Goring and Pangbourne

Posted on 2012/07/22 22:18:45 (July 2012).

[Sunday 22nd July 2012]
My friend Andy is leaving the country (again!) to move to Japan, and today would be my last chance to see him before he was off. So I thought some kind of fitting pub themed send off would be appropriate. We've extensively covered all the interesting parts of London on our jaunts over the past few years, and, since he's been living out in Berkshire we've also given Henley, Marlow, Oxford and Windsor a fairly thorough treatment. So I had initially scratched my head a bit for where else we could go, but eventually realised I had a bit of a craving to return to an old stomping ground - the stretch of the Thames around Goring and Pangbourne. More so as Goring (and to some extent Pangbourne) is the quintessential English rural idyllic village which seemed an appropriate sort of venue for a farewell to someone who'd soon be leaving our green and pleasant land.

We met on the train at Reading, and proceded from there to Goring, where on arrival we walked through the village, and over the river to Streatley. The Bull at Streatley is famous in my family for the ancient incident (in the 1950s or 60s?) when Vera had one too many "gin and Its" and ended up rather unwell. I have only been once before almost a decade ago now, and also managed to embarrass myself somewhat by getting into an argument with the management (over the fact they would no longer serve a "gin and It"). I was sufficiently ashamed of my behaviour that I'd never felt I could go back in all the subsequent time we lived in the area, or since. Nine-and-a-bit years on though that seems very much like water under the bridge (or perhaps more importantly the management have changed several times since then) and it felt good to finally put that ghost to rest.

After that, back across the river to Goring and to the highlight of the afternoon - the John Barleycorn. I first came here with Dad actually - I'm not sure what brought us to Goring on that occasion, and have a feeling it might even have been before I was living in Pangbourne. I recall we went for a walk along the Thames, and then he just sort of instinctively homed in on it.

Of all the five pubs we visited today this was the most like I remembered it, and a superb example of what a rural pub should be. Beautiful low hanging beams, a unique and interesting shaped timber framed bar, but all of it just unfussily let be, and no attempt to tart it up or exaggerate it. The management here have changed a once or twice since I was last here as well (which must be at least seven years ago) but the current landlord and landlady are a lovely old couple, who are apparently also locals. The food was good - simple unfussy country fare - and pleasingly they still had the bar billiards table, which we of course had a game on after lunch. I could happily have stayed in this lovely pub all day.

Next we went to the Catherine Wheel, very nearby, which perhaps hasn't fared quite as well as the Barleycorn. I think it's undergone some kind of refurbishment / extension since I was last here, which wasn't entirely sympathetic in my opinion, and it has definitely lost some character as a result. I suppose you can't blame them if it helped them stay in business, and having one out of the two pubs I remember in Goring be unchanged after this stretch of time is probably more than I could have hoped for.

We got the train from Goring to Pangbourne after that, to finish off our afternoon with two of my old haunts there. First, the Cross Keys, probably the pub I used to go to most when I lived there, which felt a bit rough around the edges compared to how I remember it. I suppose the garden bit out the back was still quite pleasant.

Our final pub (consistent with the denouement of Three Men in a Boat) was the Swan in Pangbourne, which I suppose was more or less the same as it has always been since I've known it - because I've always known it to be a very attractive historic building in a great riverside location, but with disappointingly bland pubco ownership. I suppose that's easily forgotten when enjoying the very pleasant riverside terrace, overlooking the Thames, where I'm always reminded of the very first time I came to this pub - and to Pangbourne in fact - arriving in Rob's Dad's boat, mooring up directly beside the terrace, and walking straight off the boat, straight into the pub. That's the way to do it.

We got the train back after that, and I said my goodbyes to Andy at Reading, where I changed to a faster train to London. I hope it won't be too long before we meet again, and it's obviously a plus that he's emigrating to Japan rather than anywhere else, as obviously we end up there pretty often!

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