The Reading Rooms, Wheathampstead
07.56 Planning a trip out tonight to go and sample The Reading Rooms Wheathampstead. A micropub with a great name for someone like me. I will get some photos and write a report here later.
Lesson Number One
When planning a trip out to The Reading Rooms make sure that you have looked at the opening times: 12.00hrs to 21.30hrs.
I arrived at 21.32hrs! Schoolboy error!
The Reading Rooms Wheathampstead
Having arrived just as this micropub was about to close you could be forgiven for thinking I would be rightly thrown out with a flea in my ear. Nothing could be further from the truth. Rebecca apologised profusely and explained that the licensing had to take into account the local neighbours and thus the early closing.
Such is the world of micropubs. The Reading Rooms Wheathampstead is certainly a micropub!
What impressed me straight away on entering was the level of conversation echoing through this delightful location for the beer drinker. People were talking to each other with that lively effervescence which froths to the surface after a good night in the pub.
This venue has an immediate sense of community and hospitality about it.
The Reading Rooms Wheathampstead is more than just a room. There is a bar area, a room with Chesterfield armchairs snuggles at the back of the bar and there is an upstairs space which really brings out the features of the building.
Every part of this micropub is blessed with the connection to a history which layers the village of Wheathampstead. If you are looking for a micropub in which you want to sit with a pint and read a book then this is exactly the place for you.
The draught beer was from the Farr Brewery. As I arrived late, I am not really in a position to review the beers on offer.
That is the bad news but the good news, the really good news as far as I am concerned, is that I have to return quickly in order to complete the task in hand.
Watch this space because I am not anticipating this task is going to sit on my desk for long!
The bar itself appears to have a good selection of craft beers for those with a taste for these. There is some tasty looking cake on offer and a variety of snacks which look enticing.
In our times when pub closures are a real issue, the expanding market of micropubs is not just a welcome response but harks back to some of the traditions of a ‘public house’.
The Reading Rooms at Wheathampstead really do have the feel of an old pub in which everyone is welcomed even if late! I took with me a copy of my recent work “The Old Scrapbook” which I wanted to leave for the customers to enjoy. Rebecca, a history student herself, was very happy to put it on the shelves and generously offered me a complimentary bottle of stout to take away in return. This is a micropub I am going back to soon.
The Reading Rooms Wheathampstead
You just cannot get away from it, the Reading Rooms Wheathampstead is just a delightful little micropub in a wonderful Hertfordshire village.