A READING town centre pub is celebrating a decade of pulling pints.
The Greyfriar opened in February 2014, on the site of the former Malthouse Pub and in the shadow of the railway station.
Just before Christmas, it was named as one of the best pubs and bars in Reading as part of Reading East MP Matt Rodda’s Small Business Saturday awards, capping off another year for the venue.
Its manager Tori Yates said: “We were really delighted to win the award because it was voted for by the public, and it was just very gratifying to know that the public really appreciate what we do here.
“It makes all the hard work really worthwhile. It gives you the impetus to keep going because it is hard [for pubs] at the moment.”
The pub specialises in local ales, including beers from breweries such as Phantom, Elusive, Double Barrelled, Siren Craft Brew Loddon, Windsor and Eton and Ascot.
Ms Yates said: “We try all the time to encourage people to come in, we do tap takeovers with breweries which people really enjoy and meet the brewer events.
“We’re constantly trying to come up with events and fun things, engaging with our customers and the local brewing community. I think that’s why people like us.”
The ethos is very much about being part of the local economy.
“We primarily stock local products, we try and support other small local independent businesses,” Ms Yates said. “I think our customers like that, they like that we can get local beers here.
“We don’t have anything mainstream on at all, because we can’t compete price point-wise with places like Wetherspoons.”
And the pub hosts entertainment, including screening of sporting events, a popular fortnightly quiz, and events including being a venue for a Repair Cafe where people can get repairs for electronics, mechanics, toys, clothing and other items.
Ms Yates says this has been vital to bucking the trend that has seen all too many valued local pubs close.
“It [the pub] was opened as a craft ale and gin bar, and things were going quite well, and then covid happened,” she explained, adding: “We do cheeseboards and snacks but no kitchen, so even when you had to have a meal to have a pub open, we had to stay closed.
“We were actually closed for a total of about 14 months. It was quite difficult reopening, and since then there has been the cost-of-living crisis. Hospitality is not an easy trade at the moment.
“Some of the prices have gone crazy in the last year, products have gone up 30%, but we can’t put our prices up 30% – we’d be costing ourselves out of the market.
“So you’ve got to shop around a lot, try and get some good deals. You’ve got to absorb costs where you can.”
Commenting on how the pub manages in an area with little footfall and the nearby building works at Station Hill development, Ms Yates said: “It is tricky because there is all this building work going on so sometimes the road is closed off.
“There’s been the two fires which were both very close to us, things like that have an impact and there’s nothing you can do about it.
“There are offices nearby which is brilliant, and we get some good loyal trade from the people there, and I think the after-work trade has started to come back a bit more in recent times which is great to see.”
The manager also said the pub is ‘lucky’ to be well-positioned for football fans hopping on the bus to and from the stadium.
She added: “We get good trade on football days, we get a lot of loyal Reading home fans who come in here, it’s their pub they like coming to.
“These days you have to give people a reason to come to you. In the old days, pubs could just open their doors and that would be enough, but these days you’ve got to work really hard to get people in.”
And for the future, Ms Yates said: “We’ve had a good 10 years, it would be great to do another 10 years. I’d love to continue working with as many local independent suppliers as well, trying to give people somewhere in Reading where they can get something a bit different.”
