The White Horse Public House on Ock Street is having a refurbishment, and as with all such refurbs they will be changing the sign.

Over the past twenty years, the sign has evolved from a running horse, to a white horse head silhouette, and then to the carved chalk horse on the hill over Uffington after which our district council is named. The current proposal shows a small rearing white horse icon with larger text.

The design is now going through the planning process, where the heritage officer has raised concerns about the balance of the sign. With other signage on the building already relying on ‘THE WHITE HORSE’ text, the officer suggests a more traditional hanging sign – with a larger image and more modest lettering – would better suit the pub. A local resident made the same point.

This Morland sign is on Bridge Street in Reading, close to St Mary’s church and the old centre of Reading.

There is a web page showing Morland pubs at http://breweryhistory.com/wiki/index.php?title=List_of_Morland_&_Co_Ltd_Pubs. It shows that Morland was once the size of an Anglo-Saxon kingdom with pubs from Leicester to Southampton and from Somerset to Surrey. The Be at One cocktail Bar was then called the Cross Keys.

Dusham took over, and then refurbished, the Nags Head in 2012, and ran it until August 2019. He often carried out winter upgrade work. As a result the large island beer garden has been transformed. The Nags Head has its best months in the Summer with the River Thames and Nags Head Island being big attractions.

The Nags Head has been taken over by Brakspear. The name Brakspear rhymes with Shakespeare and originated with the Brakspear Brewery in Henley-on-Thames. They have 130 pubs.

The Nags Head is closed for refurbishment during the winter months.