Derelict Pub Set for New Life After 40 Years
The former Horse & Barge on Duke Street in Reading, also known as Ye Olde Lower Ship, shut in the early to mid 1980s and has stood empty since. Its owner, Samuel Smith Brewery of Tadcaster, has now put it on the market through Campbell Gordon and Brecker Grossmith, in a report from September 2023. Various proposals over the decades came to nothing, and the brewery declined to comment.
A pub has stood on the spot for centuries, but the present building, of 8,344 sq ft, was built in 1889. The 0.22-acre site includes rear parking and old hotel rooms upstairs, and is offered for redevelopment, conversion or continued use under its existing permission.
Duncan Campbell, a director at Campbell Gordon, said the sale is unconditional rather than subject to planning, leaving the buyer free to pursue their own commercial plan. The building is unlisted but lies in a conservation area, so restrictions apply, and it is near a major high-density residential scheme planned by The Oracle. He said it needs work and any scheme must be viable, but the riverside position, close to the London Street Brasserie, is attractive. He felt continued leisure use or residential would both work, while offices would not, and said recent lettings at The Village (once King's Walk) had lifted the area. He reported good interest and a number of discussions already under way.
Source: UK Property Forums, original article (13 September 2023)
