Came in here on New Years Day as I was craving a fry up before driving home. It was the only breakfast bar/ café which was open and the place was completely full with other people with the same idea. I managed to get my order in just before the cut off for breakfast and was told it would be a 30-40 minute wait for food. I could tell that they were understaffed and it didn't affect the level of service.I ordered the large English breakfast which was fantastic and hit the spot as I was starving at this point. Unfortunately my girlfriends breakfast came out cold which is why I've deducted a star.Otherwise, it's a large place with plenty of seating and I can imagine it would be nice to have a drink there during the summer. The beer garden is really nice and over looks the river.Parking: Paid parking across the river which is only a 5 minute walk away.
James Robinson
Probably the better out of the two central Reading Wetherspoons, though the Hope Tap is much more convenient for the station. This branch feels more spacious and in a slightly nicer part of town.
Denise Holyome
Turned up for a gathering of old colleagues, staff were grumpy from the outset. In the end they refused to serve us basically because they didn’t have enough staff. We weren’t causing a problem, we were patient about service. 40 people took their custom to Greene King 100yds up the road who were happy to see us. 6 years we’ve been doing this, we won’t ever be back - tough luck Wetherspoons. Appalling customer service
Jeff T
I’m totally staggered by the poor attitude displayed by the bar manager last night. We attend the pub for a meet up every December and have done so for several years . We are a mixed group of former work colleagues predominately aged in our fifties to seventies with many of us retired. We are always well behaved and never cause trouble. At around 5pm last night my colleague and I went to the bar area which was virtually empty at the time in order to buy a drink. We were told that we were not going to be served and nor were the rest of our group who were about 30-40 in number. We politely asked for the reason for this and were told that the barman had warned members of our group on six occasion's about standing near the bar area. This all seemed very petty. We tried to reason with the bar man and said we would speak to our group and relocate them within the pub but he was not interested in listening to us, bordering on ignorant. When we explained to our group that we had been refused service and had to leave the pub, they all thought that it was a wind up. We left the pub without making a fuss all totally mystified by events and had a great evening together at a pub down the road , where we were well received. During conversation later we could not identify anyone who had actually been warned by the bar manager at the Back of Beyond about the ‘offence’ of standing near the bar area. To my knowledge no other customer was obstructed from getting a drink at the bar. Correct me if l’m wrong but you have to go to the bar area to get a drink! I’ve never heard such a strange lame excuse for kicking a large group of people out of a pub, quite unbelievable. He is fortunate that we are well mannered people because his treatment to us would not have gone down well with many other more vocal groups. Maybe we were an easy touch due to our old age. The bar manager needs a course in customer service and care to help him with his surly approach. He is an embarrassment to the pub and cost Wetherspoons hundreds of pounds.
deniseholyome
The group I was meeting have been using this pub for our Christmas drinks for the last few years. But last night will be the last time. We were a large group of about 25 mainly in our 60’s, we were well behaved & polite. But after a couple of hours our group had grown & the man behind the bar refused to serve us. Apparently because we were too close to the bar, personally I think it was because they didn’t have enough staff on & he didn’t want to work too hard. We took our business to the Outlook 50yds up the road for a much friendlier experience
Climber508370
Dreadful spent thousands in herebof years but 30 old persons thrown out including me for standing near the bar!!.I will not spend 1 penny in their pubs ever again.
liz johnston
Meet up here for my husband's Christmas work's do, very busy, but till got a stall to sit down, good prices too.
Sean Golden
What a horrible place..food is desperate, staff look like they don't care...waited at the bar for ages to be served and then the person who served me was very rude and didn't seem interested in doing their job.The only plus was the price of a drink..cheap but lacking in quality.Basically the staff would need a lesson in politeness before I would consider entering the premises again
willp1992
Me and a group of friends from Reading used to visit the back of beyond for their mid week pub quiz every week. We never came close to winning but always had a good laugh over a couple of beers and some decent food. We came out for a weekend christmas drinks night last year and were having a great evening and a good catchup in a nice central pub to us lot. My partially sighted girlfriend was out on the same night nearby, and wanted to meet me there so we could get a taxi back together. She doesn't like to advertise her disability to every Tom, Dick, and Harry so she didn't have her symbol cane as she entered the pub. I was nearby the entrance waiting for her, and she accidentally bumped into a chair as she came into the pub. I quickly came and got to her and made sure she was alright. She was all good, just a bit embarassed. I got her a lemonade, and myself an overpriced small can of Monster. As we walked away from the bar to the table my friends were sat at, we got collared by the manager, whatever his name was, and he stated he wasn't going to serve either of us any more drinks as my girlfriend was obviously drunk. All the while pointing to his silly little camera. I explained how she struggles to see in low light conditions and it was simply an accident that she bumped into an empty chair and she was incredibly embrassed by it. I tried to explain her condition to him but he wasn't having any of it. He was just trying to get a rise out of me on his silly little camera. I said fine, I'll leave, just let me say bye to my friends and we'll be off home. All the so called manager wanted to do was to try and escalate the situation, and basically not let me leave. It's like he wanted a fight, not a simple resolution like us leaving just like he asked us to. Ridiculous situation, and I hope that your so called pub becomes flats soon.
Anders Flurenschimer
Great food and excellent service. Food And drinks brought out quickly.Really good value and quality for the price.
Classic 'spoons' good clean pint, fast service good food. You know what to expect from 'spoons' and this one did not fail to deliver.
Ioannis Karadanas
Nice breakfast a bit greasy. Overall a nice atmosphere with a nice back yard. Also loads of options for beers and drinks.
74potions
Nothing beats sitting by the riverside while enjoying a drink. I tend to visit on the less busy days and chill for an hour or two while playing on my phone as the fresh air in the non-smoking beer garden is clear.It can take a while for your order to arrive, but it's nothing substantial.Vegetarian options: Very inclusive menuWheelchair accessibility: No stairs on the premises
The Whisperer
A lovely spoons, somewhat on the large side, with a equally sizeable beer garden. The staff were pleasant and efficient. I would probably call it a 'standard' spoons, but there is quite a lot of space to move around in and the toilets are on the ground floor (woo hoo!). The chicken salad was wonderful, the Guinness was excellent and the Doom Bar started off on the too cold side but then improved.
Heather
A really, really nice Wetherspoon one of the best I’ve ever been to the outside patio has a beautiful view of the river and the inside was recently updated with some beautiful fun colorful decor doesn’t feel like a spoons just feels like a nice pub really big good for large gatherings and it has a great view of the river . Staff are kind and speedy really happy .Vegetarian options: Lots of vegie and vegan options
Came in here on New Years Day as I was craving a fry up before driving home. It was the only breakfast bar/ café which was open and the place was completely full with other people with the same idea. I managed to get my order in just before the cut off for breakfast and was told it would be a 30-40 minute wait for food. I could tell that they were understaffed and it didn't affect the level of service.I ordered the large English breakfast which was fantastic and hit the spot as I was starving at this point. Unfortunately my girlfriends breakfast came out cold which is why I've deducted a star.Otherwise, it's a large place with plenty of seating and I can imagine it would be nice to have a drink there during the summer. The beer garden is really nice and over looks the river.Parking: Paid parking across the river which is only a 5 minute walk away.
Probably the better out of the two central Reading Wetherspoons, though the Hope Tap is much more convenient for the station. This branch feels more spacious and in a slightly nicer part of town.
Turned up for a gathering of old colleagues, staff were grumpy from the outset. In the end they refused to serve us basically because they didn’t have enough staff. We weren’t causing a problem, we were patient about service. 40 people took their custom to Greene King 100yds up the road who were happy to see us. 6 years we’ve been doing this, we won’t ever be back - tough luck Wetherspoons. Appalling customer service
I’m totally staggered by the poor attitude displayed by the bar manager last night. We attend the pub for a meet up every December and have done so for several years . We are a mixed group of former work colleagues predominately aged in our fifties to seventies with many of us retired. We are always well behaved and never cause trouble. At around 5pm last night my colleague and I went to the bar area which was virtually empty at the time in order to buy a drink. We were told that we were not going to be served and nor were the rest of our group who were about 30-40 in number. We politely asked for the reason for this and were told that the barman had warned members of our group on six occasion's about standing near the bar area. This all seemed very petty. We tried to reason with the bar man and said we would speak to our group and relocate them within the pub but he was not interested in listening to us, bordering on ignorant. When we explained to our group that we had been refused service and had to leave the pub, they all thought that it was a wind up. We left the pub without making a fuss all totally mystified by events and had a great evening together at a pub down the road , where we were well received. During conversation later we could not identify anyone who had actually been warned by the bar manager at the Back of Beyond about the ‘offence’ of standing near the bar area. To my knowledge no other customer was obstructed from getting a drink at the bar. Correct me if l’m wrong but you have to go to the bar area to get a drink! I’ve never heard such a strange lame excuse for kicking a large group of people out of a pub, quite unbelievable. He is fortunate that we are well mannered people because his treatment to us would not have gone down well with many other more vocal groups. Maybe we were an easy touch due to our old age. The bar manager needs a course in customer service and care to help him with his surly approach. He is an embarrassment to the pub and cost Wetherspoons hundreds of pounds.
The group I was meeting have been using this pub for our Christmas drinks for the last few years. But last night will be the last time. We were a large group of about 25 mainly in our 60’s, we were well behaved & polite. But after a couple of hours our group had grown & the man behind the bar refused to serve us. Apparently because we were too close to the bar, personally I think it was because they didn’t have enough staff on & he didn’t want to work too hard. We took our business to the Outlook 50yds up the road for a much friendlier experience
Dreadful spent thousands in herebof years but 30 old persons thrown out including me for standing near the bar!!.I will not spend 1 penny in their pubs ever again.
Meet up here for my husband's Christmas work's do, very busy, but till got a stall to sit down, good prices too.
What a horrible place..food is desperate, staff look like they don't care...waited at the bar for ages to be served and then the person who served me was very rude and didn't seem interested in doing their job.The only plus was the price of a drink..cheap but lacking in quality.Basically the staff would need a lesson in politeness before I would consider entering the premises again
Me and a group of friends from Reading used to visit the back of beyond for their mid week pub quiz every week. We never came close to winning but always had a good laugh over a couple of beers and some decent food. We came out for a weekend christmas drinks night last year and were having a great evening and a good catchup in a nice central pub to us lot. My partially sighted girlfriend was out on the same night nearby, and wanted to meet me there so we could get a taxi back together. She doesn't like to advertise her disability to every Tom, Dick, and Harry so she didn't have her symbol cane as she entered the pub. I was nearby the entrance waiting for her, and she accidentally bumped into a chair as she came into the pub. I quickly came and got to her and made sure she was alright. She was all good, just a bit embarassed. I got her a lemonade, and myself an overpriced small can of Monster. As we walked away from the bar to the table my friends were sat at, we got collared by the manager, whatever his name was, and he stated he wasn't going to serve either of us any more drinks as my girlfriend was obviously drunk. All the while pointing to his silly little camera. I explained how she struggles to see in low light conditions and it was simply an accident that she bumped into an empty chair and she was incredibly embrassed by it. I tried to explain her condition to him but he wasn't having any of it. He was just trying to get a rise out of me on his silly little camera. I said fine, I'll leave, just let me say bye to my friends and we'll be off home. All the so called manager wanted to do was to try and escalate the situation, and basically not let me leave. It's like he wanted a fight, not a simple resolution like us leaving just like he asked us to. Ridiculous situation, and I hope that your so called pub becomes flats soon.
Great food and excellent service. Food And drinks brought out quickly.Really good value and quality for the price.
Restaurantji Recommends
Classic 'spoons' good clean pint, fast service good food. You know what to expect from 'spoons' and this one did not fail to deliver.
Nice breakfast a bit greasy. Overall a nice atmosphere with a nice back yard. Also loads of options for beers and drinks.
Nothing beats sitting by the riverside while enjoying a drink. I tend to visit on the less busy days and chill for an hour or two while playing on my phone as the fresh air in the non-smoking beer garden is clear.It can take a while for your order to arrive, but it's nothing substantial.Vegetarian options: Very inclusive menuWheelchair accessibility: No stairs on the premises
A lovely spoons, somewhat on the large side, with a equally sizeable beer garden. The staff were pleasant and efficient. I would probably call it a 'standard' spoons, but there is quite a lot of space to move around in and the toilets are on the ground floor (woo hoo!). The chicken salad was wonderful, the Guinness was excellent and the Doom Bar started off on the too cold side but then improved.
A really, really nice Wetherspoon one of the best I’ve ever been to the outside patio has a beautiful view of the river and the inside was recently updated with some beautiful fun colorful decor doesn’t feel like a spoons just feels like a nice pub really big good for large gatherings and it has a great view of the river . Staff are kind and speedy really happy .Vegetarian options: Lots of vegie and vegan options