Back Of Beyond in Reading

WE go about once a month after my husband has had his treatment, food usually good, hot, although portions have got smaller over the years. Our meal was not very good, my pizza did not have the rocket on it and it appeared much thinner than usual. My husbands chips were cold. The manager served us and did say, any problems let him know. I looked for him after we started our meal , could not see him, so thought oh well. I did go up to the bar after our meal, raised my disappointment, but because we had eaten our food,, except the cold chips , the bar lady said nothing she could do, thanked us for our feed back. So if not satisfied, motto to raise concerns, there and then. We will go back next month ...........

Had to clear our own table to get somewhere to sit - very little table clearing done. Drinks ordered via the app took 15 minutes to arrive. Empty bottles were being hurled into the (recycling?) bin so hard that they smashed, with the attendant noise. No element of charm about it - would never return. It was also necessary to go to the bar to buy a pint of shandy, as shandy isn't available through the app (this is probably a Wetherspoons problem rather than being specific to the pub).

We only visited the bar once, but that was enough. I think the owners lack of social skills has been passed onto the bar staff too. Maybe it could be that I'm a northerner, but where I'm from, we greet each other with a friendly smile and manners, not a grunt from a face like a slapped bottom!

I went with my daughter for breakfast after dropping my grandson into nursery and my first Monday of my retirement. We both ordered avocado muffin with poached egg as extra, refillable tea/coffee included. While waiting for the order to arrive I was told there were no avocado, we changed to cheese and egg muffin which was cheaper and also had refillable tea/coffee included. I went to the till to get a refund and the guy took the price of the teas we were drinking off the total, I explained that as the teas will be included with the cheese and egg muffins I wanted the total refunded, which he did. I then paid and went to wait for our breakfast to arrive.....and then it did half toasted muffin, no butter (we asked but was told don't have butter), a slice of plastic cheese and egg on top...well you only have to look at the photo to see how awful it was. As we had no time to send it back or go somewhere else to eat as little Denis would need collecting from nursery we ate it but will not be back!!!!

Does what it says on the tin I suppose... Whilst I acknowledge what grateful diners on a tight budget have already said about it "being good value for money"... I have to strongly disagree. Unless of course one happens to have a ponchon for microwaved beige food coupled with ice cold customer service. As I said above, it is a Spoons after all. That said, despite the welcome price of the drinks, the numbing noise of half-cut brain-dead and imbred locals struggling to string more than two syllable words together glued by a bland range of expletives makes the experience an interesting one to say the least. It's not like it's a bad place... The Hope Tap is far worse if truth be told. Yet one unifying factor is the extremely poor customer service: apart from the slightly more jovial rotunde bar manager, a mature woman with blond hair and the short chap sporting the glasses, most employees here are lacking in any kind of developed social skills: smiling and niceties seem alien to them. This is echoed by countless reviews above. In fact, it would be fair to say, that what could be an absolutely lovely boozer is diminished by the disdainful attitude of the bar staff employed here towards its patrons. In all honesty, one suspects the top man (bar manager) who has short hair, probably in his late 40s, surely studied for a BA (Hons) in hatred whilst at university. Indeed, on more than several occasions my friends and I have simply tried to ask him how he is doing and engage in polite chit-chat and we are consistently met with an unacceptable and rude response and a shrugg of the shoulders... honestly mate... if you don't like working with customers get another job. Tip to most of your staff... we customers are not unreasonable and when some us exercise some sophisticated social etiquette, such as, saying "how are you", or even "thank you", it's just common courtesy to acknowledge that and be polite. Manners cost nothing. Decent enough pints, food bland, but if you can stomach that...knock yourself out. Biggest issue is poor customer service. Peace out!

I’m totally staggered by the poor attitude displayed by the bar manager last night. We attend the pub for a meet up every December and have done so for several years . We are a mixed group of former work colleagues predominately aged in our fifties to seventies with many of us retired. We are always well behaved and never cause trouble. At around 5pm last night my colleague and I went to the bar area which was virtually empty at the time in order to buy a drink. We were told that we were not going to be served and nor were the rest of our group who were about 30-40 in number. We politely asked for the reason for this and were told that the barman had warned members of our group on six occasion's about standing near the bar area. This all seemed very petty. We tried to reason with the bar man and said we would speak to our group and relocate them within the pub but he was not interested in listening to us, bordering on ignorant. When we explained to our group that we had been refused service and had to leave the pub, they all thought that it was a wind up. We left the pub without making a fuss all totally mystified by events and had a great evening together at a pub down the road , where we were well received. During conversation later we could not identify anyone who had actually been warned by the bar manager at the Back of Beyond about the ‘offence’ of standing near the bar area. To my knowledge no other customer was obstructed from getting a drink at the bar. Correct me if l’m wrong but you have to go to the bar area to get a drink! I’ve never heard such a strange lame excuse for kicking a large group of people out of a pub, quite unbelievable. He is fortunate that we are well mannered people because his treatment to us would not have gone down well with many other more vocal groups. Maybe we were an easy touch due to our old age. The bar manager needs a course in customer service and care to help him with his surly approach. He is an embarrassment to the pub and cost Wetherspoons hundreds of pounds.

The group I was meeting have been using this pub for our Christmas drinks for the last few years. But last night will be the last time. We were a large group of about 25 mainly in our 60’s, we were well behaved & polite. But after a couple of hours our group had grown & the man behind the bar refused to serve us. Apparently because we were too close to the bar, personally I think it was because they didn’t have enough staff on & he didn’t want to work too hard. We took our business to the Outlook 50yds up the road for a much friendlier experience

Dreadful spent thousands in herebof years but 30 old persons thrown out including me for standing near the bar!!.I will not spend 1 penny in their pubs ever again.

Me and a group of friends from Reading used to visit the back of beyond for their mid week pub quiz every week. We never came close to winning but always had a good laugh over a couple of beers and some decent food. We came out for a weekend christmas drinks night last year and were having a great evening and a good catchup in a nice central pub to us lot. My partially sighted girlfriend was out on the same night nearby, and wanted to meet me there so we could get a taxi back together. She doesn't like to advertise her disability to every Tom, Dick, and Harry so she didn't have her symbol cane as she entered the pub. I was nearby the entrance waiting for her, and she accidentally bumped into a chair as she came into the pub. I quickly came and got to her and made sure she was alright. She was all good, just a bit embarassed. I got her a lemonade, and myself an overpriced small can of Monster. As we walked away from the bar to the table my friends were sat at, we got collared by the manager, whatever his name was, and he stated he wasn't going to serve either of us any more drinks as my girlfriend was obviously drunk. All the while pointing to his silly little camera. I explained how she struggles to see in low light conditions and it was simply an accident that she bumped into an empty chair and she was incredibly embrassed by it. I tried to explain her condition to him but he wasn't having any of it. He was just trying to get a rise out of me on his silly little camera. I said fine, I'll leave, just let me say bye to my friends and we'll be off home. All the so called manager wanted to do was to try and escalate the situation, and basically not let me leave. It's like he wanted a fight, not a simple resolution like us leaving just like he asked us to. Ridiculous situation, and I hope that your so called pub becomes flats soon.

Very, very poor service for a bar with so many staff. There's one guy serving anyone with the biggest mouth rather than the next person, a girl who's surly and gives you food with no cutlery and when she does its dirty, and staff that walk into you without apologising. The only decent member of staff who treats you like a paying customer is the small, older blonde haired lady. Avoid.

There was a customer making me and my friends very uncomfortable at the table, a worker named Leila showed us support and created a lovely safe space for us, she was sweet and friendly and made sure we were safe thought they night. Truly a lovely waitress

Really nice to get their food at lunch. Their Deli deals are brilliant. I always order on the app and have their chipotle chicken wrap with a drink and order on the app. Tasty, cheap and friendly staff.

Went here for dinner and had a mixed grill but nearly all the meat was cold, which was a shame, as the food is usually good.

Very big,busy and loud . Recomended for quick and cheap pint. Friendly staff,quick service despite full capacity.

We were out exploring Reading along the canal and popped in here for a drink. We decided to sit out the back next to the canal. The seats were wet, so I went to the bar to ask for some blue roll paper to dry the seats myself. I tried to get the attention of the young girl with the long brown hair who was arranging glasses near the glasses station, I said excuse me very politely, she looked straight at my face and totally ignored me and walked away. She was NOT in the middle of a order, because I watched . I did mention this to one of the guys behind the bar, as a bit of genuine honest feedback about a staff member, he did not seem that bothered. So because of this one untrained ignorant young staff member, I've given one star so that I could actually leave a review. I will not be back simply because of that member of staff. A smile and politeness is not effort at all. I suggest she looks for a non facing customer role elsewhere. It had not rained all day, so the water on some of the seats had excess water on them from throughout the night (I assume), so it would not take much effort for someone to wipe the wet seats for customers, especially as we were not the only people to go and ask for blue roll. This was on Saturday 29th October 2022 at approx 2.50pm.

BADER deserves a pay rise man's a G. Gave us our food and drink we love him. Brownie points for my boy he hot af. He is also very kind and gave me my brownie and is always cool and a lot of fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Firstly, this is a nice pub and I'm not going to do a hatchet job on it, however, being festival weekend we decided to go down to BoBs rather than fight through the great unwashed in the 'Spoons in the town centre, bitterly disappointed to...

Originally meant to meet friends at The Hope Tap, but due to delays in opening on the day - due to some emergency work - we decamped here. Pub was nice and bright and clean. Situated beside the canal, it has an outside seating area...

We where at the back of beyond we thought it was a nice quiet place but getting into the cite is a bit of a no go for us it put us off the place from the very beginning because we met a caravan and...

We allready came here few times;food,drinks,staff amazing. Will definitely come back ! Well done!!!!

When in Reading meeting up with friends we normally go to The Hope Tap but this time it was closed until after midday for some internal works. A notice on the door stated another ‘Spoons was 11mins walk away and to be honest, I never...

Come here for some breakfast. We politely complained about the standard of food and received the worst service. Was very rude, rolling their eyes and huffing. Absolutely disgusting attitude. Weatherspoons is a lovely place for a very good priced breakfast but this weatherspoons staff are...

Please, please. Head office of wetherspoons should turn up and see on a Friday/Saturday evening. Watch your staff serving and you will be Sacking them by the morning.. Trust me

We simply asked for a umbrella and the staff were very rude and they had a very bad attitude to work we simply ask for one thing an umbrella we had to ask 3 members of staff and was given a disgusting service and when...

Staff were rude and racist to our friend trying to order some food. Staff were abrupt and rude which ruined our trip to the pub to celebrate the end of term

You know what expext from.a Weatherspoon pub, usual fare and drinks with very inexpensive specials. Walking in looks/feels same as The Hope Tap here in Reading without the smell. Nice position by the canal with very nice garden area.

I normally come here on Saturday afternoon as it very friendly & welcoming, unfortunately when there is younger staff working the atmosphere shrinks, there is one member of staff in particular who stands out. A big bone girl from Wales, she is very rude &...

This pub has served well as a base while supporting family to visit a family member in hospital as it very convenient for the buses involved. I am not a fan of much of what Wetherspoons stands for. Their owners political views which he unfortunately...

If only Wetherspoons had a decent website, or did social media. Although I checked the website in advance, it wasn't until I arrived at the pub there was any notice of the kitchen being closed for refurbishment. Very disappointing and surprising given I assume a...

Today I purchased a standard traditional  English at your ' Back of Beyond' pub in Reading, Berkshire. It was very poor. Your magazine states 'a great way to start the day' - it wasn't, even thought I started my early morning delivery round at 04:00...

Nice building, food was as expected, rude and unhelpful staff who could do with some lessons in how to treat a customer

Visited Back of Beyond today with some friends and Sandra was very helpful and quick with our orders super friendly will come again!

Sandra was a delight, garden is lovely. Not a bad word to say. Would happily visit again providing certain people are working.

Son típicamente para el weatherpoons reparto de. . . . Jere. . . . . Venga. . . . Sabes a lo que me refiero. Se están pensando también. Éste está bien. Catherine Wheel en Henley es también bien. Costo muy efectivo sin demasiados. . Muy bien. Los visitantes típicos normalmente weatherpoons (yep, borrachos, ch@v5o. . . Allí vamos.. . . Casi me dijo que sí. . . Me llaman un snob! ! Yo soy respetuoso de la gente que me rodea, a diferencia de las personas que te dan pero bueno. weatherpoons habituales . Éste está bien. . . Yo incluso comer la comida de aquí sin sentir indignado.

Visited recently for lunch. We had several tables to choose from, but just about every one felt 'sticky' to the touch. Once we settled at an acceptable table, we went to the bar to order our food. Even though there was nobody else waiting, we still had to wait for several minutes at the bar to be served. We also had to wait much longer than expected for our food, which we can only describe as 'acceptable'. We were really disappointed with our visit to the Back of Beyond and won't be returning in the future.

This is one of the worst Spoon pubs i have ever been in. From the manager down there is nothing to recommend it. The self styled King Jason is an arrogant guy and it shows in the poor service you get from him and his staff. The beer is poorly kept and the food at best is lukewarm. I would never go back there and i could never recommend it to anyone. Honestly,spend a bit more and there are plenty of decent places in the area. I know they go for the cheaper end of the market but a dirty pub with dirty plates, glasses, toilets etc and very poor service does not make for a nice evening.