Absolutely cracking pub, really friendly, great selection of real ales, and brilliant staff. By far the best part of the day, then again, the way Bristol City 'played', that is no great achievement. Thanks to all the great staff, and hope to see you again next season.visited pub on a friday lunchtime and was blown away by the Real Ale and cider on offer!!
This must be one of the best pubs in the south of England!!
Very friendly staff,and was shown the cellar by the landlord, asolutely fantastic!
Stop reading and get down and visit this superb venue!!!!In a word: perfect. Now Reading's best pub and one of my favourite pubs outside Belgium. If you only visit one pub in Reading make it the Nag's Head.

Noted the comment below, but on yesterdays visit the beer was excellent, both in choice and condition. Still a wonderful pub but very expensive with prices from £3.20 - £3.80!! Has lost out to the Nag's Head as my main drinking pub in Reading, but still pop in for one pint.Popped in here recently on reading that this place has got better but I am afraid it hasn't. The one beer I had was off, perhaps I was unlucky. Very expensive for the beer too.great place great people AND whatever happens, MUST stay the way it is!!!!!! a haven in life's shite normality!!!!!

Lovely hidden away pub and the Jukebox was in full working order! Definitely worth a visit.Good old world atmosphere, excellent beers, well worth a visit.A dinky little pub, admirably summed up by the comments below. 5 real ales, excellent service and a real 'community' feel to the place - something that is quite rare in Reading. The prices are at the level one expects to pay in the Home Counties, I'm afraid - not the pub's fault.

Fantastic little gem of a pub. Several beers from local breweries. On the last vsit there were 5 ladies singing American songs from the 1940s - wonderful. Stayed for an extra beer just to listen. In an ideal world there would be a pub like this in every street.Cosy little den which smells of good beer. Pool table out back and all. A world away from the busy King's Road that it's located off.Was in here recently for the Jazz afternoon and tried all the real ales which were all in excellent condition. The music was brilliant too. A proper pub in my view and the best Real Ale pub in Reading.

Not a bad pub. Very quite on my last visit and no Entire Stout available unfortunately. Worth a visit ,but not Reading's best and there are better Hopback pubs elsewhere.An old student haunt of mine; best pub in the area by far (and there's a lot of them). Very popular on Friday / Saturday evenings when there's usually a pretty good atmosphere.Great hospitable little pub.
Excellent Downton Chocolate Orange Stout at £2.70 per pint as well as nice Hopback range with GFB at £2.25 per pint.
By car one has to negotiate the tortuous Reading one-way system and parking nearby is not easy - but well worth the effort.
Will return asap.

Good selection of ales. Zero atmosphere. OK if you are waiting for a train, otherwise I wouldn't bother.Hadn't been in here for a while, but was pleasantly surprised last night. Place seems to have been spruced up slightly, and there was a decent selection of beer on offer. Forget the name of my favourite, but it was from the Alton Brewery.
Staff were friendly and while the beer is a bit expensive, guess you are always going to find that in a station pub.
Also enjoyed the fact that they have a TV outside in the smoking area showing Sky Sports News, or whatever match is on that evening.Eight real ales in here on Wednesday - Conwy Hoppy Christmas, Inveralmond Santa's Swalie, Andwell King John, Sharps Nadelik, Springhead Christmas Cranberry, Cairngorm Sheep Shaggers Gold, Lees John Willies and GK IPA. Large pub, rugby shirts hung all around the pub. Decent for a station pub.

In many ways a classic pub, that I'm surprised isn't more revered in the CAMRA National Inventory. A living timepiece, with basic pub amenities, early evening closing, real fires, games and peanuts. Even the beer was reasonably priced by Berkshiree standards, if not the best best London Pride I've ever had.

A must visit though.Had a most wonderful 65th party at Maggpie and Parrot on 11th July 2009 .Although it rained most of the day, the men managed to drink most of the beer.
Hog roast was out of this world.
The landlady Carole, along with Tracy, Carol and Jenifer her friendly and helpful "girls" were very professional.
Archie was also ready and willing for a good petting by the time we returned on Sunday and collected our cars . Puddings were fab and such a choice too. Our friends have been phoning us today , expressing their delight of the whole day.
We hired a DJ who was excellent, and I can recommend him. Any one who wants his contact details please get in touch. StellaSunday opening hours now extended slightly to at least 4pm, but may well drift on as long as there are customers in...the London Pride has reluctantly been increased to £3 a pint, but still the best-kept pint in these here parts. Note that although the picture above is a fine portrait of the buidling as a whole, the bar and both available rooms are contained only within the lowest part of the building to the right and the entrance is at the back on the right hand side - not via the entrance door pictured...

Believed to have changed ownership just before Christmas.
Looked closed on New Years Day and appeared closed when passed 09/01/10.
Will add a review when I next pass and find it open.27th November evening visit - again a great curry for £6 including a pint. This time a Lamb Balti, marked as medium on the menu but actually fairly hot. We were pre-warned by the owner, Alistair so no problem. Plenty of people in, mainly eating the curry where we sat in front of a nice glowing wood fire. Something about a log fire in a pub serving good food and drink that I like!Stopped by for an afternoon yesterday. It was quite quiet, but I suppose that is to be expected on a weekday afternoon. I had a steak for lunch, which was nicely-cooked. They had a decent selection of local ales on offer - the ones I had were well-kept. Service was great.

Certainly worth stopping by if you're in the area and in need of refreshment.

Good selection of well kept real ales, proper fire in winter, a fantastic beer garden for the summer and a good selection of fresh rolls, ploughmans and soups available if you're hungry... what's not to like?
They close for a well earned rest for a few hours in the afternoon (3-6pm) and they're shut on Mondays as well.The more other pubs I go into, the more I appreciate the Bell. They only need to get their values wrong once and the last bell will have been rung in a unique and wonderful establishment. I hope I go before that happens.Hadn't visited for at least a decade and a half - still as it always has been... It is unique - and long may it continue.

Still excellent. Nice lunch there today, the place was busy but not crowded. Good ales - 7 of 8 were on, the 6X and the Old timer were sampled and in fine form. Added bonus, 10% of draught Wadworth's beers for CAMRA members!Still as good as ever.
re;previous comment. - I can't see any problem with the smokers shelter, & they do a J2O eqivalent so you could have had your mango fix!!Good choice of 8 Real Ales - very friendly welcome on a Sunday evening - children made very welcome. Not the cheapest but beer was good. Spoilt slightly by the (illegal) smoking shelter right by the side (main) entrance door.

Excellent beer, although well over priced, and nice setting with friendly regulars. What I object to however with this pub is the fact that wherever you may be located inside the two televisions constantly on dominate, showing rubbish with the bar staff sat watching it rather than serving. A great shame for this old and trad pub.Be careful here - the prices are getting ridiculous and seem to change at the whim of whoever controls the till. Hard to say what they are as there are no price lists displayed and the staff rarely seem to be aware of till changes.

Pride now £3.10, ESB £3.40 (I think) and Frost was £3.30 until it was reduced due to too much stock in the cellar.

Strongbow (not that I drink it) has gone up twice in the last 2 weeks from £3.00 to £3.15 and is now £3.25. What a rip off!!!! You can't blaim VAT for that or (I'd suspect) the Brewery.

This place will start (continue really) to hemorage customers to The Nags around the corner which is still (for Reading) reasonably priced a £2.80 a pint. Visited last week and had the best Pride I've ever had but alas a Reading correspondent I met yesterday tells me it was rubbish recently due to the cooling being messed about with. Grr.

When a land lady uses the slops from the lager tray to make beer batter , it makes you wonder what else is going into the foodFoody pub, a bit posh and seems to have had a make over. I thought this pub was quite lovely. They had 4 real ales on, the 2 I had were in excellent condition. Flowers, Brakspear's Bitter, Otter and Good Old Boy (West Berks).A return visit in what proves to be almost two years since the last and no complaints at all from we I stand. Yes, the interior is somewhat French farmhouse and the bar is unusually low and open, but the solitary young barman was polite and efficient. The food we had was excellent - a vegetarian risotto greatly impressed the wife who doesn't normally like risotto and my smoked fish platter was very good indeed. Prices weren't bargain-basement, but neither were they wildly pricey. Very good range of well-kept local ales. It was a quiet early Saturday evening when we visited, so no sign of the harassed rudeness mentioned elsewhere.

Wadworth Malt & Hops was in top form and the 'Sweeny' pie was lovely, I like this place, however beer was £3.40 pint and the pie £5.50 (you can get their pies for £3.50 in the Nags Head) so an all afternoon session wasn't going to happen.Had a very good pint of Wadworth's Stronginthearm here, it was Friday and packed so a slight victim of it's success. The staff were friendly and efficient. A quirky place with good no nonsense food. Can't wait to go back.4 hand pumps serving Adnams 6X, Tanglefoot and a guest Butcombe Gold, the later of which was very good.
Amazing selection of pies, although only one veggie one - which was very good.
Reminded me of an east end pie and mash shop, with the additiion of beers!

Al;ways worth a try as an quiet early place to eat before going on the town or just part of a crawl round town, although it does get very raucous later in the evening. Beers are always interesting if served a little cold for British palates, but let them warm up a bit before downing them and they are just fine. The food is generally very good inded, not over-pricey and they regularly offer a free nine-pint take-out in a proper metal cask with food orders over £30. A good and welcome variation to the plethora of mostly skanky town centre venues for Reading.Not a proper pub, but the pizzas are excellent and the beers make an interesting change. Efficient, friendly service. Much better than the one in Bristol.They must have at least eight different beers although I didn't count them. Pale Ale tasted good, the wheat beer didn't seem quite right. Loos are mildly amusing. Would visit again.

Lively mix of football-watching and Chinese-munching customers on our arrival. Very decent beer, good choice. Seems to be all things to all men and making a pretty good job of it. Only downside would be the two overdosed-on-E-numbers kids howling at customers through firstly a window from the staircase, then through an open door from the Chinese. They need dosing up with a pint of Benylin each, I think.New landlord / landlady have really turned this place round and it is often the busiest place in the village, which was not always the case. The in house Chinese Take Away is great value and eating in with your pint is the popular option. Nearly always 3 cask ales on - West Berks Good Old Boy + Bombardier, then the third has alternated between TT's Landlord / St. Austells Tribute / and Misc. Loddon Brewery Ale. Regular bands at least once a month, and a fortnightly Thursday night quiz add to the buzz.
I must declare an interest here as there is an Open Mic. Night which I'm heavily involved with - First Wednesday of each month - Come and have a go !Tried the Crown again recently, and it seems to be the most improved pub in the village by some distance.

When I called in around Xmas, they had the excellent West Berkshire Brewery's Good Old Boy still on draught, as well as Timothy Taylor's Landlord, a very fine, pale hoppy ale. Both very nice.

The pub had had a thorough facelift since the new people arrived, and is far more welcoming and homely than it used to be. There is now a Chinese takeaway attached to the place, and the landlord seems very keen to try new things.

My view is that this is the best pub in Theale, along with the Volunteer.