Although this pub is neither statutorily nor locally listed, it is in the Eldon Square Conservation Area and it is a One Star pub on CAMRA’s National Inventory with an interior of special national historic interest, and the description is as follows: “This small Victorian terraced pub has two rooms. The public bar at the front is an amalgamation of the former off-sales and bar, hence the second, but disused front door on the right. This small room still retains its original counter, mirrored back fitting and dado panelling with a bench beneath the front window and a baffle by the entrance. An opening leads to the lounge at the rear which would have been two small rooms at some stage in the past. Its fittings are all modern. The former outside gents' has been incorporated within the main pub to the rear of the lounge. All the woodwork received a coat of light green pastel paint about 2015.”

The Eldon Square Conservation Area description of the pub is as follows: “The Retreat public house. The property was licensed in the second half of the nineteenth century when the property was occupied by Thomas Law pork butcher and beer retailer. In 1903 it was a beerhouse tied to Higgs brewery.”

In the book mentioned above, it says that this has been a pub since the latter half of the 19th century and that in 1903 it was classed as a beerhouse. “The facilities comprised bar, bar parlour, taproom, bottle and jug department.” According to the book, the pub was later acquired by Wethereds. “The Retreat was one of the Reading pubs included in CAMRA’s first Good Beer Guide in 1974 with the description, ‘a delightful back-street pub’.” “The Retreat passed into the hands of Enterprise Inns, before being sold on to Admiral Taverns in 2006.”

CAMRA website link: CAMRA/Retreat

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