The Queen’s Arms: a racing hotspot

Set in Berkshire’s rolling chalk downland, this traditional hostelry is a racing hotspot but you don’t have to be a sporting buff to appreciate its charms, says Rory Knight Bruce

Good for: Racing fans, shooting parties, stately home visits.

In days gone by you might have found Spectator ‘Low Life’ columnist Jeffrey Bernard being propped up by the bar, and legendary Daily Express racing tipster Charles ‘The Scout’ Benson lounging on a banquette in the dining room. Next to them, in animated conversation, might have been actor Oliver Reed and champion amateur jockey Gay Kindersley, sharing lunch and the company of a leggy blonde. Welcome to The Queens Arms in East Garston, situated between Hungerford and Lambourn in the rolling Berkshire downland known as ‘The Valley of the Racehorse’.

Today the mantle of this fine racing, shooting and wholly sporting pub, with 12 well-appointed rooms, has fallen to Freddie Tulloch who lives in Kindersley’s old house. From The Queens Arms he organises outings to Newbury races and recently he hosted a mini game fair that raised funds for the Country Food Trust. There were stalls as varied as that of the talented jeweller Loucinda Nims, Josh Brown from the Barbury Shooting School and Juliette Howard’s muntjac burgers, garnered from the wild herds that roam Wiltshire’s historic Savernake Forest.

Dog-friendly and traditional

However, you don’t have to be a sporting buff to enjoy the open fires and hospitality of this immaculately run, dog-friendly, traditional hostelry. Regulars Jon and Karen Hack upped sticks from London in 2016 to embrace the village of East Garston. Their new life involves propagating 55,000 native sapling tree species from seed. “We were immediately made welcome, and the pub has played a great part in that,” says Karen Hack. “Freddie has created a wonderful atmosphere and the pub is a real hub.”

To meet Tulloch, now 55, is to immediately be embraced by his inclusive philosophy of wanting people to have fun. Both he and his wife Sue were involved in hospitality in London. When the pub came up for sale in 2015 it was in a sorry state. “We now have 12 en-suite bedrooms and employ more than 20 people,” he says. “It is not just the racing crowd – where we might do a breakfast of owners and trainers for 100 – but cyclists and folk from the north who stop off for the night on the way to their yachts in Southampton. But the locals remain very important,” he emphasises.

Racing and shooting parties

There is no doubt racing and shooting parties have their part to play. Tulloch runs his own 200- to 300-bird pheasant and partridge shoot, Kimbers, nearby. “If we are fully booked on the shoot we can have parties to stay for four other shoots not far away as well,” he says. He is also involved in getting younger people to go to Newbury Racecourse, something he did growing up with his own parents, Bill and Georgina Tulloch. Among other successful racehorses, they owned Lean Ar Aghaidh who won the Whitbread Gold Cup and came third in the Grand National.

“While we pride ourselves on being a traditional country pub with rooms, operating daily specials from burgers to venison stew and local ales, we can also offer Dover sole and fine French wines,” continues Tulloch, who is always thinking of new themes to keep his customers amused. Another recent success story has been Valentine’s night where he gets in a Fawlty Towers tribute act of Basil, Sybil and Manuel. Somewhat alarmingly, he says the menu is exactly as per the television series but the evening is a sell-out. “It saves people thinking about what they might otherwise have to do,” he believes.

Outdoor exercise

With the historic Ridgeway and myriad cycle, bridle and walking paths close at hand, there is no shortage of opportunity for outdoor exercise. Those of a literary bent might wish to walk with a copy of Edward Thomas’s rustic poem Lob, set nearby, or the downland poems of Old Marlburian Charles Hamilton Sorley, killed at 20 in 1915 at the Battle of Loos. For the more broad-minded, there are also Kindersley’s racing memoirs, Flings Over Fences. As I am talking to Tulloch, his phone goes and he explains afterwards: “Only Nicky Henderson booking in for lunch to celebrate yesterday’s winners,” he says, completely unfazed.

DON’T MISS: Nearby for stately house visits are Highclere Castle (of Downton Abbey fame), Welford Park for its renowned snowdrops and the National Trust’s Ashdown House.

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