Improvements are coming to a pub that is due to benefit from nearly a quarter of a million pounds of investment.
The Sportsman is a Greene King pub situated at the busy junction of Shinfield Road in Whitley and Elm Road in Earley.
The pub is passed by thousands of people each day, and is in easy distance for people living in Whitley, Earley and Shinfield.
Greene King is on the lookout for a new landlord to take it on through its ‘Hive’ brand, which are described as pubs that are ‘at the heart of the communities they serve’ with great food and a regular programme of entertainment and live sport.
The brewery company is investing £249,000 into The Sportsman.
Part of that involves the replacement of a ‘jumbrella’, a large umbrella which provides shielding from the sun, with a covered pergola.
Greene King required planning permission for the installation of the pergola from Reading Borough Council.
Assessing the project, planning officer Alison Amoah judged that it would assist The Sportsman in its function as a facility for members of the public.
She wrote: “The proposal would support the ongoing use as a public house and would enhance the available facilities and continued use of this community facility.”
The plan for the pergola was approved on Friday, March 6.
You can view the application by typing reference PL/25/1593 into the council’s planning portal.
Earlier this year, Greene King won permission to paint the pub navy blue and replace its signage.
