Simonds pub

By 1805 Simonds owned 10 public houses and the brewer supplied beer to the Royal Military College at Sandhurst.

William Blackall Simonds was certainly an entrepreneur. In around 1814 he founded a bank in King Street, Reading with his cousins John and Charles Simonds and Ralph Nicholson.

The nameplate of 'J and C Simonds' can still be seen on Barclays Bank in Market Place, with which Simonds Bank merged in 1913.

William's son, Blackall Simonds, took over the brewery and opened up more pubs.

He then went into partnership with his two younger brothers Henry and George and the brewery eventually came H & G Simonds.

Simonds was sold to Courage in 1960 and in the early seventies it moved its operations to Worton Grange next to the M4.

The building that you pass on the banks of the Thames is believed to be an old Simonds pub, now owned by Reading University. The building has remained vacant for many years, partly due to access problems.

MANYTHANKS TO PROFESSOR BRUCE SELLWOOD OF READING UNIVERSITY FOR ALL OF HIS HELP WITH THIS WALK