Although this pub is not a listed building, it has some atmosphere, being simply furnished with bare boards and numerous handpumps. It is included on the tour for its interesting range of cask ales and ciders. To quote from the History of Reading Society’s book Abbot Cook to Zero Degrees (an A to Z of Reading's Pubs and Breweries) by John Dearing, David Cliffe and Evelyn Williams, “this was a noted gay pub as the Tudor Arms but after surviving demolition threats in 1986 it was reopened by Whitbread in 1988 under a new name, the Malthouse….in the 2000s it resumed its connections with the gay community.” “The gay reconnection was of short duration and the pub closed with planning permission granted for part-conversion to residential accommodation. Happily an area of retail space was retained and this reopened as the Greyfriar in 2014.” The book goes on to say that in 1903 the pub was owned by Weldale Brewery and had “two bars, a smoke room, two coffee rooms, one tearoom, five bedrooms for travellers and stabling for ten horses.” “The pub owes its current exterior appearance to alterations undertaken at the behest of Wethereds of Marlow in 1937 designed by Gerald Berkeley Wills.” “Wills designed at least five other pubs in the borough, along with Reading Crematorium.”

CAMRA website link: CAMRA/Greyfriar

The Greyfriar featured on the Biscuits and Beer: Daytime Pub Tour of Reading on 16 May 2026.