Reading South (Reading Gateway, M4/J11) Hotel

Avoid this hotel. It’s not rocket science but a little planning would have helped. This hotel is a 20 minute walk from Reading Football Club. Any normal hotel manager might think that they will be busy when Reading are playing at home, especially if a little research showed that the visiting team had sold 3000 tickets. We arrived on Friday afternoon and knowing the above booked a table in the restaurant for 7.30. We went to the bar at 7. For a drink, there were three tables occupied in a fairly large restaurant. We were therefore amazed when other guests turned up, ask for a table only to be told that the next available was at 8 as they only had one member of staff in the kitchen🤦. We took our seats (the only 7.30 booking) and ate but did experience a delay. Clearly it was true the chef was alone. Several items were missing off the menu and I mean basics like rice. Saturday lunchtime came and several guests wanted a drink at the bar only to be told that they didn’t normally open until 3. The first member of staff admitted he had not been shown how to pour a pint and could not find the keys to the fridges. Eventually someone did arrive who knew what they were doing but by this time there was a large queue and some guests had popped into Aldi and bought their own drinks. Saturday night was no better, by now pizzas were off the menu. Two guests walked out having waited 1.5 hours for their food. By Sunday night they had run out of one of only two beers available on draught. Breakfasts were also difficult with the single chef unable to keep up with demand for cooked food and croissants. Regarding the room it was a standard Premier Inn but had not been properly serviced as our kettle had not been emptied from the previous guest who like to boil cinnamon in it.

Travelled up on a Friday arrived around 18:30 in the evening. Parked easily right outside the Hotel made our way into reception. On getting to the desk there was no one to be seen. After a minute or so someone appeared and said “Name”, not hello or welcome I thought this was a bit strange. Not sure why as I live in England I had to give my nationality either? The room was the usual Premier Inn layout and clean and well presented. We didn’t book a table for a meal on arrival and we came down straight away from our rooms as a group to the bar and restaurant area at 7pm The area seemed deserted only one table occupied but staff said next availability was 8pm we looked at each and all the empty seats and shrugged our shoulders and went across to Nando’s opposite. This also made our minds up not to have breakfast there in the morning as we were unsure if they could accommodate us. Later in the evening one of the staff apologised to us saying there was staffing issues around availability of the restaurant but we had made other plans. We used this Premier Inn for its proximity to the Reading FC football stadium which was close by.

Great location for a two night weekend stay whilst visiting family living near Reading. Very friendly staff at breakfast and nothing was too much trouble even though they were working under immense pressure as they were very understaffed especially on the Sunday when the dining area was full of customers. The poor chef was on his own and waiting staff were helping him by making porridge whilst trying to collect used plates and clearing tables. Quiet, clean room and comfortable bed meant a great nights sleep.

Busy junction of M4 but access fairly easy. As a regular user of this Premier Inn I find the rooms are always clean. Although on a busy A road, giving easy access to the town or further afield. This modern fairly new building provides quiet rooms with air conditioning and courteous, professional and pleasant staff. With breakfast and evening dining on site life is made easier. I'd give it 4 out of 5 for value. Book as early as possible in advance for a good deal.

Lovely hotel, very reasonable. Comfortable beds, very clean and quiet. We also had breakfast which was lovely and they also provided gluten free toast for me