please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Great traditional pub. Beers well kept and prices reasonable. Probably the best drinking pub in goring.
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nice friendly pub. ales include brakespears and a guest ale.
open fire in the winter and a good size garden for the summer.
The food is very good. I would recommend this pub if your in the area.
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OK pub selling OK beer. Nice enough garden. Seems a little run down. Not a bad place at all, but based on my brief visits to both pubs, I prefer the Catherine Wheel just up the road.
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Popped in after a walk in the area and very impressed on my short visit: just how a proper village pub should be. No mucking about with gastro this and that, just traditional, welcoming, good beers. Close to the station (7-8mins max walk) so a great waiting room. Well done.
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A group of us came here after the Goring 10k race and it was just what we were after. Good beer, good food, open fire and friendly landlord. Highly recommended.
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A couple of pints whilst doing the standard saduko. Landlord very friendly, ringwood a decent pint. Heard all the gossip in the village and now know how much it costs to heat a pub..... Recommended.
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Can't sing the praises of this pub enough. We stayed here early January and had a great time. Bob the landlord and his wife (didn't catch her name) were very friendly. The room was tidy, clean, and comfortable. The pub was warm and welcoming; Ale on tap, wood fire, and a billiards table, it doesn't get much better than that! The food was unbelievably good. They had a huge variety of dishes, from traditional fare, to game, and a South African dish which I forget the name of, all of which sounded excellent, and when our meals came they certainly didn't disappoint. If you're ever in Goring for any reason, I strongly recommend this pub.
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Very nice pub.
Allows dogs in public bar, on lead. Food looked good. Three ales on, Brakspear Bitter and Oxford Gold, Ringwood Fortyniner.
My one complaint might be that there was a radio on behind the bar and it was over-loud.
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Still the best pub in Goring/Streatley. The low rating must be historical - it's laughable that the Bull at Streatley rates higher.
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Lovely little pub with good Brakespeare's and excellent food. The publican is from the Red Lion at Blewbury where he good-naturedly ran a splendid establishment with a fine pub kitchen. In Goring, where the Miller and the Wheel seem to be administered by absentee accountants and the Queen's Arms is all Sky Sport, it's a pleasure to see an affable Mine Host running a traditional pub.
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Enjoyed a couple of beers in here last night. Maybe a shame to see only 2 ales, both Brakspear tipples, on tap, but they were served well. Slightly quirky seating arrangements inside with a variety of uncomfortable stalls and thrones, but there's a nice beer garden.
Good to see a Wycombe Wanderers shirt beside the bar billiards table.
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In response to speedweb, the present tenants are new to the pub trade (formerly in the Police) and have tried to take the place a little up market. A particularly unpopular initiative involved installing a large stainless steel coffee machine on the bar in the public bar reducing the already very limited leaning space by about a third. This despite the fact that the intended users of this apparatus would be mostly restaurant side customers (plumbing logistics prevailed etc...).
The good news is that a highly respected and experienced Landlord of the proper variety is taking over in November 2009.
I wish these people would realise that they're only caretakers, it's our pub!
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Where is everyone! We have now visited this pretty little pub in Goring on a couple of occasions( last Thursday evening and Sunday lunch time). The pub appeared very pleasant but there were almost no other patrons. Had a very good pint of Brakspears and my wife had a very respectable glass of wine.
We then went to the Catherine Wheel on both occasions and had a very average pint of Brakspears and a poor glass of wine � but this pub was full of people � can anyone let me know why??
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for me this pub has everything: superior en-suite accomodation, good pub grub, real ales and a great friendly atmosphere with brilliant recent lscensees.
in response to others...give them a chance they only have 3 pumps.
anyways if u go - say charlie faraday sent u
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I have little memory of this pub, not because I was on a pub crawl and had too much to drink, simply because it seems so ordinary, a nice standard English pub with Brakspeare's on tap and err, that's it!
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The second pub reached after the Catherine Wheel - bit of a come down though from 6 beers or so in the previous pub - just Braks bitter on tap. Pleasant pub though with a small beer garden but a little quiet.
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Had a great tasting pint of Brakspear "Hooray Henley" here last sunday with friends, good service and great beer, nice beer garden too, 8/10
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Visited on Saturday afternoon, a nice relaxing pub with Brakspear and Wychwood on draft. Enjoyed a couple of games of bar billiards and the roaring fire.
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The best pub around. Great home cooked food. (The best chips for miles). Great accomodation. The themed rooms are fantastic and en suite. (Ask for the chocolate room!!) You are really made to feel welcome by all the staff. We love everything about this pub.
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May feel a little more homely when the newly-painted smell dissipates. Entrance splits to rooms either side of the bar; the public to the right with a small adjacent room given over entirely to the bar-billiards table, to the left a similar lounge giving on to a dining area. Some pew-style seating in both bar-rooms. The two beerpumps, stationed only on the lounge side, offer Brakspear bitter & special, beers not bad but not as perfect as the nearby Catherine Wheel.
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After years of slow decline the J.B. seems to have found its feet, the new tennants deserve to suceed as they are slowly brining this pub back to life. Although I rate this pub as 7 it will I'm sure do much better next year The beer and the food are both good and priced right, Good Luck Gordon and Ruth
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I have just been for a pint in the Barleycorn and nothing has changed. Back to the good old days of the Barley with its bar billiards table. It is like the last few months did not occur. (it has been redecorated and the kitchen is being re-fitted so it is back to being a nice country boozer)
New management last weekend so early days for them but they seem very promising.
I have to say I am pleased by being spoilt for choice of by having three good country pubs in Goring.
Use them or lose them. I do regularly.
Dr Peter
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Having to say that the Barley once the most popular pub in Goring now isnt. Even the none smoking locals dont go in it anymore.
Beware the Barleycorn is shut on Sunday evenings and Mondays even on bank holidays.
By the way the Miller has been none smoking for 18 months now.
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Not realy a pub anymore,though in the corner bar bit the beer is fine.Under new manargership and no-smoking before the national ban.They have a few organisational things to iron out- though they seemed to handle the Easter Holiday mob quite well- but once that's settled,these pleasant people with their above average food should be a great success.
Their only 'opposition' would be the overpriced Miller of Mansfield with its embittered northern manager or the riverside Swan Hotel - lovely setting but ghastly
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Great new family run place, proper home cooked food and good clean beer. Good to find a nice no smoking pub before the ban comes in. Was very very busy, lucky to get a table. definitely going to book next time.
anonymous - 8 Apr 2007 22:23 |
Just been taken over by new management. Now very clean and totally non smoking which seems to be going down very well. Pub has been given a new lease of life. New menu, very good prices for very good food. Place is being renovated soon even more, so that the letting rooms are all ensuite. Keep an eye open for the very large great dane who looks like a fresian cow, as he sometimes makes an appearance in the bar to everyones delight. l
anonymous - 8 Apr 2007 22:17 |
New management - temporary- the same Barleycorn we all like. Good home cooked pub eg grub ham egg and chips.
I am told by those that know that the beer is good.
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new management, same dingy pub serving bad beer
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The bar here is still a nice place to hang out... decent beer, good service and of course the bar billiards table which is great fun. But don't waste your money eating here. The food is extremely overpriced and average quality at best - and last time I ate here we were served not one but *two* bottles of red wine that were both clearly off. (Very bad smell from the neck of the bottle, a nasty taste, and the cloudiness/fizziness that indicates a wine has undergone some secondary fermentation.) Avoid.
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When travelling through goring the other day, my wife and i happened apon the john barleycorn and i must say that this a diamond of a pub. We tried the steaks which were second to none, and washed this down with breakspears ordinary. The wait staff were also very attentive and freindly especially the tall barman. all in all a good find.
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I just had a week working in this snoozy little village and heard about this steak house pub from a mate so had to give it a go, Its one of the best meals ive had (including the many restaurants ive used) coupled with a great pint of beer (more choices needed) and they seem to actually care what your getting to eat. Beer is a little pricey and the steaks up there too but a worthy contender for value for money. Plenty of characters in this place, landlord makes you feel welcome, beer is good, locals are friendly and the food is amazing all of which will guarantee I bring the wife one day.
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Really nice pub with friendly atmosphere. Great menu that's not too expensive. Pub manager is very nice. Been here many times and eaten many times and can recommend it. The food represents its price (which is quite rare round these parts). Beer is either Brakespears or Brakespears Special (could do with possibly and alternative?). Bar billiards table which is great fun. It though expensive to drink (�3 pint) which is a little ridiculous considering it's not in Chelsea! What ever happened to countryside prices?
anonymous - 12 Jan 2006 13:04 |
Great new landlord, has put in a new menu with excellent food - a lot of seafood dishes too. Beer is very good and the atmosphere is fantastic, lots of locals but they are friendly and chatty, as are the staff, and they all make new comers exceedingly welcome.
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Lazy manager was sitting at the bar with a loser alcoholic regular, chatting about the quality of the asses of his own female staff, loud enough for us and other customers to hear. Absolutley shameful.
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Went to the Barleycorn on Friday for a couple. Really nice new couple running it now. Lovely atmosphere, beer was great and the food seems to be even better. The old landlord of the Catherine Wheel was in for his evening pint. If it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me!
pete - 16 Feb 2004 16:15 |
The tenants at the John Barleycorn have now moved down the road to the Catherine Wheel, so we'll have to see what it's like now. No immediate difference noticeable, but the Fish and Chips seems to have moved down the road as well. Shame
pete - 12 Feb 2004 14:04 |
homey atmosphere - a real pub. frequented by locals. Good for river travellers. Recommended.
sarah - 29 Jan 2004 22:56 |
Another Brakspears pub in this lovely market town. Good food, small rooms and loads of beams. Well kept Special and Best on. Nice large garden, very close to the river. And close to George Michael's house, fact fans.
Pete - 29 Aug 2003 10:11 |
