Swan at Streatley - venue researcher

The Swan at Streatley

Swan at Streatley, site visit date 8^th July 2022

Weather-wise we’re at the start of a heat wave, the temperature today is due to top 28oC. Forget about rushing to the beach, rush to the Swan at Streatley, it feels like you’re on holiday in Cornwall rather than on the outskirts of Reading, Berkshire.

Access and outside

The hotel is literally right beside the River Thames, so close that it almost blends into its surroundings.

Boring, functional stuff … the hotel is only about 15minutes from the M4 Theale Junction. The drive from the motorway starts to set the scene, the road in parts runs parallel to the river almost at the same height so you’re driving along with boats ambling up river to your right, you pass through the very pretty village of Pangbourne, past the Aston Martin show room and the hotel is a bit further along on your right.

The L shaped car park wraps around the hotel whose main entrance is just off the car park to the back of the hotel.

As with its sister hotel, the Great House at Sonning, the reception is small and neat, very welcoming. Leading off reception to the left is the hotel’s lounge area which topples into the hotel’s garden, with fully opening floor to ceiling glass doors, the garden, and the lounge merge into one, it’s a very comfortable area and dogs are very welcome, in fact they’re welcome throughout the whole of the hotel.

To the right of reception, you have stairs leading to the bedrooms and just beyond the stairs is the hotel’s gym (The Gym at Streatley) which is surprisingly large, beautifully cool in this heat and packed full of equipment.

The gym is available to members and hotel guests and is open from 6am to 10pm, 7 days a week. During your stay you can also take advantage of a selection of health and wellbeing activities available throughout the year, these include paddle-boarding, wild swimming, mindfulness and running clinics.

The hotel also has several of its own boats for guest use, there are five-seater and 12seater boats that you can take out on the river between the two locks.

There are terraces and lawns with tables and chairs set up everywhere so you can grab a coffee and work in the fresh air sitting right by the river watching the world go by. It’s so relaxing and calm. The gardens are very well laid out, there are smaller areas that you can tuck yourself into rather than being just plonked in the middle of a lawn.

You can certainly set up your laptop here and work very comfortably but if you’re here for a meeting then that’s all perfectly positioned too.

Meeting and Event Space

Back outside, via the main hotel entrance, walking alongside the gym and fitness studio, you’ll find a dedicated entrance for the meeting and event space.

You walk into a large, wide corridor/lobby area. Two small meeting rooms, the Wigeon and the Heron, each accommodating 4 – 6 boardroom style are located here with the main meeting space further down the corridor.

At the end of this foyer/corridor area is the shared pantry and lounge, a welcoming, open, and light space where refreshment breaks, and lunch are taken for all the meetings in-house (privacy and exclusive use is not guaranteed unless you take all meeting rooms). In the pantry you’ll find unlimited hot and cold drinks, filtered still and sparkling water.

Beyond the pantry and lounge is the main meeting space. When fully opened the room is called the Aviary but it also sub-divides into four, the Kingfisher, the Teal, the Wagtail, and the Moorhen.

Floor to ceiling windows and glass doors run the full length of the main space, each sub dividing space has access directly onto the terrace and lawn with amazing near distance views of the Thames. The Wagtail also includes a fireplace.

Capacities:

Wigeon 4 – 6 boardroom style

Heron 4 – 6 boardroom style

Capacities:

Aviary 260 theatre style (or 160 seated dinner)

The Aviary then divides into four, listed from left to right as the room divides which also allows you to divide the room in half (Kingfisher/Teal & Moorhen/Wagtail, etc):

Kingfisher maximum x 30 boardroom style

Teal maximum x 24 boardroom style

Moorhen maximum x 24 boardroom style

Wagtail maximum x 24 boardroom style

Public Space

In terms of public space, you have the hotel’s lounge (off the main entrance/reception) which is very comfortable, light, airy and relaxed but you also have the Coppa Club.

The Coppa Club is just lovely, it has lots of nooks and crannies’ you can tuck yourself into whether you’re looking for a coffee and somewhere to send a few emails, or a small group looking for lunch or dinner.

There is a private dining room just as you enter Coppa to the left-hand side, the Gallery. This seats a very maximum of x 15 for breakfast, lunch or dinner, there is a bay window just to the right of the image below, out of shot which gives the space a much roomier feel.

None of the larger spaces are bookable which is a shame (but never say never) as there’s an area within the club, just down a couple of steps, the Library, that could seat a group of circa x 20 and the Boat House too at the far end of the restaurant.

The restaurant has its own conservatory style add-on and terrace areas too, there are so many options that I think nearly every taste in setting could be accommodated. Just as welcoming in the winter as the summer.

I did nearly return to the hotel for dinner that night, we will another day for sure and that won’t be too far off.

Accommodation

The hotels bedrooms and Coppa Club are fully equipped with plenty of charging points and super-fast WiFi.

The Swan has a total of x 47 bedrooms, individually styled, some with a balcony, all dog and family friendly but also very comfortable for transient or conference residents.

Categories include:

Small, medium and large double (with and without River Views)

Loft Rooms

Family Suite

River Suite

Summary

The second property of this small chain that I’ve visited recently, and I have to say the hotels are charming. The right mix of somewhere you could happily visit for both business with your colleagues and return for a leisure stay with family or friends.

Descriptively I couldn’t put this better myself.

On a wide stretch of the River Thames in the Chiltern Hills, The Swan at Streatley is a converted 17^th century inn with a terrace right at the water’s edge.

For weddings, parties, corporate Christmas events, family lunches, romantic get-away, meetings and events (just note the privacy levels in terms of shared pantry space if absolute privacy is needed), this hotel has it all and I loved visiting it.

Want more information or to check meeting availability contact us.