewing. More events to come will be
publicised on their Facebook page.
June The Hawkmen and 20 th August CODA - a
tribute to Led Zeppelin.
Reading
The Horn in Castle Street has been closed since
June. Star pubs decided not to renew their
lease with the property’s owner, Broadway
Inns. The ceiling
has partially
collapsed in the
Grade II listed
building. Sandra
and Alan Bleek,
who subleased
the pub from
Star Pubs said
The Horn
they were sad to leave the pub which was one
of the last “proper boozers” in Reading. They
still run The Turks and The Queens Head in
Reading as well as The Angel in Woolhampton.
Playhatch
The Flowing Spring in Playhatch has announced
they are doing their bit for the environment by
experimenting with a new food waste scheme.
Their idea is, “...to check with customers when
they order their
meals whether
they want all
the components
listed on that
menu item.
Nationally, the
most popular
elements left on a The Flowing Spring
plate are bread, salad and surplus chips. If you
tell us what to leave off your plate (or reduce in
quantity), we’ll knock 50p off each menu item
to which it applies. If we collect clean plates,
we’ll knock a further 50p off. It’s a way of
saying thank you for giving some thought to
your food and the processes involved.” They
have also invested in a biodigester that turns
food waste into compost. Lots of live music is
planned for 2022 and some dates for the diary
are: 2 nd June Ray Gelato and the Giants, 4 th
June Ultimate Elton and the Rocket Band, 11 th
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The Jolly Anglers closed at the beginning of
January for another refurbishment. There will
be work taking
place inside the
pub as well as
the garden area.
Xhemail Zequirile,
who has owned
the pub since 2019,
told the Reading
Chronicle that there
will be substantial
changes including
moving the kitchen
The Jolly Anglers
as well as new electrics and a new water system.
The inside of the pub is not due to open until
4 th March but the beer garden will open at
weekends.
After a substantial refurbishment, there is a
lot going on at The Retreat in St Johns Street.
They hold regular quiz nights; the next are on
9 th February and 9 th March. Live Jazz music
with Stuart Henderson, Simon Price and guests
took place on the afternoon of 30 th January.
A cribbage tournament is going ahead on

20 th February and their annual pickled onion
contest is on 27 th March. There is also a Bloody
Mary contest on 9 th October. Beers available on
a recent visit were Timothy Taylor Golden Best
3.5%, Otter Amber 4.0% and Titanic Plum
Porter 4.9%. The Retreat has been listed in The
Good Beer Guide 2022.
The team at the The Nags Head on Russell
Street will be turning 15 on 19 th February and
they are in the process of planning a celebration
of some kind (restrictions permitting). They
have also taken receipt of their 1000th different
craft keg beer and it’s currently in the cellar
potentially awaiting their birthday.
Although primarily
a shop, The Grumpy
Goat in Union Street
(better known as
Smelly Alley), is
now serving food
and drink on the
premises. Grilled
cheese sandwiches
are available between
12 and 4pm as well
as cheese, coffee and
charcuterie boards. The Grumpy Goat
You can also enjoy a beer with a corkage fee
of £1.50. They held a wine tasting evening at
beginning of December and there will be more
to come in the future.
There are changes afoot at Sweeney & Todd
in Castle Street. The famous Reading pie shop
will be transforming to become more takeaway
based and some of the property will be converted
into flats. Plans submitted still include a ground
floor dining area. All proposed changes are
subject to planning permission being granted.
Admiral Taverns
have put their pub
The Pheasant in
Southampton Street
up for sale. There
were several attempts
by Reading Borough
Council to close
The Pheasant
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the pub after repeated license breaches but it
was allowed to remain open after review in
December 2020. New management was one
of the requirements for the pub to continue
trading and since then Covid measures have
been put in place and a banned list has been
created. There is 1,595 square feet of space
including the car park up for sale.
Development of the former Coopers Arms in
Market Place, that closed in 2010, and the
surrounding Bristol and West Arcade has been
changing course since planning approval in
2018. Latest news is that the plot will become
a hotel and restaurant, and a new pub will be
replacing the old Coopers Arms site.
The Outlook in Kings Road have refurbished
and reopened their downstairs area as Bar 77.
They hold
regular live
music nights.
Events include
an open mic
night and also
the Singer
Soup Kitchen
where three
special guests
The Outlook
perform. They have also hosted comedy nights
and on the 19 th February they are holding a
drag competition. Pool and Shufl are available
to play and there is a selection of canned craft
beer.
Swallowfield
Siren Craft Brewery have taken over their first
pub; The George and Dragon in Swallowfield.
They are not planning on changing much about
the pub but
have updated
the food and
wine menus.
They have
kept on the
existing team.
Siren Craft The George and Dragon
beer is available on the cask hand pumps, keg
lines and also cans in the fridge.

Twyford
The Waggon and Horses in Twyford hosts
a regular quiz on Wednesdays, starting at
7:30pm.
The Waggon and Horses
Entry to the quiz is £3 and food is available
for £8; often a curry or chilli option. They
serve beef, lamb, chicken or vegan roast on a
Sunday from 12-3pm. Two regular beers are
Fuller’s London Pride and Harvey’s Sussex
Best Bitter and there are two rotating pumps.
They are open all day except Monday when
they are closed and Tuesday opening is at 5pm.
Food is served 5-9pm on Tuesdays, 12–9pm
on Wednesday to Saturday and 12–3pm on
Sundays.
Waltham St Lawrence
In December The Bell in Waltham St Lawrence
started folk sessions on the first Thursday of the
month. They are looking for singers or fiddle,
bouzouki
and bodhran
players to take
part. It starts
at 7:30pm
and welcomes
all levels.
The Bell’s
house bitter
The Bell
is Loddon Hoppit and they also have four
constantly changing beers. A large range of real
bag in box ciders are available including Lilley’s,
Gwynt Y Ddraig and Weston’s. Their wine list
is an ever-changing list of over 30 choices.
The menu is regularly revolving but some past
examples include Roast onion squash with
braised lentils and tahini and Hake, chickpeas,
tender stem broccoli & salsa verdi.
Evelyn Harrison-Bullock
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West Berkshire Brewery
Has New Owners
Following going into administration just before
Christmas, West Berkshire Brewery has been
taken on by The Yattendon Brewing Company
Ltd., a company wholly-owned by Yattendon
Group PLC (Yattendon Estates).
for the brewery. In the last quarter of a century
West Berkshire Brewery has built up a good
reputation for its beers, winning over 45
awards including many from CAMRA, and it
sounds as though the new owners want to build
on its local focus and continue to improve. We
wish them all the best.
The brewery was originally set up in 1995 by
Dave and Helen Maggs, who sold it a while
ago. Since then it’s expanded and moved site
several times, most recently to a former dairy
already belonging to Yattendon Estates in
2017. Yattendon Estates have now taken on the
assets and brands of the brewery, including the
tap room and kitchen.
Edward Iliffe, the group chief executive of
Yattendon Group, said: “We were excited
to be more involved in the West Berkshire
Brewery, who produce a great product based
at the Renegade Brewery in the heart of the
village of Yattendon. We saw the acquisition as
an opportunity to add to the range of quality
products owned and produced on the Estate.”
The flagship Good Old Boy, together with other
beers including Mr Chubb’s, Maggs’ Mild and
Renegade lager, are sold in local pubs and
restaurants as well as in Waitrose stores and
Fortnum and Mason in London.
Image from Double-Barrelled Brewery website
© Double-Barrelled
Double-Barrelled
As an antidote to Dry January, Double-Barrelled
launched a new table beer ‘Tischtennis’. This
2.8% ABV offering is soft, light and juicy. Dryhopping
with Mandarina Bavaria, El Dorado
and BRU-1 gives notes of sweet oranges and
tropical fruit, and a spritzy base makes it really
refreshing, with more flavour than you might
2021 was a tough year for West Berkshire
Brewery. In addition to financial troubles, the
company was accused of “multiple accounts
of homophobia, sexism, sexual harassment,
a disregard for staff’s mental and physical
wellbeing and a significant disconnect between
senior management and the rest of the
company” by a group of employees who called
themselves the WBB Renegades.
We hope that the change of ownership signals a
fresh start and the beginning of a new chapter
Double Barrelled taproom
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expect from 2.8%.
Brewery tours with tastings are on offer on
Saturdays at 1pm. They last about an hour,
during which time you’ll be guided around
the brewery, including an explanation of the
brewing process and how the new recipes are
developed. Afterwards comes a tutored tasting
in the taproom featuring four Double-Barrelled
beers.
Elusive
November 2021 saw a record sales month for
Finchampstead’s Elusive Brewery with 109 hl
sold (that’s just over 19,000 pints). This made
up a large part of around 700 hl total for the
year, which was a 50% volume increase on
2020 despite the lockdown in the early part of
the year. Founder Andy Parker’s aim for 2022 is
to find a new home in Wokingham (or expand
in the current Finchampstead location across
the road from Siren Craft), add 2-3 full time
staff across sales, logistics and production and
continue to build upon the sustainable growth
achieved to date.
A collaboration between Elusive and
Thornbridge, ‘Superuser’ (a 7.0% ABV red
IPA) was launched at the Fox and Hounds
in Caversham on 21 January, when both
breweries took over the cask and keg lines for
the evening.
Since January the heated, indoor Elusive
taproom has been open from 12-6pm on
Fridays and Saturdays.
Loddon
A new farm shop has opened at the brewery
in Dunsden Green, packed with the best local
products, from bread, meat and cheese to
fantastic spirits, wines and ciders. And all the
Loddon beers too, naturally. This also means
that the taproom is back, offering cosy, indoor
drinking for these cold winter months.
The tapyard at the brewery is the perfect place
to enjoy the freshest cask beer straight from the
source and, if you haven’t visited for a while,
you’ll see some major changes and upgrades.
It’s on this year’s Ale Trail, so why not take the
opportunity to have a look?
The new farm shop at Loddon
Image from Loddon Brewery website
© Loddon Brewery
Phantom
After taking a well-earned break in January, the
team at Phantom are back with new brews and
the taproom in Meadow Road is back open to
serve them. Friday evenings, Saturday all day
and Sunday afternoons are the usual opening
times, but check social media for any updates.
The tap room at Elusive
Image from Elusive Brewery website
© Elusive Brewery
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Rebellion
In 2021 Rebellion brewed 436 times, made up
of 3,447,000 pints plus 805,000 bottles filled
on the bottling line. Having won gold awards at
SIBA (Society of Independent Brewers) regional
competitions, draught Overthrow and bottled
Lager will progress to the national finals held at
the SIBA Beer X exhibition in March 2022 – we
wish them the best of luck.

Looking forward, the brewery plan to restart
public and members’ open nights in the spring
(Covid permitting), while a new small pilot
brewery should be up and running in late
February. This is a smaller brewing kit that is
integrated with the main kit. The development
brewery will share the mill, grist case and mash
pump with the main brewhouse, and be heated
using the main thermal fluid heating system.
Wort from the development brewhouse will be
sent to the new 500 litre fermentation vessels.
The aim of the development brewery is to trial
new beers and produce one off speciality beers
in small batches that will be made available for
the shop and the Tap Yard.
Normal production schedules see Koh-I-Noor
on sale in March – this is a 4.5% ABV India
Pale Ale. Then from April Eton Boatman
should follow on – a 4.3% ABV golden ale.
Phil Gill
Free delivery from their online shop is available
within a 20 mile radius of their home in
Marlow (this covers Reading and most of the
surrounding area) with a £30 minimum order.
See rebellionbeer.co.uk/brewery-shop/freebeer-delivery
for a map of the delivery area.
Siren Craft
Brewery Tours are back and there have been a
lot of developments and improvements to the
brewery in Finchampstead since tours last ran
in early 2020. The tour route now includes
new kit like the malt silo, outdoor “massive”
tanks and information on the science behind
nitro beers. Tours run at 12, 2 and 4pm on
Saturdays and the easiest way to get there is on
the Reading Buses Leopard 3 route.
Windsor and Eton
The ‘Unit 4’ brewery tap has proved a success,
hosting regular quiz and music nights as well
as the members’ only ‘KnightClub’ evenings.
Members get discounts in the shop (both
physical and online), priority booking for
special events and, most importantly, the
chance to attend up to six members’ evenings
a year where the beer is plentiful and free. New
members also get two litres of cask beer and a
KnightClub t-shirt – see shop.webrew.co.uk for
more details.
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Ale Trail 2022
The Ale Trail is back for 2022!
The much-loved Ale Trail organised by Reading
& Mid Berkshire CAMRA is back. After Covid
forced the 2020 trail to be abandoned part-way
through, and another lockdown scuppered any
chance of a trail in 2021, it’s been a long time
coming but the wait is almost over.
The 2022 Ale Trail follows the tried and tested
format of 24 pubs in and around Reading. How
it works is like this. Visit each pub, drink some
real ale, cider or perry, and collect a sticker. Put
the stickers in your booklet and, once you’re
done, send in the booklet for a chance to win
one of several great prizes.
It all starts on 5 March with a special launch
event at the Retreat, St John’s Street, Reading.
The pub opens at midday and the launch event
runs until 4pm. Come along and collect your
booklet (£2 – cash only) and your first sticker,
and enjoy the atmosphere in this newlyrefurbished
backstreet local.
We know that people were upset that the 2020
trail had to be abandoned as the country went
into its first lockdown, and only a few people
had completed the trail by then. To make up for
it, the great news is that if you bring along your
2020 booklet on launch day between 12-4pm
you can swap it for a 2022 booklet for FREE,
no matter how many or how few stickers you
managed to collect.
The pioneering Ale Trail in 2002
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If you can’t make the launch event, booklets
will be available to buy while stocks last at the
Retreat, Nags Head and Alehouse. You have
until 15 May to complete the trail, so there’s
plenty of time to get out and explore.
After a drink or two in the Retreat, why not
see which other Ale Trail pubs you fancy
visiting on launch day? The full list is under
wraps until closer to the date but here are a
few highlights. You could wander across the
river to Caversham and call in at the Fox and
Hounds (pictured) with its six handpumps and
13 craft keg lines. Perhaps you fancy heading
south to the University, where the Park House
bar is taking part in the trail. Or maybe jump
on the bus or train to the farthest-flung pub on
this year’s trail, the Crispin in Wokingham.
instrumental in setting up the very first Ale Trail
in 2002 (pictured) and that trail, featuring only
15 pubs, grew over the years into one of the
most successful in the country. It’s fair to say
that the Ale Trail wouldn’t be what it is today
without Dave and this year’s trail is a tribute
to him.
Cheers, Dave. We miss you.
Phil Gill
The Fox and Hounds in Caversham
on this year’s trail
There’s an old saying that “there’s a pub for
everyone” and the Ale Trail is a great example
of that. While you’ll like some of them more
than others, you’re bound to have a favourite
and maybe even discover a pub that you’ve
never visited before… but you certainly will
again!
Covid has hit the country’s pubs hard and we
need to show them that they have our support
– and what better way to do that than to go out
and visit all the pubs on the trail? This seems
especially true this time since we lost one of
our long-standing CAMRA branch members
to Covid in April 2020. Dave McKerchar was
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Could you be a CAMRA Tasting Panellist?
Now is a great time to join a CAMRA Tasting
Panel and help with the fun task of assessing
the UK’s real ales.
CAMRA is looking for more members to
become taste panellists and help develop our
tasting notes for the Good Beer Guide and other
publications, as well as helping nominate beers
for the Champion Beer of Britain competitions.
Tastings can be done in groups or individually
and training is given.
So, if you like trying different beers, can give
around 2 hours each month and commit to
taking part in online (or in person) training,
please email volunteer.services@camra.org.uk
(please include your membership number).
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Book Launch at Zero Degrees
22 nd September 2021
Dearing, David Cliffe and Evelyn Williams
have worked collaboratively on a huge project
to write a book that documents every pub and
brewery that has ever existed in Reading. This
has been no small undertaking, and the passion
and detail that is shared within the book,
demonstrates just how much the local authors
have been dedicated to this cause.
Late September 2021 saw the launch of a
brilliant piece of work. Between them, John
I was fortunate enough to be there for the
launch (and buy a copy of the book!) and it is
the perfect accompaniment when visiting any
pub in Reading, giving you the opportunity
to learn more about the pub you’re in and
its history. On the launch night itself at Zero
Degrees, there was a lovely crowd of local
CAMRA members, pub landlords, bar team
members and managers, folk from the Reading
Civic Society and Lead Councillor for Culture
and Heritage Karen Rowland, among many,
many others.
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I’ve been able to put some questions to the
writing team behind the book to find out more
about this project. Read on to discover more
and find out where you can buy your copy.
For anybody who loves Reading and pubs, this
book is an absolute must-have. Whose idea was
it to begin the project and where did the focus
for this type of book come from?
John Dearing: Some of the material goes back to
the late 90s when I produced a booklet for one
of the early Reading Beer Festivals on Berkshire
breweries. Then in 2004 I was commissioned
by a publisher, eventually renamed the History
Press, to produce Reading Pubs, which came
out in 2009. I collected far more information
than I could use in that book and conceived the
idea of an encyclopaedic book on the subject
covering every pub and brewery Reading has
known. In 2017 the History of Reading Society
expressed interest in publishing it and Evelyn
and David volunteered to help.
How long has it taken to build this book, from
start to finish? What was the hardest part to
build?
John Dearing: For my part about 22 years but
shorter in the case of my co-authors. Some of
the really demanding work was undertaken by
Evelyn who transcribed the results of the 1903
Pubs survey and David who searched through
old title deeds in the Berkshire Record Office,
as well as preparing the maps and index.
David Cliffe: I first became involved in mid-
2017.
Evelyn Williams: Same for me, 2017.
What resources have been the most valuable to
you when writing the book?
John Dearing: I used mainly the material in the
Reading Local Studies Collection, along with
my own library and internet resources.
David Cliffe: The Reading Board of Health
Plans in the Berkshire Record Office, which
pre-date the large-scale Ordnance Survey, and
mark and name the pubs and beer-houses; these
were compared with the O.S. and with the old
street directories.
Evelyn Williams: I concentrated on the 1903
survey of licensed premises in Reading Local
Studies Library but I sometimes searched the
British Newspaper Archive too. Coverage of
the annual licensing sessions, when public
houses had licenses renewed or refused, was
especially useful.
What have been your individual roles within
this project?
John Dearing: Devising the format, collecting
oral information, and finally assembling the
material in an (I hope) readable format.
David Cliffe: Going through “The Hop
Leaf Gazette,” the house journal of H. & G.
Simonds, Reading’s largest brewers, in the
Central Library; looking through the indexes
to property deeds for inns and breweries in the
Berkshire Record Office, and examining a few
of the more interesting documents; working out
which buildings on the maps were occupied by
pubs and producing a set of maps for the book
to show them; producing a street directory and
an index for the book; collecting illustrations
for the book, from which the three authors
could choose; liaising between the printer,
the other two authors, and the History of
Reading Society over costs, and proof-reading;
organising a book launch at the Zerodegrees
Microbrewery, and after consultation with
other committee members, inviting the guests
[it was very successful]; warehousing and
distributing the copies from home, and running
a postal service for people who don’t live in the
area.
Evelyn Williams: I transcribed the 1903
survey of licensed premises which covered
Reading before the 1911 boundary extension
when Caversham and parts of Tilehurst were
included in the borough. This helped to build
up a picture of each public house and the street
and area they served at a point in time.
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19

What was the most surprising thing you learnt
about Reading’s pubs when pulling this book
together?
John Dearing: Just how many of them there
have been down the ages, and most of them
now just ‘History’!
David Cliffe: How many of the pubs changed
their names: what previous writers had assumed
were two different pubs sometimes turned out
to be the same pub with two names.
Evelyn Williams: I was surprised how many of
the 1903 licensees also had other occupations
such as a coal merchant at the Victory on
Bedford Road and a cattle dealer at the Lion
on Great Knollys Street. I especially liked
Anna White who had been licensee of the
Oddfellows’ Lodge on Caversham Road for 33
years and although the pub didn’t provide any
refreshments, she allowed workmen to have
meals in their dinner hour in a room at the rear.
Do you have any further plans to follow up
with any other books about Reading’s pub
scene?
John Dearing: I think I’ve probably shot my bolt
now, except perhaps for an occasional short
article on the subject. I’ve just self-published
another book on missionaries connected with
Reading and have further ideas for books on
Reading’s Christian heritage.
David Cliffe: No – though I have two local
history books nearing completion which I hope
to get published in 2022 – one about Reading,
and the other about Macclesfield, the town
where I grew up.
Evelyn Williams: No plans for any more
books about pubs but it is difficult not to keep
collecting little snippets about Reading’s pubs
and breweries when I am researching other
subjects.
Of the pubs that are closed and feature in the
book, which ones do you miss the most and
why?
Rupert Street Pub - photo by Laurence Hansford
Where can people find the book stocked in the
months ahead?
John Dearing: It’s stocked by The Fourbears
Bookshop in Caversham, Reading Museum
shop, and can also be purchased direct from
the History of Reading Society. In addition, the
Retreat has sold about 20 copies.
David Cliffe: People wanting to have copies
sent by post should send me an e-mail message,
and I’ll tell them how they can pay, and will
then post off the book or books. It’s £12 in the
shops, or £13 by post, including postage and
padded envelope.
E-mail davidcliffe438@btinternet.com
John Dearing: Cambridge Arms, my first
Reading local for nearly 20 years, a real urban
village pub where everybody knew everybody
else. The Greyhound, another Katesgrove
local with an amazing character named Bill
Mowbray at the helm – its demolition for
housing development was scandalous.
David Cliffe: There aren’t any, really, though
there are pubs I used to frequent which have
changed so much that they are no longer so
attractive to me. My after-work pub was The
Blagrave Arms, frequented by journalists and
post office workers, where you could have
an interesting conversation, and perhaps my
favourite was Butler’s, when run by the Butler
family. It seemed full of interesting characters,
they let me have a look in the ladies-only
bar before they closed it, and I still have an
unopened bottle of Butler’s “Mountain Wine”
as a souvenir.
Evelyn Williams: I have only lived in Reading
since 1998 and I really wish that I had visited
the Greyhound on Mount Pleasant more often.
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20

Pubs (and hospitality in general) have had a
tough couple of years, how do you think people
can best support them in the years ahead?
John Dearing: John: There’s a popular saying,
“Use it or lose it”, and that’s still true. Bit
difficult of course when the pubs are shut for
months on end as in 2020-21.
David Cliffe: I agree with John.
Evelyn Williams: I agree with John and David.
Any final thoughts from your experience
writing and pulling together this book, that you
would like to share?
John Dearing: I think our collaboration worked
very well because we had clearly defined roles
within the researching and writing process
and also met a number of times to review
progress. I think that’s essential for a successful
collaboration.
David Cliffe: I agree with John – the three
authors had known one another and seen
examples of each other’s work in the past, and
had no doubt that the collaboration was going
to work from the outset. The business of selfpublication
was interesting. It made a lot of
work, trying to get publicity, organising the
launch, finding shops that would take the book
without taking too much commission, etc. –
but it meant we could have the book just as we
wanted it, and any profit we made went to the
History of Reading Society, who had funded
the publication. Within a couple of months
of the launch, we had broken even, and seem
likely to make a decent profit.
Evelyn Williams: I was really pleased to be
asked to help with the research on this project
and seeing it all come together to a successful
launch last September. As John says we had
defined roles but were able to come together
once in a while and we all shared in the selection
of the illustrations in the book.
Zoë Andrews
Mine’s A Pint
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It’s Festival Season
CAMRA events are back!
CAMRA’s beer festivals are back and gearing
up for a return to your area, after an almost
two-year hiatus due to the coronavirus
pandemic.
In March 2020, when the first lockdown
started, CAMRA official events were
suspended for the safety of members and beer
festival lovers and in line with government
regulations. Now as we begin to return to
more normal circumstances and restrictions
are lifted, branch beer festivals that have been
18 months in the making are welcome to open
their doors once more.
I am sure we have all missed the social benefits
of a drink with friends and look forward to
meeting up with loved ones and fellow branch
members over a pint.
Forthcoming festivals include Farnham Beer
Festival 2022 on 7- 9 th April at Farnham
Maltings, Bridge Square, Farnham, Surrey,
GU9 7QR.
We can also confirm the return of The Reading
CAMRA Beer & Cider Festival on June 23 rd -
26 th . It will be at Kings Meadow and further
details are yet to be confirmed but we will
share them as soon as possible. Please keep
a close eye on our dedicated festival website
which you can find at:
www.readingbeerfestival.org.uk
To see the latest calendar, check out CAMRA’s
‘Festival Season’ landing page at:
www.camra.org.uk/festivals
We can also look forward to the return of The
Great British Beer Festival in August 2022,
after missing out on CAMRA’s flagship event
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22

for two years – keep an eye out on the national
CAMRA channels for updates!
Things may look a little different at your
favourite festival - national CAMRA and
local branches are introducing rigorous safety
schemes to make sure our local festivals are
Covid secure. It is paramount to ensure all beer
festival attendees are happy and feel safe and
comfortable when visiting beer festivals, and
processes have been put in place to ensure this.
The updates to festival health and safety
documents include that a coronavirus risk
assessment be completed during the festival
planning stages, as well as ensuring all festival
volunteers receive additional induction,
information, instruction training and
supervision in light of the pandemic.
Other safety procedures include:
• Specific cleaning / sanitisation plans and
glass guidelines
• Contactless payments where ever possible
• Tickets sold in advance of all sessions
• Use of Track & Trace
• Specific guidance for volunteers and third
party vendors
• Social distancing where possible
If you have any concerns or would like to
learn more about CAMRA’s Covid secure
regulations, you can find more information and
FAQs available at:
www.camra.org.uk/beer-festivals-events/ourevents/beer-festival-covid-faqs/
Find your local CAMRA beer festival at:
www.camra.org.uk/festivals
Mine’s A Pint
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Mine’s A Pint
24

The Outhouse Brewery
An interview with Peter Rhodes
I tried the Passionate Punch (a hazy new england
IPA) on my visit, which was very enjoyable.
And I really enjoyed the Chocol-oat Porter
which was fantastic. It was well rounded and
creamy and at 4% it was incredibly moreish. I
was fortunate to meet the owner, Peter Rhodes,
on the day as he served customers and talked
very enthusiastically about beer. Peter shares
some insights with Mine’s A Pint around his
journey in beer so far and what we can expect
to see from Outhouse in the months ahead.
In the autumn my partner and I took a day
trip over to Wokingham. It had been a while
since I’d visited properly, and all of the townplanning
changes has meant that Wokingham
has evolved dramatically in the past decade.
A pretty and small market town, it has a
growing independent scene of businesses, and
it’s bustling at the weekends. I’d heard good
things about a few places across the town,
but I especially wanted to visit The Outhouse
Brewery, after a tip off from Phil Gill. The
Outhouse Brewery is located at 6 Alexandra
Court, around the corner from the Everyman
Cinema.
It’s a brilliant spot and there is nowhere else
like it in the centre of Wokingham. It’s compact
and smart, with brewing equipment on site,
a brilliant selection of guest beers, wines and
spirits and, of course, Outhouses’ own brews,
which are really very good. There are tables
inside, and outside and we spent a thoroughly
enjoyable time there. In fact, we started our
afternoon there, and ended up returning for
more.
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25
Outhouse Brewery opened in 2021 in
Wokingham. It’s a great spot. Why did you
pick Wokingham as your place to setup?
I moved to Wokingham just over 5 years ago for
a job and, although made redundant 3.5 years
into the job, I fell in love with the town; its
pretty architecture, the nice people and the vast
number of pubs! Wokingham also has some
cracking breweries on its outskirts, but I saw an
opportunity to open an independent brewery
in the town centre and boost Wokingham’s
‘independence’ hub that it’s coming to be.

For how long had you wanted to establish
your own brewery?
I was a home brewer for around 8 years before
opening this venture in July 2021, so I guess
somewhere along that line I’ve had the thought
of wanting to run my own brewery. I’m in
my mid-thirties and always thought it’d be a
venture further down the line but I’m so glad I
didn’t wait any longer.
Before beer, what was your background?
I moved from Nottingham to Portsmouth to
study law, though I actually ended up mostly
working in Finance after studying further,
via an earlier mixed role of law and finance
(bored yet?!). My last role was a global credit
manager in the cinema industry, managing 3
teams across the globe. It wasn’t good for my
body clock. I much prefer my office now.
note that some inspiration has come from my
dad. He had a career as a chef and his skill is
definitely cooking for people on a mass scale.
If he can single handedly cook for 300 people,
then surely, I can brew beer for 300 people?
You brew on site which is great. What styles
of beer are your favourite to brew?
Has to be a porter/stout, all day long. Our
Chocol-oat stout has 8 grain varieties and the
smell of mixing the grains into the mash tun
water is incredible. Imagine Horlicks merged
with a cocoa plant. Although, one of my first
lessons at the brewery was making sure my
pipes are connected properly. 30 litres of hot,
sticky porter all over the tap room floor was
not fun to clean up!
What beers stand out as pivotal in your
personal journey with beer over the years?
For me, I’ve been inspired by the Belgian beers,
specifically the Trappist beers. For hundreds of
years the Belgians have mastered their recipes
and not once does a glass of Trappist beer
ever taste like a cheap, commercial beer. A
particular favourite of mine is Chimay Grande
Réserve. I also have a love / hate relationship
for Brewdog, but I have to hand it to them with
their Punk IPA. That beer, in my opinion, has
revolutionised the craft beer industry as we
know it today.
What inspired you to give running a brewery
a go?
I guess I’ve always been a bit different to doing
the norm. For instance, at school in Design
Technology most people were making lunch
boxes or book shelves. I made a zoetrope.
Going from sitting in your private office to
pouring 25kg grain sacks at the top of a ladder
is definitely not the norm. And I relished the
challenge. I also knew that my corporate
background would give me an advantage in
understanding how a business works and
operates. So, I just needed to figure out the
upscale brewing part. I think on a separate
What is the plan for Outhouse in 2022?
Hopefully, lots! Our team are awesome people
and want to get involved in volunteering with
some local community projects, so you’ll see
us out and about more. We will be focusing a
lot more into agendas that are not just pulling
pints, like our merchandising, takeaway beers
and even a local cycle delivery service (we are
trying to be as good to the environment as
we can!). And with all fingers crossed, there
might be a little room for expansion. Watch
this space…
Mine’s A Pint
26

What style of beer would you love to brew,
but haven’t yet?
I haven’t yet had chance to properly explore
brewing the Belgian strong beers. In my homebrewing
days I produced, what turned out to
be, a popular Belgian Dubbel. I’m thinking I’ll
brew this in the Summer and then bottle age it
until the Winter.
What trends do you see in beer that have
caught your eye?
I haven’t noticed trends in beer so much (only
fads) but I have noticed a starting trend in
commercial lager drinkers turning to the lightly
hopped, keg pale ales. We have more and
more customers converting and it’s great to see.
Though we always stock a craft lager / pilsner
and I sometimes encourage that choice. Some
of the guest pilsners we’ve had in have been
fantastic, like the Saaz Pilsner from Stardust
Brewery.
How has the reception been to Outhouse
Brewery in Wokingham?
Fantastic and I couldn’t be more grateful.
To toot our own horn, a comment we often
Mine’s A Pint
27
hear is that the town, “needed something
fresh and this is perfect”. Going back to my
earlier comment, I think we’ve added to the
independent businesses hub that Wokingham is
becoming and the residents seem to enjoy that.
Also, during the summer we couldn’t brew
quick enough to keep up with the demand!
This Summer we’ll be a year in and a little more
seasoned, so we’re hoping to be a bit more
ahead of the game.
You stock a really well curated selection
of other beers, drinks and snacks. What
informs your decisions when picking what
to stock for your customers?
There are a few principles we have when
choosing our beer stock; must have a pilsner,
must have a hoppy pale / IPA and must have a
dark beer. All other beers can be experimental
around this. We like to judge what are the
best sellers in our taproom and then work to
that. For the other drinks and snacks, that’s
easy: we try it and if it tastes good, we’ll sell
it. Then we can say hand on heart that we
believe in the products we sell. Anything we
can do to avoid supermarket products also,
that’s a consideration. You won’t find any of
our wines in the supermarket!
What are your three goals for 2022?
Three? Then we’d only win 3-0! On a more
serious note, firstly, we would like to survive
our first year, to July 2022. That’s a big
tick. It’s a difficult time to open a hospitality
business and a year anniversary will mark
a huge achievement. Secondly, we would
like everyone in town to know we’re here. 6
months in and we still get customers coming
to us for the first time and commenting that
they didn’t know we were here. Finally, to give
back to the community. I feel we have got to
where we are today because of small helping
hands along the way, not to mention because of
our amazing customers. For that, we’re very
grateful and we want to repay our debt to the
community. Cheers!
Zoë Andrews

Pub Companies
Who they are and what they do
The CAMRA Pub and Club Campaigns
Committee have pulled together a series of
articles explaining more information about
the companies that control many of the pubs
across the country. This is the first in a series
of articles that will provide the facts on pub
company practices and operations, explaining
in particular how their business models work
and what this means for both licensees and,
ultimately, us as customers. The aim of these
articles is to let the facts speak for themselves
so that CAMRA members and the general
public can make up their own minds about the
positive or negative effects of these practices on
our pubs and the folk who run them. We hope
you find them useful.
1. A POTTED HISTORY OF THE PUBCO
Fifty years ago, when CAMRA was formed, the
pub landscape looked very different. For a start,
there were many more of them – some 75000
against around 47500 now. The majority of
pubs (52000 or so) were owned by breweries.
The 89 small and regional breweries had
13800 of them and the rest were in the hands
of the ‘Big Six’ – Bass Charrington, Allied,
Whitbread, Scottish & Newcastle, Watney/
Grand Metropolitan and Courage/Imperial.
Most of the other 23000 pubs were free
houses (in name anyway – many tied their beer
supplies to a big brewer in return for loans and
discounts). Companies that just owned pubs
were few and far between – the likes of Sir John
Fitzgerald in the northeast
and Heavitree in the
south west (though they
tied themselves to Bass).
Bass protected their
signature red triangle
immediately following
the introduction of
Trademark law in 1875.
Mine’s A Pint
28
Just about every pub-owning brewery
rigorously imposed a supply tie on its own
products. As late as the mid-1980s, I remember
a Greene King Director recoiling in horror at
my suggestion that they allow a few guest beers
in their pubs. As a result, new breweries found
outlets hard to come by and we customers were
hardly spoilt for choice, as a glance at a Good
Beer Guide of that era will reveal.
Then, in 1989, along came the Beer Orders.
The story of this epochal legislation (for better
or worse) is superbly told in Laura Hadland’s
recent Fifty Years of CAMRA book but, in
essence, the government acknowledged the
stranglehold on the industry exercised by the
Big Six and, among
other things, capped
their pub ownership
at 2000.
50 Years Of CAMRA
by Laura Hadland is
available now from
https://shop1.camra.
org.uk
By now, because of
closures and selloffs,
the Big Six owned fewer pubs between
them but the Orders still meant around
11000 pubs coming onto the market. We, of
course, dreamed of a new golden age of multihandpumped
free houses galore, but the reality
was sadly different. Companies were quickly
established, usually with close links to the Big
Six, to hoover up these pubs in big batches
then negotiate supply deals, invariably with
the company who previously owned the place.
Enterprise Inns, for instance, started off with
the purchase of 368 pubs from Bass, and that’s
where they bought the beer from.

In the years that followed, wheeling and dealing
saw companies variously grow, collapse, merge,
acquire, dispose – it was very difficult to keep
up with who owned what. Some companies
concentrated on managed pubs, some on
tenancies, a few on a mixed model. Behemoths
emerged – by 2004, Punch Taverns and
Enterprise each owned more than 8000 pubs,
though both had accumulated so much debt
that they ran into trouble come the financial
crash and subsequently retrenched. We’ll have
a closer look at the current pub company scene
in the next article.
A brief history of Punch
Taverns illustrates the
volatility surrounding
pubcos from the
1990s onwards. Punch
formed in 1997,
purchasing a tranche
of pubs from Bass. Two
years later, they bought
Inn Business (mostly former Whitbread pubs)
and then the rump of the Allied estate. The
managed pubs were spun off into a separate
division called Spirit. In 2003, they acquired
their 3100-strong rival Pubmaster plus a
couple of smaller companies. Next, Scottish
& Newcastle’s managed pubs were snapped
up and added to Spirit. By 2011 the impact of
the crash was being felt, calling for a ‘strategic
review’. Spirit was demerged and, in 2015, sold
to Greene King. Come 2016, a takeover bid
totalling £403m (plus the taking on of a billion
pounds of debt) was accepted; 1900 pubs went
to Heineken with the remaining 1300 residing
with Patron Capital, though the Punch brand
has been retained.
breweries that own pubs – and nowadays most
such companies have separate management
structures for their pub and brewing operations.
Final comments. Pub companies are here to
stay. There is nothing wrong with the basic
model and, indeed, there are some excellent
companies (mostly smaller ones) who treat their
licensees well and clearly see their pubs as more
than just property assets. It would, though, be
difficult to argue that the ways in which some
companies operate raise many issues around
their custodianship of what aren’t just piles of
bricks-and-mortar but, in most cases, precious
and valued community assets. We’ll examine
those issues in due course.
In the meantime, the treatment of their
tenants by many of the Pubcos had become a
major issue and, after years of campaigning,
the Government was persuaded, in 2014,
to announce a statutory Pubs Code aimed at
regulating their practices and ensuring fair
treatment for tenants. We’ll return to the Code
in a future article. In this context, though, it
needs mentioning that the currently accepted
definition of a pub company embraces
Mine’s A Pint
29

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