Palmer Tavern Wins Late Night Events Licence!

The Palmer Tavern in East Reading, on Wokingham Road opposite Palmer Park, has won permission to host live and recorded music and performances from 10am to midnight each day to better cater for students.

Formerly the College Arms, the pub had a upgrade of £360,000 in 2024 to become Greene King the first Nest pub franchise.

The tavern is run by Samantha Lane, who applied to extend the licensing hours to help the pub better support student groups and nighttime events.

Ms Lane said she was delighted the application was granted and that the extra hour will let students hold socials, awards evenings and meetings without being asked to leave at 11pm.

She added the later finish will also help during major football matches, quiz nights, bingo and league pool nights, allowing the pub to properly support the events and communities that have grown up around it.

The licensing change will help the University of Reading student societies the pub sponsors, including the pool society, the athletics society and the Bridges XI football team.

Since taking over, Ms Lane says the pub has been transformed: it moved from a 3-star food hygiene rating to 5 stars, achieved 5-star NFS ratings, gained 5-star Cask Marque, won Sports Pub of the Year, Pub of the Year and Regional Pub of the Year, and grown its TripAdvisor and Google ratings.

She called the licence extension an important milestone for the Palmer Tavern and thanked customers, students, the community and her team.

The council's licensing team approved the application for events until midnight after no one objected during a statutory consultation that concluded on August 5.

James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter