My spouse and I visited The Speckled Hen Cottage Pub and
Alehouse for drinks and snacks on a Saturday afternoon in late October 2016.
This pub is located at the intersection of Cherry and South Fourth Streets in
downtown Reading near the Santander Arena. The owners of the Speckled Hen also
operate Judy’s on Cherry and Plein Air Garden Café (an outdoor courtyard
restaurant open in spring and summer); all three properties share the same
piece of corner real estate. The Speckled Hen is open for dinner and drinks Wednesdays
through Saturdays (closed Sundays through Tuesdays). The restaurant accepts
reservations by telephone. A complimentary surface parking lot is available
across the street.
The Speckled Hen occupies the part of an historic building
complex that includes a log house, Hiester House, and the market annex. The Log House, built about 1760, features
pine logs joined together with cut stone and mortar in a notch-and-saddle
corner construction. The John Hiester House, built about 1820, is located to
the rear of the Log House. To the rear of the Hiester House is the West Reading
Market Annex, built in 1895. The complex joined the National Register of
Historic Places in 1979. Owners modeled The Speckled Hen after the
country cottage pubs in the British Isles. The space includes two dining areas;
the main area includes a working fireplace, tavern tables, upholstered benches,
and a small wooden bar. A red-walled parlor provides additional seating.
The Speckled Hen offers eight beers on tap, although not
“Old Speckled Hen” (which is only available in the bottle). The restaurant
serves pub-style comfort food including hearty entrees such as shepherd’s pie,
fish and chips, bangers and mash, meatloaf, grilled cheese, and macaroni and
cheese. We just wanted a snack, so we shared the Scotch eggs (hard-boiled egg
wrapped in ground sausage and deep-fried) and the Brussel sprout bites (fried
with shallots and tossed in ponzu sauce). We enjoyed the unique Scotch eggs,
but we felt that the portion of sprouts was undersized and of inferior quality,
consisting of mostly peeled-off curly leaves instead of dense centers (yet the pub
priced the sprouts at the same $8 price as the eggs).
Still, we enjoyed our time at The Speckled Hen.
