Tilehurst is a village on the outskirts of Reading, with a history of at least 800 years. The parish church of St Michael was established shortly after the foundation of Reading Abbey, with evidence demonstrating it has been used for worship since at least 1189, its stone walls witnessing centuries of burials, marriages and daily worship. That it was established in the late twelfth century suggests that there was by now a settled community here. Through the medieval and Tudor periods, the village formed around farmers, labourers and the odd wealthy knight, until the Victorian age in the mid-1800s when a larger community spilled from Reading through Oxford Road and into the village. This was also likely to have been as a result of Theale's growing reputation as a stopping place for coaches from London. Thatched cottages, Georgian buildings and Victorian homes still survive, representing the many centuries that Tilehurst has been the centre of a community. And at the centre of it, for almost three hundred years, stood what is now the Fox and Hounds pub on City Road.
It was on a lively Sunday afternoon that I took a a seat on a stool in the pub's lounge and chatted with the landlady, Helen. It was my intention to research the building and try and find out some of its history but, it turns out, some of the locals had already extensively researched its story. The building dates to the mid-1700s, and was once a blacksmith's shop that served the community, no doubt a good place for trade just a short ride from the busy A4, or Bath Road as it would have then been called. Rocque's map (the earliest we have of the village) may show the building as it stood in 1761. You can see the map here - look to the left of the word 'Langley' at the bottom.
Andrew Jordan, an early owner of the building, was actually a blacksmith by trade and it may have been under his watch that the business converted to that of a public house. Andrew was born in 1814 in Pangbourne, and was married to Mary Ann Wiggins. They had four children. The first mention of the Fox and Hounds as a pub was in 1831, when the hunting party of Sir John Cope met there. Andrew Jordan is recorded as the owner in 1851, when he was fined for serving ale before the standard opening time.
The pub is deceptively large inside, forming a "U" shape around the bar and then leading to an outside seating area. There is also a beer garden. The pub has retained its 'olde world' feeling inside, and it's cosy, welcoming and usually busy with locals. But it's not just the local members of the village that fill the pub. Helen told me that there are a number of spirits (not of the drinking kind) that have also made themselves known. From glasses flying off the bar to doors banging in the night, the owners have experienced cleaning materials disappearing and then returning and a tall unexplained shadow flitting past the bar. A visit from a ghost hunting team revealed that when Helen and her partner Ian took over the pub in September 2023 there were nine ghosts that had made the pub their home. They included a soldier from the Second World War, a four-year old girl named Dorothy and an old local called Jack Butler. Butler was such a regular at the pub that the lounge we were sitting in is named after him. Now, before they close, the owners leave a little drop of beer in a glass at the end of the bar as a 'peace offering' and activity has now generally settled down.
Historically, the pub has experienced its share of drama. In 1984 a 21-year old pubgoer named David Atkinson threatened fellow customers with a shotgun aimed through the window, although no one was hurt. A previous landlady was said to have committed suicide in the 1960s, while in 1943 one of its regulars, Eddie Goddard, was involved in the Second World War attack on the German battleship the Tirpitz. He lived in the village and died there in 1992.
What I loved most about the Fox and Hounds as I sat and sipped on a chilled half pint of cider is how involved in the local community Helen and Ian are. They offer Monday Madness, where you pay £5 for a burger and chips if you buy a pint or a 175ml glass of wine, and a roast dinner on Sundays, which you have to book in advance. They organise the local pumpkin trail at Halloween, where neighbours decorate the fronts of their houses with a theme, and they host karaoke, sports and quiz nights and even a pickled onion competition. With its atmosphere, friendly staff and buzzing with history it is well worth a visit if you're in the area. There's a car park, with lots more on-road parking nearby, too. And if you're worried about a spooky encounter while you're there don't worry - the pub's other residents tend to make themselves known between 1-2am, long after locking up.
Visit the Fox and Hounds website to find out more, and do give them a follow on social media on Instagram and Facebook.
Like this? You might also like Does Catherine Howard's Ghost Really Haunt Hampton Court? or An Assault in 1534 in Padworth, Berkshire.
Also, find out about a local Tilehurst woman, Isabella More, who lived in the village in the fifteenth century, one of the characters in my book Forgotten Women of the Wars of the Roses. Published by Pen and Sword, and can be ordered here.
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Sources:
Beerhouses and Inns of Tilehurst, St Michael's Heritage Day information
History book in the Fox and Hounds pub
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