The Corn Stores Reading

Found in a Grade II-listed building and set across three floors, The Corn Stores is a striking-looking place with a cocktail bar, steak restaurant and members' lounge. 

The Corn Stores prides itself on using the best of British produce and making as much of its output as it can in-house. The restaurant butchers and ages its own meat and makes its own burgers and sausages in the kitchen and it also boasts its own smokery, which it uses to smoke everything from salmon and sirloins on the bone.

The product of all this hard work? A tempting menu of British fayre – think cuts of steak served with mixed leaf salads and your choice of sauce, or pan-fried bream which can be paired with sides such as beef fat chips and mac ‘n’ cheese.

After dinner, indulge with the likes of blood orange cheesecake or sticky toffee pudding, before finishing up with your pick of house-mixed cocktails, including a Mango Martini and a Butter Old Fashioned.  

The Corn Stores is a charming pub and restaurant in Reading which is housed inside a Grade-II listed building that has been lovingly restored.

The venue is split across three floors, with a cocktail bar on the ground floor, a main dining room and a top floor members-only lounge, which boasts its own bespoke cocktail menu. The dining room at The Corn Stores is an industrial-chic space, featuring distressed wooden floors, exposed brick walls and pipes running along the ceiling. It’s cosy too though, with guests able to settle into velvet tub chairs or comfy banquette booths (which are ideal for double dates or small groups).

The menu at The Corn Stores is all about highlighting the very best of seasonal British produce, although there is a notable Asian influence too. At lunch, diners can enjoy a set two- or three-course menu which includes dishes such as Aylesbury duck with sweetcorn and black pudding followed by 70% dark chocolate with crispy rice and toasted seaweed for dessert.

Come dinnertime, a different set menu comes into play, this time with the opportunity to plump for four courses (vegan version also available). You can kick-start your meal with raw Lake District farmers beef with gherkin, egg yolk and nori or locally shot partridge with salsify and pinecone syrup. For your fish course, choose between the likes of cod with mashed potato and smoked butter sauce or linecaught john dory with granny smith apple and barbecued leek. Meats are the star of the show for mains, with options to choose from including veal rump with onions, wild garlic capers and Jerusalem artichoke (for a supplement, you can also take your pick from a range of steaks).

To finish up, enjoy desserts such as roasted black figs with rice pudding or try one of the novel house cocktails.