Bars in Theale

“Great food and fantastic atmosphere. Friendly staff. Will be back again. Plenty of parking options”

“On a long drive day (Kilkenny to Kent), we almost went to the motorway services for dinner, and to wait for the M25 traffic to calm down before we continued. Decided to look for a pub dinner instead, and choose The Volunteer hoping we’d find a relaxed, local place. We got that right! The parking was easy, we walked in just a couple of minutes before food service started at 6:00. There was plenty of comfortable seating inside, but we were able to sit outside where we could keep an eye on our car. (The area looked safe enough, but we’re on tour and can’t risk the instruments.)
The staff were friendly, the service was quick enough, and the food was excellent. So was the cider!
We were surrounded by trees full of songbirds, amused by the rooftop antics of gulls and crows, and even had a couple of kites hunting nearby.
The only disappointment was that the smokers were using the back patio, right in front of the no smoking signs, rather than take a few more steps to the actual smoking area on the lawn. But we got lucky - no one came out to smoke before we finished our dinner.
We got the scampi and chips, which came with garden peas and tartar sauce and was plenty of food for two of us to share for a light meal, so even with our drinks, it was very affordable. All that and nice, clean bathrooms, too. This was exactly the break we needed before getting back on the road to brave the M25!”