The Narrowboat pub, previously called The Bel & Dragon, has been closed to the public since the end of March last year.
The pub was closed after its owning company Fuller’s Brewery chose to convert it into a ‘chefs academy’.
Once trained up, these chefs are dispatched to the company’s collection of more than 380 pubs across the country.
Now Fuller’s to replace the benched seating for the restaurant with free-standing kitchen equipment and sink cabinets.
Part of the old restaurant area would have a table with 10 seats placed in it to create a meeting room, with timber framing being used to separate it from the training kitchen.
On the outside, the company has applied to temporarily install two extract louvre vents, four air condensers and a steelwork frame to support kitchen ducting.
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Fuller’s has a pedigree in gastropub dining as well as producing quality ales.
Examples of Fuller’s pubs in the area include The Three Guineas at Reading station, The Bull in Sonning, and The Lock Stock & Barrel in Newbury, among others.
You can view the application for The Narrowboat by typing reference PL/25/0055 into Reading Borough Council’s planning portal.
The company won permission to convert the pub into a training facility for a temporary period of up to five years (reference PL/24/0619) last September.
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