12 Market Place, Newbury, Berkshire, RG14 5BD.   (View on map)

A Wetherspoon pub is not somewhere to go for a great cup of tea, but it will do a passable cup of tea and it will do it cheaply. Every Wetherspoon’s I’ve ever been in will serve a cup of tea in the same way: the teabag in the mug, a saucer on top of the mug and a milk jug on top of the saucer. This does allow you to carry it all with one hand (handy) but does mean that drinking the tea leaves you with a dilemma. Is the saucer for the teabag? For the mug? For the mug and the teabag? I tend to use the saucer for the teabag and milk jug and let the mug sit straight on the table as it’s quite a small saucer and things don’t balance properly if you try to put the teabag and the mug on the saucer.

Anyway, the tea at The Hatchet Inn was hot and strong and only cost 79p, but the best thing about this place is the log fire. The pub opens at 7am and though I’ve never made it there quite that early, I have made it in before 8am and the log fire is lit if it’s cold outside. A leather armchair, a book, a cup of tea and a log fire. Lovely.

Teapot? No.
Leaf tea? No, a Tetley drawstring teabag.
Milk jug? Yes, a tiny one.
Price? 79p for tea, though the menu says it’s £1.19 I have never been charged that much. Sometimes I am charged 99p though, must remember to ask why the price changes when that next happens. They also do a loyalty card with a free tea after five hot drinks are purchased. Bargin.
Cake? No, but muffins, biscuits, breakfasts (including hot drink and a breakfast item – such as a a bacon roll – for £1.89).
Go again? Yes, there’s a log fire!