The Blagrave Arms in Reading

My friends and i popped in after a halloween party elsewhere Saturday night. Everybody there was very accepting of my dinosaur "fanny," taking over the place! Great night.( Although the loos need updating a bit.)

Very nicely decorated and relaxing atmosphere with great staff

Always a fun night out! Went to bingo today with Wilma- I have never had a better night out! Wilma is hilarious- have never laughed so much as I have tonight! I have found my new favourite Sunday activity!

Been here twice now and still not been able to even buy a drink. First time denied entry as I didn’t have ID, I’m 43 years old and don’t carry id I’m afraid. Second time brought my driving licence with me to ensure I would get in, and the security decided to discriminate against my disability, as I can’t walk straight I’ve had a double hip replacement. anyway the manager dosnt seem to care much, even after explaining I have a disability and being told they don’t believe me. Outraged and will never return. Considering taking legal action for disabled discrimination

This is normally a brilliant little place to go chill after a shop in town. However today they failed on all counts. When did a local bar get booked out for a wedding ......all guests standing outside none inside. It is a sad day when places turn away business especially when they have loads of space ( worse part they were straight) decided a gay venue would be fun I suppose. Let us please have one place we can go for a drink without being judged.

Great place to meet friendly people, karaoke night is a blast!

Poor service ! They serve people who they know first before people who was already in the queue! Specially young barman who threatened me if I wanna be serve at all !!! Pooooorrrr service never going back there again ! Facking choke

Weird atmosphere on this visit, we found it uncomfortable as a straight group unlike our many previous visits. We won't be going again, I would rather spend my money elsewhere. Would not recommend.

The crowd is too weird for the number of straight people to be tolerable. Vibe is almost always off. Either sedate or the music is too loud or both. The staff are morose.

Used to be a good place to visit but now it's a dump Smells bad The place is not welcoming and not very good place to go after a day's work Prices are cheap or expensive depending on what you drink Toilets skink

What can I say. Amazing staff Rachel, Sarah and Adam. Customer Service 10/10 Could not fault them. You'd be a fool not to go here. Prices are so reasonable. Me n my boyfriend were extremely happy. 2nd pub we visited Clean bathrooms. Service amazing. My god for this pub we will definitely be coming to Reading again.

The bar staff was absolutely fabulous apart from an older blonde woman who took ages to serve me when there was no one at all, at the bar. She just stood there vaping and doing shots which is very unprofessional. When she did eventually serve me she was very Blunt and very rude and I have been to this venue once a week for the last 6 weeks and she has been the same. I don’t understand how she has a job here. Awful woman.

This is a great night out regardless of your preferences. It's a safe space for everyone to be themselves. I would describe it as chill party vibes. The most fun in Reading.

Great place, friendly, reasonably priced. Always make you feel like one of the family. The whole team are great and they have a variety of themed events to suit all tastes. Well worth a visit if you've never been.

Right now the whole place smells of the men’s urinals.

Been enjoying late night drinks in there for a few years now but not anymore because of the disgusting behaviour of the staff recently. I was refused entry on the 13/05 because apparently I am a drug user who was up to no good the previous night 🤣🤣. Firstly, I was not in the pub the previous night and secondly I am 100% not a drug user. Then to top the night off, a friend of mine (who was allowed in)questioned this decision and was asked to leave herself 🤣. Don't know what's going on in there at the moment but they clearly need to get their facts right and improve on their people skills.

Reading isn't far from London but the atmosphere is like the most rural Britain. Been there twice and twice regretted.

Loved it apart from got told there is a dress code. When ne we stayed anywhere else. Didn’t know until told.

Lovely welcoming atmosphere. Love the decor.

On my way to London I got off the bus and noticed this colourful place. Decided to do what I love to do, just get in for a pint of Magners. This place has been a treat! Especially thanks to 'Nobody's Baby' and a sweet, bar guy Adam. Few hours with yous made my day. What else can I say. If you don't like happy people, this place isn't for you. Performance at the highest level, even Ru Paul would love to have 'Nobody's Baby' on board! See you sometime again. All the best.

Friendly staff, great atmosphere, good location and decent prices. Could benefit from more seating.

A fun late night bar which is always good for a dance ! Bar staff are friendly and enjoy their jobs.

It seemed like a fun place to start with, although the drag artist was awful, but the staff took our drinks away when we were up dancing. This included part of a bottle of wine. There was no reason for this. The owner is extremely objectionable and unpleasant. We won't be back.

Called this bar up to find out some information regarding LGBT nights and the guy I spoke to basically said he has no idea and was quite rude.

Good friendly staff and great entertainment

Dirty, tacky and horrible staff. So tonight, I was harassed, tormented, had a drink poured over my head by an ex staff member, almost glassed by a customer and still, i was seen as the problem and thrown out as I wasn't a regular. Still im utter shock! No wonder it's gone downhill and the owners are broke!! What a shockingly terribly run establishment!

Small pub with lots of people packed in one venue music is dated needs bringing up

We have been few times at this bar and always had an amazing time. It is great to have an alternative pub like this one in Reading.

Friendly and good fun, safe place to get drunk and know you will be safe/looked after.

Had a great evening, wonderful staff, great selection of beers, superb music and a fun time had by all. Keep it up!

LGBT+ friendly pub but when we entered there was a strange old house smell. Unfortunately staff didn’t even know which payment methods they accept. She told me they didn’t accept but then my AMEX went through. OVERPRICED, 2 single vodka + sugar free Red Bull for £19… are we crazy? 🤯

Good place to chill. food is great

Had a great time here. Will definitely be returning for more bingo! The food is superb. Highly recommend it.

Happy and accepting people who enjoy their lives. Great beer and always a good night out.

Nice friendly staff Good price.nice pub to relax in.

Bingo was great fun with Wilma on Sunday night. Can't wait for next month. Lovely bar staff and felt very safe and comfortable with their covid measures in place

They did not adhere to any social distancing measures and allow people to move freely from table to table.

Friendly and welcoming atmosphere in this gay bar in Reading. Great place to have a drink or two

I have walked past this pub many times and never entered. I should have come in. It is a lovely pub with pleasant surroundings

Friendly staff. Great atmosphere

I would ignore the 6 month review, fantastic place with the greatest staff. As always alot of the same staff from wynford and Granby. Both closed down. You'd never meet such an understanding bunch of barman and needless to say helpful. The nasty yelper must of had knickers in twist when visiting.

Fantastic place, brilliant entertainment, fantastic staff. An all round safe and fun place!

When you enter the place, your nose is hit with some weird smell. I'm not sure what it is and I don't want to know but it's very unpleasant. As all the places were busy, we decided to come to this place. There was only one customer inside sitting at the bar and a few members of staff (at least 2). We got two glasses of coke. Comparing to some other places, the coke was quite expensive. The first sip and you start to wonder if the drink you got is a coke or not. Looks like coke but the flavour is like something fruity or flower taste like thing. It was horrible to drink but well, we were thirsty and we paid for this drink. In the end I went to the toilet. Another weird and strong smell hit my nose. One toilet was "out of order" as the note on the doors said. The bathroom looks like it asks to be renovated immediately. Got back to the table. In a meanwhile a few more customers appeared probably for the same reason as we - all other places are busy. The music in the background was some old songs which makes you feel it's a place for old people. One of the staff members was changing the music all the time. We were so hungry as well but the whole place and this weird taste coke made us to not even try the food there because we were afraid the food will be such unpleasant as the whole stay there. This one star is only because The Blagrave Arms is located in the centre and it easy to get to some other place to have a proper drink and food.

Karaoke is brilliant with Jamie and a good laugh too. Will defo be going back in the future.

Unfortunately not impressed with this place. On first arrival was hit with an overpowering smell of air freshener (not the nice kind), this smell or whatever it was seemed to stick to the glasses so every sip of drink I took tasted like some kind of weird berry or fruit ( I had a glass of coke) The toilets look like they are falling apart need a bit of work to fix the damage. And the smell of this air freshener is way too strong and unpleasant. The pub on a whole had a bit of a dirty feel to it. The place has a lot of potential and is in a great location, just feel it's not living up to how good this place can be. And they serve food here....but from just walking into the place I wouldn't touch the food with a 10 foot barge pole because it would probably taste like this weird odour that's around the pub. With a bit of work this place could be great. But for now it's probably only good for a quick drink and that's all. The atmosphere at night might be totally different but during the day I'd probably avoid and go somewhere else.

Friendly local bar. That's it, really.

Lovely bar, friendly people, great music. Loved it

Great night out with friends and family. Friendly and polite staff. Reasonable prices too 👍

An excellent vibe all days, especially Friday night's and the weekends. Bar staff are brilliant along with the choice of drinks available. Well worth a visit and a few bevvies!

Friendly place with lovely music

Friendly crowd and staff and evenings are busy with mix of gay and straight

Lovely gay friendly Reading city centre bar

If you like red wine you should always drink the Don Jacobo at the blagrave arms, also the music here is ace!

Pub local encantador y un gran defensor de la comunidad LGBT, Reading Pride y el RFC de Reading Renegades. Apoyan eventos y noches divertidas con el concurso mensual de pub, bingo Drag Queen y karaoke. Como solo promocionan en Facebook, los eventos pueden ser difíciles de encontrar, pero deténgase y eche un vistazo al calendario. . Tienen especialidades diarias de comida y recomiendo el desayuno de noche y tarde de Mac and Cheese cuando se ofrecen. El personal del bar es amable y hacen un gran trabajo para conocer a los clientes.

Visited for a few drinks with my brother on a weekend. It was not overly busy but it was certainly a very welcoming atmosphere, it was nice and relaxed, the service was great, would definitely recommend for a visit.

Had possibly the best night I've ever had. It's very difficult to find a place where as a non drinker, you can still have a cracking time with no issues. Went to the Blagrave Arms last night (Thursday) to celebrate my birthday with some karaoke and I've never experienced such amazing hospitality anywhere, the staff were all incredibly friendly, were happy to get involved on the karaoke too! Especially the lady called Sarah (If i remember right) who i think was the manager in at the time or landlady. She was constantly making sure and checking to see if I was having a good time and all the staff made us all feel very very welcome. The karaoke drink deals were very good and overall the prices were great, the atmosphere in there was second to none even on the hottest day of the year so far. All staff on that night were an absolute pleasure and full of smiles and laughs which you dont find often in bars and pubs, especially in Reading. If you want a sing song with a great atmosphere, I cannot reccomend Blagrave Arms enough!

Popped in kinda early on a Friday evening and had a couple of beers. The Binghams Blanc Mandarina was good. A very nice change from fizzy lagers or mundane bitters. Will visit again.

Really friendly place. Great music blasting out. Whats not to love?

Full, happy, wellcoming pub. Drinks reasonably priced, good entertainment. There are stairs to get in but only 3. We went on a Saturday night so it was really really packed but everyone was very polite at moving so I could through.

Brilliant atmosphere friendly people.

It's one of the better places in Reading to grab a drink

Best karaoke I ever been! Fantastic atmosphere and friendly staff! Love it!

Staff fabulous. I'll avoid karaoke night next time!

Great staff.. nice atmosphere. Brill location

It's the only gay bar left in Reading. It's brilliant! The servers are friendly, the people that go there are lovely and the music is super cheesy. What's not to like?

Nice place for meals and drinks

Great crowd. Great staff. Great atmosphere.

First time in here Enjoying my Guinness Preparations are in place for the Saturday night fever music Strong WiFi Staff are good

The times I have been there where not many people. There are some regulars who like to sing and some are OK to listen to. Once a month on Sunday they have an afternoon bingo followed by karaoke then it get more crowded. I went there after the bingo and there where already some wasted girls...

Great food and service - really recommend the home made chilli

Good pub, good place to drink,. Good choice of beers.

Friendly staff and great atmosphere 👍

Best gay friendly pub in Reading. Fab DJ

To be fair not an honest review. I was there for a meeting around 4pm on a week day so not a representative crowd. Staff seemed friendly enough, but the pub was mostly empty apart from a few business types. It's close to the station so maybe they were waiting for train, or drowning sorrows from bad meeting or job interview I'm sure it's livelier in the evenings. I'll update the review if/when I go in there evening.

What a great evening. Thames Valley Gay Chorus were amazing. Lovely relaxed friendly evening with great atmosphere to. Thank you

Decor plush and a nice atmosphere. Popular with Gay community. Karaoke night's are popular here. Good selection of Beers Ales and spirits . The toilets in the other hand were not so good .

Beautiful little pub, pleasant atmosphere and nice selection of ales.

Nice relaxed atmosphere, great choice of drinks.

Love this place, very open and lovely atmosphere X good selection of booze and events x

Fun pub with regular karaoke in the evening. Popular with the gay community

Great venue. Friendly team and good selection of food and drink!

Loved it. Smashing DJ. Shame the loo's were ripe and could be smelt when stood towards back of pub.

A nice friendly pub food excellent helpful staff

Good Food - Good Company - Great Music!

The decor is really plush and we were made to feel quite welcome. However, this may have been because there was nobody else in the there. We ordered lunch and waited a fair amount of time for the food to arrive. When our food order did arrive they had forgotten to cook one of our meals. This was corrected. But all three of us thought the meals were quite bland and not very enjoyable. Real shame.

Friendly staff, good food but very very quiet on weekdays

English bar. English style. Good food and great selections of Beers Wines shorts. Ales. Karaoke twice a week if your up for it. Not far from Reading Railway station. Taxis buses.

The worst gin and tonic / battery acid I've ever had,!

Great little bar serving the lbgt community , my wife and I were made to feel very welcome , went out with friends and it has a great vibe.

An amazing night with great friends x

I can't believe I used to live out near Birmingham! This place has me questioning why anyone gay would move here, save to be near London for a job and clubs there. Staff are all fat for one. Don't get me wrong I have come in over the course of a year and they seem to start ok and just balloon outwards. OK for some I guess. Staff are also kinda rude, several times I left wanting to shout "what did I just come in here with a dildo strapped to my head?" Its their 'patented' combination of ignoring the customer and giving sly glances at you all at once. Half expect them to jump out with a cattle gun sometimes, save that would at least be amusing to watch them try and jump. Reading has 300,000 and more people, and this is the only place to go out? I'll stick with the turtle thanks!

Full disclosure: My husband and I had a Groupon deal for this visit. First up, the positives: The guy behind the bar was really lovely, the decor is pretty nice, and the pizza is AMAZING. Their food prices are really reasonable from what I saw, and the other dishes I spotted going out to other tables looked pretty great too. Now (my personal) negatives: The beer selection on tap is pretty standard, I prefer to see more ales, craft beers and interesting/different drink options. It's also not overly clear that they serve food at all - there are no menus on the tables, for example - it just looks like a regular pub. Also the music was super basic pop/EDM which is really not my style, I assume they play other stuff on different nights. I do need to reiterate as my finish though, that the pizza was REALLY GOOD - 9.5/10 for the pizza alone

Excellent atmosphere. Saturdays very busy.

The Blagrave Arms is becoming a rarity in Reading and most other U.K. cities: it is an independently owned pub that sets their food and drinks right. My wife and I spent several hours wandering around Reading and we stopped at the Blagrave Arms for a cold pint and a bite to eat. It was quiet when we entered - shortly after opening time. Our drinks were poured quickly. We shared a pizza which was well prepared and very tasty. The Blagrave Arms became our favourite pub immediately. There was no hoard of inconsiderate smokers clogging the entry door. The sidewalk was not littered with cigarette butts. The place was clean and we'll maintained. The service was spot on. This might not be heaven but I could see heaven from our table. Well done to the owners.

Good night club cheap and cheerful

Brilliant staff and the best place to down a bottle or .....2 in town!

Really fun pub, always something going on, friendly team and clientele always make you feel welcome!

Nice place to go to if you know someone, not a very large place, but a nice night out. They have karaoke on Thursday and Sunday evenings and also have other events on during the days. It had been packed everytime I have been there. This is a gay/gay friendly establishment, so maybe not for all.

Love the blagrave great have for years best staff and owners to all ways made Wycombe

Great place for a bit of music and fun. Really friendly staff and always made feel welcome.