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Wikipedia

Reading, Berkshire

March 29, 2023

Reading (/ˈrɛdɪŋ/ (listen) RED-ing)[2] is a town and borough in Berkshire, England. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers Thames and Kennet. Reading is 40 miles (64 km) east of Swindon, 24 miles (39 km) south of Oxford, 40 miles (64 km) west of London and 16 miles (26 km) north of Basingstoke.

Reading
Borough of Reading
Town and Borough
From top left: Reading's medieval Market Place with Town Hall and 11th century St Laurence's Church, the Maiwand Lion, the Town Centre skyline from the Royal Berkshire Hospital, the 12th Century Reading Abbey ruins, The Oracle shopping centre and River Kennet
Coat of Arms of Reading Borough Council
Motto(s): 
A Deo et Regina
With God and Queen
Borough of Reading shown within Berkshire
Reading
Reading
Reading
Coordinates: 51°27′15″N 0°58′23″W / 51.45417°N 0.97306°W / 51.45417; -0.97306Coordinates: 51°27′15″N 0°58′23″W / 51.45417°N 0.97306°W / 51.45417; -0.97306
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Constituent country England
RegionSouth East England
Ceremonial countyBerkshire
Historic county
Admin HQReading
Settled871 or earlier
Town status1086 or earlier
Government
 • TypeUnitary authority
 • BodyReading Borough Council
 • LeadershipLeader and Cabinet
 • MayorCllr Rachel Eden
 • MPsMatt Rodda (L)
Alok Sharma (C)
Elevation
61 m (200 ft)
Population
 (2021)
 • Borough174,224
 • Rank116th (of 309) (borough)
 • Density4,313/km2 (11,170/sq mi)
 • Urban
337,108
 • Ethnicity (Borough)[1]
Demonym(s)Redingensian, Readingite
Time zoneUTC+0 (GMT)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+1 (BST)
Postal code
RG
Area code0118
Grid Ref.SU713733
ONS code
  • 00MC (ONS)
  • E06000038 (GSS)
ISO 3166-2GB-RDG
NUTS 3UKJ11
Websitereading.gov.uk

Reading is a major commercial centre, especially for information technology and insurance.[3] It is also a regional retail centre, serving a large area of the Thames Valley with its shopping centres, including the Oracle, the Broad Street Mall, and the pedestrianised area around Broad Street. It is home to the University of Reading. Every year it hosts the Reading Festival, one of England's biggest music festivals. Reading has a professional association football team, Reading F.C., and participates in many other sports.

Reading dates from the 8th century. It was an important trading and ecclesiastical centre in the Middle Ages, the site of Reading Abbey, one of the largest and richest monasteries of medieval England with strong royal connections, of which the 12th-century abbey gateway and significant ancient ruins remain. By 1525, Reading was the largest town in Berkshire, and tenth in England for taxable wealth. The town was seriously affected by the English Civil War, with a major siege and loss of trade, but played a pivotal role in the Glorious Revolution, whose only significant military action was fought on its streets. The 18th century saw the beginning of a major ironworks in the town and the growth of the brewing trade for which Reading was to become famous. The 19th century saw the coming of the Great Western Railway and the development of the town's brewing, baking and seed growing businesses, and the town grew rapidly as a manufacturing centre. Reading is also the county town of Berkshire.

History

Main article: History of Reading, Berkshire
See also: Timeline of Reading, Berkshire

Origins

 
The earliest map of Reading, published in 1611 by John Speed
 
View of Reading from Caversham by Joseph Farington in 1793

Occupation at the site of Reading may date back to the Roman period, possibly in the form of a trading port for Calleva Atrebatum.[4] However, the first clear evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century, when the town came to be known as Readingas. The name probably comes from the Readingas, an Anglo-Saxon tribe whose name means Reada's People in Old English[5] (the Anglo-Saxons often had the same name for a place and its inhabitants). In late 870, an army of Danes invaded the kingdom of Wessex and set up camp at Reading. On 4 January 871, in the first Battle of Reading, King Ethelred and his brother Alfred the Great attempted unsuccessfully to breach the Danes' defences. The battle is described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and that account provides the earliest known written record of the existence of Reading. The Danes remained in Reading until late in 871, when they retreated to their winter quarters in London.[6][7]

After the Battle of Hastings and the Norman conquest of England, William the Conqueror gave land in and around Reading to his foundation of Battle Abbey. In its 1086 Domesday Book listing, the town was explicitly described as a borough. The presence of six mills is recorded: four on land belonging to the king and two on the land given to Battle Abbey.[7] Reading Abbey was founded in 1121 by Henry I, who is buried within the Abbey grounds. As part of his endowments, he gave the abbey his lands in Reading, along with land at Cholsey.[7][8]

Reading was an important river crossing point: in 1312, King Edward II directed that its bridges should be kept in good order.[9] It is not known how badly Reading was affected by the Black Death that swept through England in the 14th century, but it is known that the abbot, Henry of Appleford, was one of its victims in 1361, and that nearby Henley lost 60% of its population.[10] The Abbey was largely destroyed in 1538 during Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries. The last abbot, Hugh Faringdon, was subsequently tried and convicted of high treason and hanged, drawn and quartered in front of the Abbey Church.[11][12]

By 1525, Reading was the largest town in Berkshire, and tax returns show that Reading was the tenth largest town in England when measured by taxable wealth. By 1611, it had a population of over 5000 and had grown rich on its trade in cloth, as instanced by the fortune made by local merchant John Kendrick.[10] [13] Reading played an important role during the English Civil War. Despite its fortifications, it had a Royalist garrison imposed on it in 1642. The subsequent Siege of Reading by Parliamentary forces succeeded in April 1643.[14] The town's cloth trade was especially badly damaged, and the town's economy did not fully recover until the 20th century.[7][15] Reading played a significant role during the Glorious Revolution: the second Battle of Reading was the only substantial military action of the campaign.[7][16]

The 18th century saw the beginning of a major iron works in the town and the growth of the brewing trade for which Reading was to become famous.[17] Reading's trade benefited from better designed turnpike roads which helped it establish its location on the major coaching routes from London to Oxford and the West Country. In 1723, despite considerable local opposition, the Kennet Navigation opened the River Kennet to boats as far as Newbury. Opposition stopped when it became apparent that the new route benefited the town. After the opening of the Kennet and Avon Canal in 1810, one could go by barge from Reading to the Bristol Channel.[18] From 1714, and probably earlier, the role of county town of Berkshire was shared between Reading and Abingdon.[19][20] In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was one of the southern termini of the Hatfield and Reading Turnpike that allowed travelers from the north to continue their journey to the west without going through the congestion of London.

During the 19th century, the town grew rapidly as a manufacturing centre. The Great Western Railway arrived in 1841,[21] followed by the South Eastern Railway in 1849 and the London and South Western Railway in 1856.[22][23] The Summer Assizes were moved from Abingdon to Reading in 1867, effectively making Reading the sole county town of Berkshire, a decision that was officially approved by the privy council in 1869.[19] The town became a county borough under the Local Government Act 1888.[24][25] The town has been famous for the Three Bs of beer (1785–2010, H & G Simonds),[26][27] bulbs (1837–1974, Suttons Seeds),[26][28] and biscuits (1822–1976, Huntley and Palmers).[26][29][30]

20th century

The town continued to expand in the 20th century, annexing Caversham across the River Thames in Oxfordshire in 1911. Compared to many other English towns and cities, Reading suffered little physical damage during either of the two world wars that afflicted the 20th century, although many citizens were killed or injured in the conflicts. One significant air raid occurred on 10 February 1943, when a single Luftwaffe plane machine-gunned and bombed the town centre, resulting in 41 deaths and over 100 injuries.[31]

The Lower Earley development, built in 1977, was one of the largest private housing developments in Europe.[32][33] It extended the urban area of Reading as far as the M4 Motorway, which acts as the southern boundary of the town. Further housing developments have increased the number of modern houses and hypermarkets in the outskirts of Reading. A major town-centre shopping centre, The Oracle, opened in 1999, is named after the 17th-century Oracle workhouse, which once occupied a small part of the site. It provides three storeys of shopping space and boosted the local economy by providing 4,000 jobs.[34][35]

21st century

As one of the largest urban areas in the United Kingdom to be without city status, Reading has unsuccessfully bid for city status on four recent occasions – in 2000 to celebrate the new millennium; in 2002 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II; in 2012 for the Diamond Jubilee;[36][37][38][39] and in 2022 to mark the Platinum Jubilee.[40][41]

On 20 June 2020, three people were killed and three others seriously injured in a mass stabbing at Reading's Forbury Gardens that is being treated as a terrorist incident.[42]

Government

 
The gateway as restored in 2018

Local government for the town of Reading is principally provided by Reading Borough Council, a single level unitary authority without civil parishes. However, some of the town's outer suburbs are in West Berkshire and Wokingham unitary authorities. These outer suburbs belong to civil parishes, in some cases with their own town status. Reading has elected at least one Member of Parliament to every Parliament since 1295.[43] Historically, Reading was represented by the members for the Parliamentary Borough of Reading, and the parliamentary constituencies of Reading, Reading North, and Reading South. Since the 2010 general election, Reading has been divided between the parliamentary constituencies of Reading East, Reading West, Wokingham (which covers Shinfield, most of Earley and Lower Earley) and Maidenhead (which partly covers Woodley).[44]

Reading is the site of venues for both the Crown Court,[45] administering criminal justice, and the County Court,[46] responsible for civil cases. Lesser matters are dealt with in a local magistrates' court.[47] Reading has had some degree of local government autonomy since 1253, when the local merchant guild was granted a royal charter.[citation needed] Since then, the town has been run by a Borough corporation as a county borough, and as a district of Berkshire. The Borough of Reading became a unitary authority area in 1998, when Berkshire County Council was abolished under the Banham Review, and is now responsible for all aspects of local government within the borough.[48]

Prior to the 16th century, civic administration for the town of Reading was situated in the Yield Hall, a guild hall situated by the River Kennet near today's Yield Hall Lane.[49] After a brief stay in what later became Greyfriars Church, the town council created a new town hall by inserting an upper floor into the refectory of the Hospitium of St John, the former hospitium of Reading Abbey.[49] For some 400 years up to the 1970s, this was to remain the site of Reading's civic administration through the successive rebuilds that eventually created today's Town Hall.[50] In 1976, Reading Borough Council moved to the new Civic Centre.[51] In 2014, they moved again to civic offices in a refurbished existing office building on Bridge Street, in order to facilitate the demolition and redevelopment of the previous site.[52]

The government of the Borough of Reading follows the leader and cabinet model. Following the 2011 local elections, a Labour minority administration replaced the previous Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition on the casting vote of the mayor.[53] After the 2018 elections, Labour have 30 councillors, the Conservatives 12, Greens 3 and Liberal Democrats 1.[54] The borough also has a (largely ceremonial) mayor. Cllr Debs Edwards has been the mayor of Reading since May 2018.[55] Since 1887, the borough has included the former villages of Southcote and Whitley and small parts of Earley and Tilehurst.[56] By 1911, it also encompassed the Oxfordshire village of Caversham and still more of Tilehurst.[57] A small area of Mapledurham parish was added in 1977. An attempt to take over a small area of Eye and Dunsden parish in Oxfordshire was rejected because of strong local opposition in 1997.[57] Today the borough itself is unparished, and the wards used to elect the borough councillors generally ignore the old parish boundaries and use invented ward names.[58]

Reading's municipal boundaries do not include all of the surrounding suburbs. Some of these areas (Tilehurst, Calcot, Earley, Winnersh and Woodley) are, at least partly, within West Berkshire or Wokingham Borough. This unusual configuration creates difficulties. The diminishing amount of land available and suitable for development within the borough's boundary can bring the council into conflict with its neighbours' development plans; this is exacerbated by the fact that the wards within the borough boundaries have tended to elect Labour councillors, while the suburban wards outside the borough have tended to vote Conservative. This particularly affects education (many schools have catchment areas that cross administrative boundaries), and transport. A perennial example is whether to construct a third road crossing of the Thames, which South Oxfordshire's politicians and residents oppose.[59][60] On this subject, Rob Wilson, then Member of Parliament for Reading East, said in a House of Commons debate in January 2006:[61]

However, the process has been painfully slow and it appears that, for every two steps forwards, there are three steps backwards—mainly because of the view of South Oxfordshire district council, which is being incredibly parochial about this matter. Meanwhile, Reading Borough Council is adopting strategies that prioritise local traffic in Reading, obviously to the detriment of through traffic. We have now reached the point at which we desperately need direct Government intervention to break the logjam between those local authorities.

Geography

Place Distance Direction Relation
London 38 miles (61 km)[62] East Capital city of the UK
Swindon 36 miles (58 km)[63] West Second most populous in county after the town
St Albans 34 miles (55 km)[64] North east Nearby city
Winchester 31 miles (50 km)[65] South Nearby city
Oxford 24 miles (39 km)[66] North Nearby city
Abingdon 20 miles (32 km)[67] North west Historic joint county town
 
Broad Street

Reading is 42 miles (68 km) north of the English south coast. The centre of Reading is on a low ridge between the River Thames and River Kennet, close to their confluence, reflecting the town's history as a river port. Just above the confluence, the Kennet cuts through a narrow steep-sided gap in the hills forming the southern flank of the Thames flood plain. The absence of a flood plain on the Kennet in this defile enabled the development of wharves. The floodplains adjoining Reading's two rivers are subject to occasional flooding.[68][69]

class=notpageimage|
Location of suburbs of Reading

As Reading has grown, its suburbs have spread: to the west between the two rivers into the foothills of the Berkshire Downs as far as Calcot, Tilehurst and Purley; to the south and south-east on the south side of the River Kennet as far as Whitley Wood and Lower Earley and as far north of the Thames into the Chiltern Hills as far as Caversham Heights, Emmer Green and Caversham Park Village. Outside the central area, the floors of the valleys containing the two rivers remain largely unimproved floodplain. Apart from the M4 curving to the south there is only one road across the Kennet flood plain. All other routes between the three built-up areas are in the central area.[70]

Historically, the town of Reading was smaller than the borough. Definitions include the old ecclesiastical parishes of the churches of St Mary, St Laurence and St Giles, or the even smaller pre-19th century borough.[57] Today, as well as the town centre Reading comprises a number of suburbs and other districts, both within the borough itself and within the surrounding urban area. The names and location of these suburbs are in general usage but, except where some of the outer suburbs correspond to civil parishes, there are no formally defined boundaries. The Reading urban area (officially Reading/Wokingham) additionally includes Winnersh, Wokingham, Crowthorne and the civil parishes of Earley, Woodley, Purley, Tilehurst and Shinfield.[71]

Climate

Like the rest of the United Kingdom, Reading has a maritime climate, with limited seasonal temperature ranges and generally moderate rainfall throughout the year. The nearest official Met Office weather station is located at the Reading University Atmospheric Observatory on the Whiteknights Campus, which has recorded atmospheric measurements and meteorological observations since 1970.[72] The local absolute maximum temperature of 37.6 °C (99.7 °F) was recorded on 19 July 2022 and the local absolute minimum temperature of −14.5 °C (5.9 °F) was recorded in January 1982.

Climate data for Reading University, elevation: 62 m (203 ft), 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1959–present
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 15.5
(59.9) 		19.6
(67.3) 		22.8
(73.0) 		26.9
(80.4) 		28.5
(83.3) 		34.0
(93.2) 		37.6
(99.7) 		36.4
(97.5) 		29.6
(85.3) 		27.8
(82.0) 		18.1
(64.6) 		15.8
(60.4) 		37.6
(99.7)
Average high °C (°F) 8.0
(46.4) 		8.5
(47.3) 		11.2
(52.2) 		14.2
(57.6) 		17.4
(63.3) 		20.4
(68.7) 		22.7
(72.9) 		22.3
(72.1) 		19.3
(66.7) 		15.1
(59.2) 		11.0
(51.8) 		8.4
(47.1) 		14.9
(58.8)
Daily mean °C (°F) 5.1
(41.2) 		5.4
(41.7) 		7.4
(45.3) 		9.7
(49.5) 		12.7
(54.9) 		15.6
(60.1) 		17.8
(64.0) 		17.5
(63.5) 		14.8
(58.6) 		11.5
(52.7) 		7.8
(46.0) 		5.4
(41.7) 		10.9
(51.6)
Average low °C (°F) 2.1
(35.8) 		2.2
(36.0) 		3.5
(38.3) 		5.1
(41.2) 		8.0
(46.4) 		10.8
(51.4) 		12.9
(55.2) 		12.7
(54.9) 		10.4
(50.7) 		7.9
(46.2) 		4.7
(40.5) 		2.5
(36.5) 		6.9
(44.4)
Record low °C (°F) −14.5
(5.9) 		−11.6
(11.1) 		−7.2
(19.0) 		−3.5
(25.7) 		−2.0
(28.4) 		1.5
(34.7) 		4.9
(40.8) 		3.4
(38.1) 		0.6
(33.1) 		−4.4
(24.1) 		−8.3
(17.1) 		−13.4
(7.9) 		−14.5
(5.9)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 65.2
(2.57) 		45.6
(1.80) 		40.3
(1.59) 		48.7
(1.92) 		43.5
(1.71) 		47.2
(1.86) 		48.9
(1.93) 		56.9
(2.24) 		49.7
(1.96) 		73.8
(2.91) 		73.1
(2.88) 		65.4
(2.57) 		658.2
(25.91)
Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) 11.8 9.7 8.6 9.3 8.1 7.7 8.1 8.5 8.2 10.6 11.8 11.5 113.9
Mean monthly sunshine hours 55.6 76.5 119.7 170.2 199.9 199.0 205.5 190.5 145.3 106.6 60.2 48.5 1,577.5
Average ultraviolet index 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 4 4 3 2 2 3
Source 1: Met Office[73] WeatherAtlas[74]
Source 2: Starlings Roost[75][76]
Reading
Climate chart (explanation)
J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
 
 
61
 
 
8
2
 
 
41
 
 
8
2
 
 
45
 
 
11
3
 
 
48
 
 
14
5
 
 
46
 
 
17
8
 
 
45
 
 
20
11
 
 
46
 
 
22
13
 
 
52
 
 
22
13
 
 
50
 
 
19
10
 
 
72
 
 
15
8
 
 
66
 
 
11
4
 
 
63
 
 
8
2
█ Average max. and min. temperatures in °C
█ Precipitation totals in mm
Imperial conversion
JFMAMJJASOND
 
 
2.4
 
 
46
35
 
 
1.6
 
 
46
35
 
 
1.8
 
 
51
38
 
 
1.9
 
 
56
40
 
 
1.8
 
 
63
46
 
 
1.8
 
 
68
51
 
 
1.8
 
 
72
55
 
 
2.1
 
 
72
55
 
 
2
 
 
66
51
 
 
2.8
 
 
59
46
 
 
2.6
 
 
51
40
 
 
2.5
 
 
46
36
█ Average max. and min. temperatures in °F
█ Precipitation totals in inches

Demography

 
Population pyramid of Reading in 2020
 
Borough of Reading population growth rate from 1801 to 2011

In mid-2018, the area covered by the Borough of Reading had 174,224 inhabitants and a population density of 4,313 per square kilometre (11,171/sq mi).[77] Meanwhile, the wider urban area had a population of 318,014 in the 2011 census, ranking 23rd in the United Kingdom.[78] This grew to an estimated 337,108 by mid-2018.[71] According to the 2011 census, 74.8% of the borough's population were described as White (65.3% White British), 9.1% as South Asian, 6.7% as Black, 3.9% Mixed, 4.5% as Chinese and 0.9% as other ethnic group.[1] In 2010, it was reported that Reading had 150 different spoken languages within its population.[79][80] Reading has a large Polish community, which dates back over 30 years,[81] and in October 2006 the Reading Chronicle printed 5,000 copies of a Polish edition called the Kronika Reading.[82][83][84]

Ethnicity

Ethnic Group Year
1971 estimations[85] 1991[86] 2001[87] 2011[88] 2021[89]
Number % Number % Number % Number % Number %
White: Total 123,700 94.9% 116,652 90.5% 124,240 86.8% 116,387 74.7% 116,886 67.2%
White: British – – – – 115,363 80.6% 101,725 65.3% 93,167 53.5%
White: Irish – – – – 2,866 2,269 2,040 1.2%
White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller – – – – – – 90 107 0.1%
White: Roma – – – – – – – – 573 0.3%
White: Other – – – – 6,011 4.2% 12,303 7.9% 20,999 12.1%
Asian or Asian British: Total – – 5,920 4.6% 8,478 5.9% 21,161 13.6% 30,841 17.7%
Asian or Asian British: Indian – – 1,748 1.4% 2,425 1.7% 6,514 4.2% 10,777 6.2%
Asian or Asian British: Pakistani – – 2,771 2.2% 3,828 2.7% 6,967 4.5% 8,279 4.8%
Asian or Asian British: Bangladeshi – – 214 0.2% 359 0.3% 695 0.4% 1,132 0.6%
Asian or Asian British: Chinese – – 497 0.4% 1,030 0.7% 1,603 1.0% 2,694 1.5%
Asian or Asian British: Other Asian – – 690 0.5% 836 0.6% 5,382 3.5% 7,959 4.6%
Black or Black British: Total – – 5,196 4% 5,931 4.1% 10,470 6.7% 12,532 7.2%
Black or Black British: African – – 764 0.6% 2,222 1.6% 6,087 3.9% 7,665 4.4%
Black or Black British: Caribbean – – 3416 2.7% 3,181 2.2% 3,279 2.1% 3,293 1.9%
Black or Black British: Other Black – – 1016 0.8% 528 0.4% 1,104 0.7% 1,574 0.9%
Mixed or British Mixed: Total – – – – 3,399 2.4% 6,180 4% 8,962 5.1%
Mixed: White and Black Caribbean – – – – 1,677 2,718 3,555 2.0%
Mixed: White and Black African – – – – 317 802 1,249 0.7%
Mixed: White and Asian – – – – 734 1,428 2,117 1.2%
Mixed: Other Mixed – – – – 671 1,232 2,041 1.2%
Other: Total – – 1,109 0.9% 1,048 0.7% 1,500 1% 5,002 2.8%
Other: Arab – – – – – – 680 1,282 0.7%
Other: Any other ethnic group – – 1,109 0.9% 1,048 0.7% 820 3,720 2.1%
Ethnic minority: Total 6,586 5.1% 12,225 9.5% 18,856 13.2% 39,311 25.3% 57,337 32.8%
Total 130,286 100% 128,877 100% 143,096 100% 155,698 100% 174,223 100%

Religion

Religion 2001[90] 2011[91]
Number % Number %
Holds religious beliefs 99,167 69.3 98,395 63.2
  Christian 89,618 62.6 77,848 50.0
  Buddhist 688 0.5 1,876 1.2
  Hindu 1,417 1.0 5,661 3.6
  Jewish 415 0.3 355 0.2
  Muslim 5,730 4.0 11,007 7.1
  Sikh 781 0.5 947 0.6
Other religion 518 0.4 701 0.5
(No religion and Religion not stated) 43,929 30.7 57,303 36.8
No religion 31,486 22.0 45,931 29.5
Religion not stated 12,443 8.7 11,372 7.3
Total population 143,096 100.0 155,698 100.0

Economy

Main article: Economy of Reading, Berkshire
 
Reading International Business Park. This crescent of offices beside the A33 are home to Verizon, a telecommunications company. They were formerly the European headquarters of WorldCom before its demise
 
The front of the store on Broad Street
 
The central lake makes a virtue of the necessity of flood alleviation measures
 
Green Park wind turbine viewed from Lime Square

Reading is an important commercial centre in the Thames Valley and Southern England. The town hosts the headquarters of several British companies and the United Kingdom offices of foreign multinationals, as well as being a major retail centre.[92] Whilst located close enough to London to be sometimes regarded as part of the London commuter belt, Reading is a net inward destination for commuters. During the morning peak period, there are some 30,000 inward arrivals in the town, compared to 24,000 departures.[93] Major companies Microsoft, Oracle[94] and Hibu (formerly Yell Group)[95] have their headquarters in Reading. The insurance company Prudential has an administration centre in the town.[96] PepsiCo[97] and Wrigley[97] have offices.

Global pharmaceutical giant Bayer Life Sciences relocated to Reading's Green Park Business Park in 2016.[98] Reading has a significant historical involvement in the information technology industry, largely as a result of the early presence in the town of sites of International Computers Limited[99] and Digital Equipment Corporation.[100] Other technology companies with a significant presence in the town include Huawei Technologies, Pegasystems, Access IS, CGI Inc., Agilent Technologies,[101] Cisco,[102] Ericsson,[103] Symantec,[102] Verizon Business,[104] and Commvault.[105] These companies are distributed around Reading or just outside the borough boundary, some in business parks including Thames Valley Park in nearby Earley, Green Park Business Park and Arlington Business Park.

Reading town centre is a major shopping centre. In 2007, an independent poll placed Reading 16th in a league table of best performing retail centres in the United Kingdom.[106][107] The main shopping street is Broad Street, which runs between The Oracle in the east and Broad Street Mall in the west and was pedestrianised in 1995.[108] The smaller Friars Walk in Friar Street is closed and will be demolished if the proposed Station Hill redevelopment project goes ahead.[109] There are three major department stores in Reading: John Lewis & Partners (known as Heelas until 2001),[110] Debenhams (now closed down), and House of Fraser.[111] The Broad Street branch of bookseller Waterstone's is a conversion of a nonconformist chapel dating from 1707.[112] Besides the two major shopping malls, Reading has three smaller shopping arcades, the Bristol and West Arcade, Harris Arcade and The Walk, which contain smaller specialist stores. An older form of retail facility is represented by Union Street, popularly known as Smelly Alley.[113][114] Reading has no indoor market, but there is a street market in Hosier Street.[115] A farmers' market operates on two Saturdays a month.[116]

Culture

 
Aerial view of Reading Festival 2007
 
The Abbey Gateway, where Jane Austen went to school

Every year Reading hosts the Reading Festival, which has been running since 1971.[117][118] The festival takes place on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend and is the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom aside from the Glastonbury Festival. Reading Festival takes place at Little Johns Farm in Reading, Richfield Avenue.[119] For some twenty years until 2006, Reading was also known for its WOMAD Festival until it moved to Charlton Park in Malmesbury, Wiltshire.[120][121] The Reading Beer Festival was first held in 1994[122] and has now grown to one of the largest beer festivals in the United Kingdom. It is held at King's Meadow for the five days immediately preceding the May Day bank holiday every year.[123] Reading also holds Reading Pride, an annual LGBT festival in Kings Meadow.

The Frank Matcham-designed Royal County Theatre, built in 1895, was located on the south side of Friar Street. It burned down in 1937.[124] Within the town hall is a 700-seat concert hall that houses a Father Willis organ.[125] Reading theatre venues include The Hexagon and South Street Arts Centre.[126][127] Reading Repetory Theatre is based at Reading College: its Royal Patron is Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh.[128] Amateur theatre venues in Reading include Progress Theatre,[129] a self-governing, self-funding theatre group and registered charity founded in 1947 that operates and maintains its own 97-seat theatre.[130] The demonym for a person from Reading is Redingensian,[131] giving the name of the local rugby team Redingensians, based in Sonning, and of former members of Reading School.[132]

Cultural references

Jane Austen attended Reading Ladies Boarding School, based in the Abbey Gateway, in 1784–1786.[133] Mary Russell Mitford lived in Reading for a number of years and then spent the rest of her life just outside the town at Three Mile Cross and Swallowfield.[134] The fictional Belford Regis of her eponymous novel,[135] first published in 1835, is largely based on Reading. Described with topographical accuracy, it is still possible to follow the steps of the novel's characters in present-day Reading. Reading also appears in the works of Thomas Hardy where it is called 'Aldbrickham'.[136] It features most heavily in his final novel, Jude the Obscure, as the temporary home of Jude Fawley and Sue Bridehead.

Oscar Wilde was imprisoned in Reading Gaol from 1895 to 1897. While there, he wrote his letter De Profundis. After his release, he lived in exile in France and wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol, based on his experience of the execution of Charles Wooldridge, carried out in Reading Gaol whilst he was imprisoned there.[137][138] Ricky Gervais, who is from Reading, made the film Cemetery Junction, which, although filmed elsewhere in the United Kingdom, is set in 1970s Reading and is named after a busy junction in East Reading.[139][140][141] Jasper Fforde's Nursery Crimes Division novels, The Big Over Easy and The Fourth Bear, are also placed in Reading. The BBC Two sitcom Beautiful People, based on the memoirs of Simon Doonan, is set in Reading in the late 1990s.

Further information: Heavenly Planet

Landmarks

The Maiwand Lion in Forbury Gardens, an unofficial symbol of Reading, commemorates the 328 officers of the Royal Berkshire Regiment who died in the Battle of Maiwand in 1880.[56][142] There are a number of other works of public art in Reading. The Blade, a fourteen-storey building completed in 2009, is 128 m (420 ft) tall and can be seen from the surrounding area.[143] Jacksons Corner with its prominent sign, former home[144] of Jacksons department store, occupies the corner of Kings Road and High Street, just south of the Market Place. Reading has six Grade I listed buildings, 22 Grade II* and 853 Grade II buildings, in a wide variety of architectural styles that range from the medieval to the 21st century. The Grade I listed buildings are Reading Abbey, the Abbey Gateway, Greyfriars Church, St Laurence's Church, Reading Minster, and the barn at Chazey Farmhouse on the Warren.[145][146]

Media

Reading has a local newspaper, the Reading Chronicle, published on Thursdays. The town's other local newspaper, the Reading Post, ceased publication on paper in December 2014, in order to transition to an online only format under the title getreading. As of 2018, getreading joined the InYourArea local news network.[147] A local publishing company, the Two Rivers Press, has published over 70 book titles, many on the topic of local history and art.[148][149] Two local radio stations broadcast from Reading: BBC Radio Berkshire and Heart South. Other local radio stations, such as Capital Mid-Counties and Basingstoke's Greatest Hits Radio Berkshire & North Hampshire, can also be received. Reading has one local television station, That's Thames Valley, which broadcasts local news throughout the Greater Reading area. Local television news programmes are the BBC's South Today and ITV's Meridian Tonight are available on BBC One and ITV.

Public services

 
The Royal Berkshire Hospital original frontage, built in 1839 with bath stone[150]
 
The former hospitium

Parks and open spaces

Reading has over 100 parks and playgrounds, including 5 miles (8 km) of riverside paths. In the town centre is Forbury Gardens, a public park built on the site of the outer court of Reading Abbey. The largest public park in Reading is Prospect Park, an estate in west Reading previously owned by Frances Kendrick but acquired by Reading Corporation in 1901. This is complemented by Palmer Park, a purpose built public park in east Reading gifted to the town by the proprietors of Huntley & Palmers in 1889.[151][152][153]

A string of open spaces stretch along one or other side of the River Thames throughout its passage through Reading. From west to east these are Thameside Promenade, Caversham Court, Christchurch Meadows, Hills Meadow, View Island and King's Meadow. Reading also has five local nature reserves: Clayfield Copse in Caversham, with the other four McIlroy Park, Blundells Copse, Lousehill Copse and Round Copse all in Tilehurst[154][155][156]

Healthcare

The principal National Health Service (NHS) hospital in Reading is the Royal Berkshire Hospital, founded in 1839 and much enlarged and rebuilt since.[157] A second major NHS general hospital, the Battle Hospital, closed in 2005.[158] Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust runs a NHS hospital, Prospect Park Hospital, which specialises in the provision of care for people with mental health and learning disabilities.[159] Reading has three private hospitals: the Berkshire Independent Hospital in Coley Park, the Dunedin Hospital situated on the main A4 Bath Road, and the Circle Hospital at Kennet Island.[160][161][162]

Utilities

Mains water and sewerage services are provided by Thames Water Utilities Limited, a private sector water supply company, whilst water abstraction and disposal is regulated by the Environment Agency. Reading's water supply is largely derived from underground aquifers, and as a consequence the water is hard.[163][164][165]

The commercial energy supplier for electricity and gas is at the consumer's choice. Southern Electric runs the local electricity distribution network, while SGN runs the gas distribution network. A notable part of the local energy infrastructure is the presence of a 2 megawatt (peak) Enercon wind turbine at Green Park Business Park, with the potential to produce 2.7 million kWh of electricity a year, enough to power over a thousand homes.[166] Additionally, Reading Hydro runs a micro hydroelectric power station on the Thames. Reading had its own power station in Vastern Road from 1895 to the 1960s. The power station was initially owned and operated by the Reading Electric Supply Company Limited, then from 1933 by the Reading Corporation until the nationalisation of the British electricity supply industry in 1948.[167]

The dialling code for fixed-line telephones in Reading is 0118. BT provides fixed-line telephone coverage throughout the town and ADSL broadband internet connection to most areas. Parts of Reading are cabled by Virgin Media, supplying cable television, telephone and broadband internet connections. Hyperoptic also has a presence in the town, supplying Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband internet connections at speeds of up to 1 Gbit/s.[168]

Education

See also: List of schools in Reading
 
Entrance to the Museum of English Rural Life
 
The Museum of English Rural Life's rear garden, with the original East Thorpe House in the centre

Reading School, founded in 1125,[132] is the 16th oldest school in England.[169] There are six other state secondary schools and 38 state primary schools within the borough, together with a number of private and independent schools and nurseries.[170] Alfred Sutton Boys' School closed in the mid-1980s.[171] Reading College has provided further education in Reading since 1955, with over 8,500 local learners on over 900 courses.[172] English language schools in Reading include Gateway Languages, the English Language Centre, ELC London Street and Eurospeak Language School.

The University of Reading was established in 1892 as an affiliate of Oxford University.[173] It moved to its London Road Campus in 1904 and to its new Whiteknights Campus in 1947. It took over the Bulmershe College of Higher Education, a teacher training college, in 1989, becoming Bulmershe Court Campus. The Henley Management College, situated in Buckinghamshire and about 10 miles (16 km) from Reading, was taken over in 2008, becoming Greenlands Campus.[174] The University of West London maintains a presence in the town for its higher education students, principally in nursing, but has now divested itself of its previous ownership of Reading College and its further education students.[175]

Libraries and museums

The Reading Borough Libraries service dates back to 1877.[56] Initially housed in Reading Town Hall, the central branch of the library was relocated to a new building on King's Road in 1985.[176]

The Reading Museum[177] opened in 1883 in the town's municipal buildings.[56] It contains galleries relating to the history of Reading and to the excavations of Calleva Atrebatum,[178] together with a full-size replica of the Bayeux Tapestry, an art collection, and galleries relating to Huntley and Palmers.[179] The Museum of English Rural Life, in East Reading, is a museum dedicated to recording the changing face of farming and the countryside in England. It houses designated collections of national importance. It is owned and run by the University of Reading, as are the Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology, the Cole Museum of Zoology and the Harris Botanic Gardens, all of which can be found on the university's Whiteknights Campus.[180][181][182] The small Riverside Museum at Blake's Lock tells the story of Reading's two rivers. The Museum of Berkshire Aviation has a collection of aircraft and other artefacts relating to the aircraft industry in the town.[183][184]

Transport

Main article: Transport in Reading, Berkshire
 
The River Thames from Caversham Bridge looking eastwards
 
Aerial view of Reading station in August 2014
 
A Great Western Railway Class 800 with a service to London
 
Reading station platforms showing new footbridge

Reading's location in the Thames Valley to the west of London has made the town a significant element in the nation's transport system.

River

The town grew up as a river port at the confluence of the River Thames and the River Kennet. Both of these rivers are navigable, and Caversham Lock, Blake's Lock, County Lock, Fobney Lock and Southcote Lock are all within the borough. Today, navigation is predominantly for purposes of leisure: private and hire boats dominate traffic, while scheduled boat services operate on the Thames from wharves on the Reading side of the river near Caversham Bridge.[185][186]

Road

Reading was a major staging point on the old Bath Road (A4) from London to Avonmouth near Bristol. This road still carries local traffic, but has now been replaced for long-distance traffic by the M4 motorway, which closely skirts the borough and serves it with three junctions, J10-J12. Other main roads serving Reading include the A33, A327, A329, A4074 and A4155. Within Reading there is the Inner Distribution Road (IDR), a ring road for local traffic. The IDR is linked with the M4 by the A33 relief road. National Express Coaches run out of Mereoak Park and Ride, at Junction 11 of the M4.[187] The Thames is crossed by both Reading and Caversham road bridges, while several road bridges cross the Kennet, the oldest surviving one of which is High Bridge.[188]

Rail

Reading is a major junction point of the National Rail system, and hence Reading station is an important transfer point and terminus. In a project that finished in 2015, Reading station was redeveloped at a cost of £850m, with grade separation of some conflicting traffic flows, and extra platforms, to relieve severe congestion at this station.[189][190] Railway lines link Reading to both Paddington and Waterloo stations in London. Other stations in the Reading area are Reading West, Tilehurst and Earley. Reading Green Park railway station is planned on the Reading to Basingstoke Line to serve Green Park Business Park.[191]

Reading is a western terminus of the Elizabeth line, which provides stopping services to London Paddington, and means Reading is featured on the London Tube map. When the Crossrail project is fully delivered in mid-2023, cross-London connections will be possible from Reading to Abbey Wood and Shenfield in the east; passengers desiring through service are currently required to change trains at Paddington.[192]

Air

There have been two airfields in or near Reading, one at Coley Park[193] and one at Woodley,[194] but they have both closed. The nearest airport is London Heathrow, 25 miles (40 km) away by road. An express bus service named RailAir links Reading with Heathrow,[195] or the airport can be accessed by rail by taking the Paddington train and changing to the TfL Rail service at Hayes & Harlington.[196] In addition, Birmingham Airport, Gatwick Airport and Southampton Airport can all be accessed via direct trains from Reading station.[197]

Public transport

Today local public transport is largely by road, which is often affected by peak hour congestion in the borough. A frequent local bus network within the borough, and a less frequent network in the surrounding area, are provided by Reading Buses - one of the few remaining municipal bus companies in the country - and its subsidiaries Newbury & District and Thames Valley Buses. Other bus operators serving Reading include Arriva Shires & Essex, Thames Travel and Oxford Bus Company.[198] ReadiBus provides an on-demand transport service for people with restricted mobility in the area.[199]

Bike sharing

In March 2011, Reading Borough Council approved a bike sharing scheme similar to London Cycle Hire Scheme, with 1,000 bicycles available at up to 150 docking stations across Reading. However this scheme came to an end in March 2019, with the operator unable to cover the operational costs or find a sponsor to do so.[200][201][202]

Religion

 
St Mary's Church tower, chequered with flint and ashlar[203]
 
The interior of the ruined chapter house

Reading Minster (the Minster Church of St Mary the Virgin) is Reading's oldest ecclesiastical foundation, known to have been founded by the 9th century and possibly earlier.[204] Although eclipsed in importance by the later abbey, Reading Minster has regained its importance since the destruction of the abbey. Reading Abbey was founded by Henry I in 1121. He was buried there, as were parts of his daughter Empress Matilda, William of Poitiers, Constance of York, and Princess Isabella of Cornwall, among others.[7][8] The abbey was one of the pilgrimage centres of medieval England; it held over 230 relics including the hand of St. James. Today all that remains of the abbey are the inner rubble cores of the walls of many of the major buildings of the abbey, together with a much restored inner gateway and the intact hospitium.[205][206]

The medieval borough of Reading was served by three parish churches: Reading Minster, St Giles' Church, and St Laurence's Church. All are still in use by the Church of England.[207] The Franciscan friars built a friary in the town in 1311. After the friars were expelled in 1538, the building was used as a hospital, a poorhouse, and a jail, before being restored as the Church of England parish church of Greyfriars Church in 1863.[208][209] The Bishop of Reading is a suffragan bishop within the Church of England's Diocese of Oxford. The bishop is based in Reading, and is responsible for the archdeaconry of Berkshire. There are a total of 18 Church of England parish churches in Reading.[210][211]

St James's Church was built on a portion of the site of the abbey between 1837 and 1840, and marked the return of the Roman Catholic faith to Reading. Reading was also the site of the death of Blessed Dominic Barberi, the Catholic missionary to England in the 19th century who received John Henry Newman into the Catholic faith. There are now eight Roman Catholic parish churches in Reading.[212][213][214] Kings Road Baptist Church was founded in Reading in 1640 or 1641.[215] In addition to Catholicism and the Church of England, the Seventh-Day Adventist denomination is also represented in the town, particularly by Reading West SDA Church on Loverock Road, Reading Central SDA Church on Tilehurst Road, and various other churches around Reading.[216][217]

Reading has had an organised Jewish community since 1886. At least one Jewish family living in the area has been traced back as far as 1842. The group grew to 13 families, who in 1886 declared themselves a community and commenced building a synagogue. On 31 October 1900, Reading Hebrew Congregation[218] officially opened in a solemn public ceremony, packed to capacity with dignitaries, led by the Chief Rabbi Hermann Adler. Reading Hebrew Congregation, which still stands on its original site at the junction of Goldsmid Road and Clifton Street near the town centre, is a Grade II-listed building, built to a traditional design in the Moorish style. The community is affiliated with the Orthodox United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth.[218] Reading also has a Liberal Jewish community which convenes in the Reading Quaker Meeting House,[219] a Modern Orthodox Judaism community, an active Jewish Society for students at the university, as well as being served by a Reform Jewish community which convenes in nearby Maidenhead Synagogue.[220]

There are presently three mosques in Reading, initially just having the Central Reading Mosque on Waylen Street.[221] The £3–4m Abu Bakr Islamic Centre, on Oxford Road in West Reading, was granted planning permission in 2002. The community-funded project began construction in 2007,[222] and opened its doors in July 2013 - the holy month of Ramadan for this year.[223] A second Islamic centre in eastern Reading has also been granted planning permission.[224] This £4m project has garnered some controversy.[225] Reading also has places of worship of other religions: the Shantideva Mahayana Buddhist centre,[226] a Hindu temple,[227] a Sikh gurdwara,[228] a Salvation Army citadel,[229] a Quaker meeting house,[230] and a Christadelphian Hall.[231]

Sport

Main article: Sport in Reading, Berkshire
 
The Madejski Stadium as viewed from the stadium's north stand.
 
The Voco Reading Hotel, pictured when still known as the Millennium Madejski
 
The Reading Half Marathon 2004 climbing Russell Street in West Reading

Reading is the home of Reading Football Club, an association football club nicknamed The Royals, formed in 1871.[232] Formerly nicknamed 'The Biscuitmen' [233] and based at Elm Park, the club plays at the 24,161 capacity[234] Madejski Stadium, named after chairman Sir John Madejski, and which opened in 1998. After winning the 2005–06 Football League Championship with a record of 106 points, Reading spent two seasons in the Premier League before being relegated to The Championship.[235] For the 2012–2013 season, the club again competed in the Premier League, after securing first place in the Championship in the 2011–2012 season, but were relegated back down to the Championship at season's end.[236] Reading Town Football Club, formed in 1966,[237] played at Scours Lane and were playing in the Hellenic League Premier Division but were dissolved in 2016, while fellow non-league football club Reading City Football Club now play at Scours Lane after moving from Palmer Park Stadium at the end of the 2015–16 season. Scours Lane was also renamed to Rivermoor Stadium in 2016.

Reading is home to three senior semi-professional rugby clubs: Reading Abbey RFC, Rams RFC and Reading RFC. The Reading Rockets are the town's semi-professional basketball team. They compete in the second tier English Basketball League Division 1, though they have tried several times in recent years to move up to the top tier British Basketball League. They play home games at the Rivermead Leisure Complex, and are coached by Manuel Peña Garces. In 2016–17 the club embarked on an 18-game winning streak. The town hosts Australian Rules football team Reading Kangaroos and American football team Berkshire Renegades. Palmer Park Stadium has a velodrome and athletics track. It is used by Reading Athletic Club[238] and the Berkshire Renegades for training.[239] Reading Hockey Club enter teams in both the Men's and Women's England Hockey Leagues.

Rowing is pursued by the Reading Rowing Club and the Reading University Boat Club,[240] both next to Caversham Bridge, whilst Reading Blue Coat School trains at Sonning adjacent to the Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake in Caversham, which provides training facilities for the Great Britain National Squad.[241] However, almost all club rowing is done on the River Thames. The annual Reading Town Regatta takes place near Thames Valley Park,[242] with the Reading Amateur Regatta taking place in June, usually two weeks before the Henley Royal Regatta. The town was home to a motorcycle speedway team, Reading Racers. Speedway came to Reading in 1968 at Tilehurst Stadium, until the team moved to Smallmead Stadium in Whitley,[243] which was demolished at the end of 2008. The team is inactive pending the building of a new stadium, which was once hoped to be completed in 2012.[244] The Reading Racers reformed in 2016 and joined the new Southern Developmental League upon its formation in 2017 winning its inaugural season undefeated. The team started back up in Eastbourne and currently races in Swindon awaiting return to a track in Reading.

The Reading Half Marathon is held on the streets of Reading in March of each year, with 16,000 competitors from elite to fun runners.[245] It was first run in 1983 and has taken place in every subsequent year except 2001, when it was cancelled because of concerns over that year's outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, 2018, when it was cancelled on the morning of the race due to heavy overnight snowfall, and 2020, when it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[246][247][248] The British Triathlon Association was formed at the town's former Mall health club on 11 December 1982.[249] Britain's first ever triathlon took place just outside Reading at Kirtons's Farm in Pingewood in 1983 and was revived 10 years' later by Banana Leisure with one of the original organisers as Event Director.[250] Thames Valley Triathletes, based in the town, is Britain's oldest triathlon club, having its origins in the 1984 event at nearby Heckfield, when a relay team raced under the name Reading Triathlon Club.[251] The Hexagon was home to snooker's Grand Prix tournament, one of the sport's "Big Four", from 1984 to 1994.[252][253]

Notable people

Main article: List of people from Reading, Berkshire
See also: Category:People from Reading, Berkshire

Twin towns

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in England

Reading is twinned with:[254]

Though not twinned with Reading, two suburbs of the New Zealand city of Dunedin — Caversham and Forbury — were named after places in and around Reading by early New Zealand settler and Reading native William Henry Valpy.

See also

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March 29, 2023
reading, berkshire, reading, listen, town, borough, berkshire, england, located, thames, valley, confluence, rivers, thames, kennet, reading, miles, east, swindon, miles, south, oxford, miles, west, london, miles, north, basingstoke, reading, borough, readingt. Reading ˈ r ɛ d ɪ ŋ listen RED ing 2 is a town and borough in Berkshire England Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers Thames and Kennet Reading is 40 miles 64 km east of Swindon 24 miles 39 km south of Oxford 40 miles 64 km west of London and 16 miles 26 km north of Basingstoke Reading Borough of ReadingTown and BoroughFrom top left Reading s medieval Market Place with Town Hall and 11th century St Laurence s Church the Maiwand Lion the Town Centre skyline from the Royal Berkshire Hospital the 12th Century Reading Abbey ruins The Oracle shopping centre and River KennetCoat of Arms of Reading Borough CouncilMotto s A Deo et ReginaWith God and QueenBorough of Reading shown within BerkshireReadingShow map of the United KingdomReadingShow map of EnglandReadingShow map of EuropeCoordinates 51 27 15 N 0 58 23 W 51 45417 N 0 97306 W 51 45417 0 97306 Coordinates 51 27 15 N 0 58 23 W 51 45417 N 0 97306 W 51 45417 0 97306Sovereign state United KingdomConstituent country EnglandRegionSouth East EnglandCeremonial countyBerkshireHistoric county Berkshire south Thames Oxfordshire north Thames Admin HQReadingSettled871 or earlierTown status1086 or earlierGovernment TypeUnitary authority BodyReading Borough Council LeadershipLeader and Cabinet MayorCllr Rachel Eden MPsMatt Rodda L Alok Sharma C Elevation61 m 200 ft Population 2021 Borough174 224 Rank116th of 309 borough Density4 313 km2 11 170 sq mi Urban337 108 Ethnicity Borough 1 74 8 White 65 3 White British 9 1 South Asian 6 7 Black 3 9 Mixed 4 5 Chinese and Other Asian 0 9 OtherDemonym s Redingensian ReadingiteTime zoneUTC 0 GMT Summer DST UTC 1 BST Postal codeRGArea code0118Grid Ref SU713733ONS code00MC ONS E06000038 GSS ISO 3166 2GB RDGNUTS 3UKJ11Websitereading gov ukReading is a major commercial centre especially for information technology and insurance 3 It is also a regional retail centre serving a large area of the Thames Valley with its shopping centres including the Oracle the Broad Street Mall and the pedestrianised area around Broad Street It is home to the University of Reading Every year it hosts the Reading Festival one of England s biggest music festivals Reading has a professional association football team Reading F C and participates in many other sports Reading dates from the 8th century It was an important trading and ecclesiastical centre in the Middle Ages the site of Reading Abbey one of the largest and richest monasteries of medieval England with strong royal connections of which the 12th century abbey gateway and significant ancient ruins remain By 1525 Reading was the largest town in Berkshire and tenth in England for taxable wealth The town was seriously affected by the English Civil War with a major siege and loss of trade but played a pivotal role in the Glorious Revolution whose only significant military action was fought on its streets The 18th century saw the beginning of a major ironworks in the town and the growth of the brewing trade for which Reading was to become famous The 19th century saw the coming of the Great Western Railway and the development of the town s brewing baking and seed growing businesses and the town grew rapidly as a manufacturing centre Reading is also the county town of Berkshire Contents 1 History 1 1 Origins 1 2 20th century 1 3 21st century 2 Government 3 Geography 3 1 Climate 4 Demography 4 1 Ethnicity 4 2 Religion 5 Economy 6 Culture 6 1 Cultural references 6 2 Landmarks 6 3 Media 7 Public services 7 1 Parks and open spaces 7 2 Healthcare 7 3 Utilities 7 4 Education 7 5 Libraries and museums 8 Transport 8 1 River 8 2 Road 8 3 Rail 8 4 Air 8 5 Public transport 8 6 Bike sharing 9 Religion 10 Sport 11 Notable people 12 Twin towns 13 See also 14 References 15 Bibliography 16 External linksHistory EditMain article History of Reading Berkshire See also Timeline of Reading Berkshire Origins Edit The earliest map of Reading published in 1611 by John Speed View of Reading from Caversham by Joseph Farington in 1793 Occupation at the site of Reading may date back to the Roman period possibly in the form of a trading port for Calleva Atrebatum 4 However the first clear evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century when the town came to be known as Readingas The name probably comes from the Readingas an Anglo Saxon tribe whose name means Reada s People in Old English 5 the Anglo Saxons often had the same name for a place and its inhabitants In late 870 an army of Danes invaded the kingdom of Wessex and set up camp at Reading On 4 January 871 in the first Battle of Reading King Ethelred and his brother Alfred the Great attempted unsuccessfully to breach the Danes defences The battle is described in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle and that account provides the earliest known written record of the existence of Reading The Danes remained in Reading until late in 871 when they retreated to their winter quarters in London 6 7 After the Battle of Hastings and the Norman conquest of England William the Conqueror gave land in and around Reading to his foundation of Battle Abbey In its 1086 Domesday Book listing the town was explicitly described as a borough The presence of six mills is recorded four on land belonging to the king and two on the land given to Battle Abbey 7 Reading Abbey was founded in 1121 by Henry I who is buried within the Abbey grounds As part of his endowments he gave the abbey his lands in Reading along with land at Cholsey 7 8 Reading was an important river crossing point in 1312 King Edward II directed that its bridges should be kept in good order 9 It is not known how badly Reading was affected by the Black Death that swept through England in the 14th century but it is known that the abbot Henry of Appleford was one of its victims in 1361 and that nearby Henley lost 60 of its population 10 The Abbey was largely destroyed in 1538 during Henry VIII s dissolution of the monasteries The last abbot Hugh Faringdon was subsequently tried and convicted of high treason and hanged drawn and quartered in front of the Abbey Church 11 12 By 1525 Reading was the largest town in Berkshire and tax returns show that Reading was the tenth largest town in England when measured by taxable wealth By 1611 it had a population of over 5000 and had grown rich on its trade in cloth as instanced by the fortune made by local merchant John Kendrick 10 13 Reading played an important role during the English Civil War Despite its fortifications it had a Royalist garrison imposed on it in 1642 The subsequent Siege of Reading by Parliamentary forces succeeded in April 1643 14 The town s cloth trade was especially badly damaged and the town s economy did not fully recover until the 20th century 7 15 Reading played a significant role during the Glorious Revolution the second Battle of Reading was the only substantial military action of the campaign 7 16 The 18th century saw the beginning of a major iron works in the town and the growth of the brewing trade for which Reading was to become famous 17 Reading s trade benefited from better designed turnpike roads which helped it establish its location on the major coaching routes from London to Oxford and the West Country In 1723 despite considerable local opposition the Kennet Navigation opened the River Kennet to boats as far as Newbury Opposition stopped when it became apparent that the new route benefited the town After the opening of the Kennet and Avon Canal in 1810 one could go by barge from Reading to the Bristol Channel 18 From 1714 and probably earlier the role of county town of Berkshire was shared between Reading and Abingdon 19 20 In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was one of the southern termini of the Hatfield and Reading Turnpike that allowed travelers from the north to continue their journey to the west without going through the congestion of London During the 19th century the town grew rapidly as a manufacturing centre The Great Western Railway arrived in 1841 21 followed by the South Eastern Railway in 1849 and the London and South Western Railway in 1856 22 23 The Summer Assizes were moved from Abingdon to Reading in 1867 effectively making Reading the sole county town of Berkshire a decision that was officially approved by the privy council in 1869 19 The town became a county borough under the Local Government Act 1888 24 25 The town has been famous for the Three Bs of beer 1785 2010 H amp G Simonds 26 27 bulbs 1837 1974 Suttons Seeds 26 28 and biscuits 1822 1976 Huntley and Palmers 26 29 30 20th century Edit The town continued to expand in the 20th century annexing Caversham across the River Thames in Oxfordshire in 1911 Compared to many other English towns and cities Reading suffered little physical damage during either of the two world wars that afflicted the 20th century although many citizens were killed or injured in the conflicts One significant air raid occurred on 10 February 1943 when a single Luftwaffe plane machine gunned and bombed the town centre resulting in 41 deaths and over 100 injuries 31 The Lower Earley development built in 1977 was one of the largest private housing developments in Europe 32 33 It extended the urban area of Reading as far as the M4 Motorway which acts as the southern boundary of the town Further housing developments have increased the number of modern houses and hypermarkets in the outskirts of Reading A major town centre shopping centre The Oracle opened in 1999 is named after the 17th century Oracle workhouse which once occupied a small part of the site It provides three storeys of shopping space and boosted the local economy by providing 4 000 jobs 34 35 21st century Edit As one of the largest urban areas in the United Kingdom to be without city status Reading has unsuccessfully bid for city status on four recent occasions in 2000 to celebrate the new millennium in 2002 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 2012 for the Diamond Jubilee 36 37 38 39 and in 2022 to mark the Platinum Jubilee 40 41 On 20 June 2020 three people were killed and three others seriously injured in a mass stabbing at Reading s Forbury Gardens that is being treated as a terrorist incident 42 Government Edit Reading Town Hall The gateway as restored in 2018 Local government for the town of Reading is principally provided by Reading Borough Council a single level unitary authority without civil parishes However some of the town s outer suburbs are in West Berkshire and Wokingham unitary authorities These outer suburbs belong to civil parishes in some cases with their own town status Reading has elected at least one Member of Parliament to every Parliament since 1295 43 Historically Reading was represented by the members for the Parliamentary Borough of Reading and the parliamentary constituencies of Reading Reading North and Reading South Since the 2010 general election Reading has been divided between the parliamentary constituencies of Reading East Reading West Wokingham which covers Shinfield most of Earley and Lower Earley and Maidenhead which partly covers Woodley 44 Reading is the site of venues for both the Crown Court 45 administering criminal justice and the County Court 46 responsible for civil cases Lesser matters are dealt with in a local magistrates court 47 Reading has had some degree of local government autonomy since 1253 when the local merchant guild was granted a royal charter citation needed Since then the town has been run by a Borough corporation as a county borough and as a district of Berkshire The Borough of Reading became a unitary authority area in 1998 when Berkshire County Council was abolished under the Banham Review and is now responsible for all aspects of local government within the borough 48 Prior to the 16th century civic administration for the town of Reading was situated in the Yield Hall a guild hall situated by the River Kennet near today s Yield Hall Lane 49 After a brief stay in what later became Greyfriars Church the town council created a new town hall by inserting an upper floor into the refectory of the Hospitium of St John the former hospitium of Reading Abbey 49 For some 400 years up to the 1970s this was to remain the site of Reading s civic administration through the successive rebuilds that eventually created today s Town Hall 50 In 1976 Reading Borough Council moved to the new Civic Centre 51 In 2014 they moved again to civic offices in a refurbished existing office building on Bridge Street in order to facilitate the demolition and redevelopment of the previous site 52 The government of the Borough of Reading follows the leader and cabinet model Following the 2011 local elections a Labour minority administration replaced the previous Conservative Liberal Democrat coalition on the casting vote of the mayor 53 After the 2018 elections Labour have 30 councillors the Conservatives 12 Greens 3 and Liberal Democrats 1 54 The borough also has a largely ceremonial mayor Cllr Debs Edwards has been the mayor of Reading since May 2018 55 Since 1887 the borough has included the former villages of Southcote and Whitley and small parts of Earley and Tilehurst 56 By 1911 it also encompassed the Oxfordshire village of Caversham and still more of Tilehurst 57 A small area of Mapledurham parish was added in 1977 An attempt to take over a small area of Eye and Dunsden parish in Oxfordshire was rejected because of strong local opposition in 1997 57 Today the borough itself is unparished and the wards used to elect the borough councillors generally ignore the old parish boundaries and use invented ward names 58 Reading s municipal boundaries do not include all of the surrounding suburbs Some of these areas Tilehurst Calcot Earley Winnersh and Woodley are at least partly within West Berkshire or Wokingham Borough This unusual configuration creates difficulties The diminishing amount of land available and suitable for development within the borough s boundary can bring the council into conflict with its neighbours development plans this is exacerbated by the fact that the wards within the borough boundaries have tended to elect Labour councillors while the suburban wards outside the borough have tended to vote Conservative This particularly affects education many schools have catchment areas that cross administrative boundaries and transport A perennial example is whether to construct a third road crossing of the Thames which South Oxfordshire s politicians and residents oppose 59 60 On this subject Rob Wilson then Member of Parliament for Reading East said in a House of Commons debate in January 2006 61 However the process has been painfully slow and it appears that for every two steps forwards there are three steps backwards mainly because of the view of South Oxfordshire district council which is being incredibly parochial about this matter Meanwhile Reading Borough Council is adopting strategies that prioritise local traffic in Reading obviously to the detriment of through traffic We have now reached the point at which we desperately need direct Government intervention to break the logjam between those local authorities Geography EditPlace Distance Direction RelationLondon 38 miles 61 km 62 East Capital city of the UKSwindon 36 miles 58 km 63 West Second most populous in county after the townSt Albans 34 miles 55 km 64 North east Nearby cityWinchester 31 miles 50 km 65 South Nearby cityOxford 24 miles 39 km 66 North Nearby cityAbingdon 20 miles 32 km 67 North west Historic joint county town Broad Street Reading is 42 miles 68 km north of the English south coast The centre of Reading is on a low ridge between the River Thames and River Kennet close to their confluence reflecting the town s history as a river port Just above the confluence the Kennet cuts through a narrow steep sided gap in the hills forming the southern flank of the Thames flood plain The absence of a flood plain on the Kennet in this defile enabled the development of wharves The floodplains adjoining Reading s two rivers are subject to occasional flooding 68 69 Beansheaf Farm Calcot Caversham Caversham Heights Caversham Park Village Coley Coley Park East Reading Emmer Green Fords Farm Holybrook Horncastle Katesgrove Little Heath Lower Caversham Lower Earley Maiden Erlegh Newtown Norcot Purley Southcote Tilehurst West Reading Whitley Whitley Wood Kennet Island Shinfieldclass notpageimage Location of suburbs of Reading As Reading has grown its suburbs have spread to the west between the two rivers into the foothills of the Berkshire Downs as far as Calcot Tilehurst and Purley to the south and south east on the south side of the River Kennet as far as Whitley Wood and Lower Earley and as far north of the Thames into the Chiltern Hills as far as Caversham Heights Emmer Green and Caversham Park Village Outside the central area the floors of the valleys containing the two rivers remain largely unimproved floodplain Apart from the M4 curving to the south there is only one road across the Kennet flood plain All other routes between the three built up areas are in the central area 70 Historically the town of Reading was smaller than the borough Definitions include the old ecclesiastical parishes of the churches of St Mary St Laurence and St Giles or the even smaller pre 19th century borough 57 Today as well as the town centre Reading comprises a number of suburbs and other districts both within the borough itself and within the surrounding urban area The names and location of these suburbs are in general usage but except where some of the outer suburbs correspond to civil parishes there are no formally defined boundaries The Reading urban area officially Reading Wokingham additionally includes Winnersh Wokingham Crowthorne and the civil parishes of Earley Woodley Purley Tilehurst and Shinfield 71 Climate Edit Like the rest of the United Kingdom Reading has a maritime climate with limited seasonal temperature ranges and generally moderate rainfall throughout the year The nearest official Met Office weather station is located at the Reading University Atmospheric Observatory on the Whiteknights Campus which has recorded atmospheric measurements and meteorological observations since 1970 72 The local absolute maximum temperature of 37 6 C 99 7 F was recorded on 19 July 2022 and the local absolute minimum temperature of 14 5 C 5 9 F was recorded in January 1982 Climate data for Reading University elevation 62 m 203 ft 1991 2020 normals extremes 1959 presentMonth Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec YearRecord high C F 15 5 59 9 19 6 67 3 22 8 73 0 26 9 80 4 28 5 83 3 34 0 93 2 37 6 99 7 36 4 97 5 29 6 85 3 27 8 82 0 18 1 64 6 15 8 60 4 37 6 99 7 Average high C F 8 0 46 4 8 5 47 3 11 2 52 2 14 2 57 6 17 4 63 3 20 4 68 7 22 7 72 9 22 3 72 1 19 3 66 7 15 1 59 2 11 0 51 8 8 4 47 1 14 9 58 8 Daily mean C F 5 1 41 2 5 4 41 7 7 4 45 3 9 7 49 5 12 7 54 9 15 6 60 1 17 8 64 0 17 5 63 5 14 8 58 6 11 5 52 7 7 8 46 0 5 4 41 7 10 9 51 6 Average low C F 2 1 35 8 2 2 36 0 3 5 38 3 5 1 41 2 8 0 46 4 10 8 51 4 12 9 55 2 12 7 54 9 10 4 50 7 7 9 46 2 4 7 40 5 2 5 36 5 6 9 44 4 Record low C F 14 5 5 9 11 6 11 1 7 2 19 0 3 5 25 7 2 0 28 4 1 5 34 7 4 9 40 8 3 4 38 1 0 6 33 1 4 4 24 1 8 3 17 1 13 4 7 9 14 5 5 9 Average precipitation mm inches 65 2 2 57 45 6 1 80 40 3 1 59 48 7 1 92 43 5 1 71 47 2 1 86 48 9 1 93 56 9 2 24 49 7 1 96 73 8 2 91 73 1 2 88 65 4 2 57 658 2 25 91 Average precipitation days 1 0 mm 11 8 9 7 8 6 9 3 8 1 7 7 8 1 8 5 8 2 10 6 11 8 11 5 113 9Mean monthly sunshine hours 55 6 76 5 119 7 170 2 199 9 199 0 205 5 190 5 145 3 106 6 60 2 48 5 1 577 5Average ultraviolet index 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 4 4 3 2 2 3Source 1 Met Office 73 WeatherAtlas 74 Source 2 Starlings Roost 75 76 ReadingClimate chart explanation J F M A M J J A S O N D 61 8 2 41 8 2 45 11 3 48 14 5 46 17 8 45 20 11 46 22 13 52 22 13 50 19 10 72 15 8 66 11 4 63 8 2 Average max and min temperatures in C Precipitation totals in mmImperial conversionJFMAMJJASOND 2 4 46 35 1 6 46 35 1 8 51 38 1 9 56 40 1 8 63 46 1 8 68 51 1 8 72 55 2 1 72 55 2 66 51 2 8 59 46 2 6 51 40 2 5 46 36 Average max and min temperatures in F Precipitation totals in inchesDemography Edit Population pyramid of Reading in 2020 Borough of Reading population growth rate from 1801 to 2011 In mid 2018 the area covered by the Borough of Reading had 174 224 inhabitants and a population density of 4 313 per square kilometre 11 171 sq mi 77 Meanwhile the wider urban area had a population of 318 014 in the 2011 census ranking 23rd in the United Kingdom 78 This grew to an estimated 337 108 by mid 2018 71 According to the 2011 census 74 8 of the borough s population were described as White 65 3 White British 9 1 as South Asian 6 7 as Black 3 9 Mixed 4 5 as Chinese and 0 9 as other ethnic group 1 In 2010 it was reported that Reading had 150 different spoken languages within its population 79 80 Reading has a large Polish community which dates back over 30 years 81 and in October 2006 the Reading Chronicle printed 5 000 copies of a Polish edition called the Kronika Reading 82 83 84 Ethnicity Edit Ethnic Group Year1971 estimations 85 1991 86 2001 87 2011 88 2021 89 Number Number Number Number Number White Total 123 700 94 9 116 652 90 5 124 240 86 8 116 387 74 7 116 886 67 2 White British 115 363 80 6 101 725 65 3 93 167 53 5 White Irish 2 866 2 269 2 040 1 2 White Gypsy or Irish Traveller 90 107 0 1 White Roma 573 0 3 White Other 6 011 4 2 12 303 7 9 20 999 12 1 Asian or Asian British Total 5 920 4 6 8 478 5 9 21 161 13 6 30 841 17 7 Asian or Asian British Indian 1 748 1 4 2 425 1 7 6 514 4 2 10 777 6 2 Asian or Asian British Pakistani 2 771 2 2 3 828 2 7 6 967 4 5 8 279 4 8 Asian or Asian British Bangladeshi 214 0 2 359 0 3 695 0 4 1 132 0 6 Asian or Asian British Chinese 497 0 4 1 030 0 7 1 603 1 0 2 694 1 5 Asian or Asian British Other Asian 690 0 5 836 0 6 5 382 3 5 7 959 4 6 Black or Black British Total 5 196 4 5 931 4 1 10 470 6 7 12 532 7 2 Black or Black British African 764 0 6 2 222 1 6 6 087 3 9 7 665 4 4 Black or Black British Caribbean 3416 2 7 3 181 2 2 3 279 2 1 3 293 1 9 Black or Black British Other Black 1016 0 8 528 0 4 1 104 0 7 1 574 0 9 Mixed or British Mixed Total 3 399 2 4 6 180 4 8 962 5 1 Mixed White and Black Caribbean 1 677 2 718 3 555 2 0 Mixed White and Black African 317 802 1 249 0 7 Mixed White and Asian 734 1 428 2 117 1 2 Mixed Other Mixed 671 1 232 2 041 1 2 Other Total 1 109 0 9 1 048 0 7 1 500 1 5 002 2 8 Other Arab 680 1 282 0 7 Other Any other ethnic group 1 109 0 9 1 048 0 7 820 3 720 2 1 Ethnic minority Total 6 586 5 1 12 225 9 5 18 856 13 2 39 311 25 3 57 337 32 8 Total 130 286 100 128 877 100 143 096 100 155 698 100 174 223 100 Religion Edit Religion 2001 90 2011 91 Number Number Holds religious beliefs 99 167 69 3 98 395 63 2 Christian 89 618 62 6 77 848 50 0 Buddhist 688 0 5 1 876 1 2 Hindu 1 417 1 0 5 661 3 6 Jewish 415 0 3 355 0 2 Muslim 5 730 4 0 11 007 7 1 Sikh 781 0 5 947 0 6Other religion 518 0 4 701 0 5 No religion and Religion not stated 43 929 30 7 57 303 36 8No religion 31 486 22 0 45 931 29 5Religion not stated 12 443 8 7 11 372 7 3Total population 143 096 100 0 155 698 100 0Economy EditMain article Economy of Reading Berkshire Reading International Business Park This crescent of offices beside the A33 are home to Verizon a telecommunications company They were formerly the European headquarters of WorldCom before its demise The front of the store on Broad Street The central lake makes a virtue of the necessity of flood alleviation measures Green Park wind turbine viewed from Lime Square Reading is an important commercial centre in the Thames Valley and Southern England The town hosts the headquarters of several British companies and the United Kingdom offices of foreign multinationals as well as being a major retail centre 92 Whilst located close enough to London to be sometimes regarded as part of the London commuter belt Reading is a net inward destination for commuters During the morning peak period there are some 30 000 inward arrivals in the town compared to 24 000 departures 93 Major companies Microsoft Oracle 94 and Hibu formerly Yell Group 95 have their headquarters in Reading The insurance company Prudential has an administration centre in the town 96 PepsiCo 97 and Wrigley 97 have offices Global pharmaceutical giant Bayer Life Sciences relocated to Reading s Green Park Business Park in 2016 98 Reading has a significant historical involvement in the information technology industry largely as a result of the early presence in the town of sites of International Computers Limited 99 and Digital Equipment Corporation 100 Other technology companies with a significant presence in the town include Huawei Technologies Pegasystems Access IS CGI Inc Agilent Technologies 101 Cisco 102 Ericsson 103 Symantec 102 Verizon Business 104 and Commvault 105 These companies are distributed around Reading or just outside the borough boundary some in business parks including Thames Valley Park in nearby Earley Green Park Business Park and Arlington Business Park Reading town centre is a major shopping centre In 2007 an independent poll placed Reading 16th in a league table of best performing retail centres in the United Kingdom 106 107 The main shopping street is Broad Street which runs between The Oracle in the east and Broad Street Mall in the west and was pedestrianised in 1995 108 The smaller Friars Walk in Friar Street is closed and will be demolished if the proposed Station Hill redevelopment project goes ahead 109 There are three major department stores in Reading John Lewis amp Partners known as Heelas until 2001 110 Debenhams now closed down and House of Fraser 111 The Broad Street branch of bookseller Waterstone s is a conversion of a nonconformist chapel dating from 1707 112 Besides the two major shopping malls Reading has three smaller shopping arcades the Bristol and West Arcade Harris Arcade and The Walk which contain smaller specialist stores An older form of retail facility is represented by Union Street popularly known as Smelly Alley 113 114 Reading has no indoor market but there is a street market in Hosier Street 115 A farmers market operates on two Saturdays a month 116 Culture Edit Aerial view of Reading Festival 2007 The Abbey Gateway where Jane Austen went to school The Maiwand Lion in Forbury Gardens Every year Reading hosts the Reading Festival which has been running since 1971 117 118 The festival takes place on the Friday Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend and is the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom aside from the Glastonbury Festival Reading Festival takes place at Little Johns Farm in Reading Richfield Avenue 119 For some twenty years until 2006 Reading was also known for its WOMAD Festival until it moved to Charlton Park in Malmesbury Wiltshire 120 121 The Reading Beer Festival was first held in 1994 122 and has now grown to one of the largest beer festivals in the United Kingdom It is held at King s Meadow for the five days immediately preceding the May Day bank holiday every year 123 Reading also holds Reading Pride an annual LGBT festival in Kings Meadow The Frank Matcham designed Royal County Theatre built in 1895 was located on the south side of Friar Street It burned down in 1937 124 Within the town hall is a 700 seat concert hall that houses a Father Willis organ 125 Reading theatre venues include The Hexagon and South Street Arts Centre 126 127 Reading Repetory Theatre is based at Reading College its Royal Patron is Prince Edward Duke of Edinburgh 128 Amateur theatre venues in Reading include Progress Theatre 129 a self governing self funding theatre group and registered charity founded in 1947 that operates and maintains its own 97 seat theatre 130 The demonym for a person from Reading is Redingensian 131 giving the name of the local rugby team Redingensians based in Sonning and of former members of Reading School 132 Cultural references Edit Jane Austen attended Reading Ladies Boarding School based in the Abbey Gateway in 1784 1786 133 Mary Russell Mitford lived in Reading for a number of years and then spent the rest of her life just outside the town at Three Mile Cross and Swallowfield 134 The fictional Belford Regis of her eponymous novel 135 first published in 1835 is largely based on Reading Described with topographical accuracy it is still possible to follow the steps of the novel s characters in present day Reading Reading also appears in the works of Thomas Hardy where it is called Aldbrickham 136 It features most heavily in his final novel Jude the Obscure as the temporary home of Jude Fawley and Sue Bridehead Oscar Wilde was imprisoned in Reading Gaol from 1895 to 1897 While there he wrote his letter De Profundis After his release he lived in exile in France and wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol based on his experience of the execution of Charles Wooldridge carried out in Reading Gaol whilst he was imprisoned there 137 138 Ricky Gervais who is from Reading made the film Cemetery Junction which although filmed elsewhere in the United Kingdom is set in 1970s Reading and is named after a busy junction in East Reading 139 140 141 Jasper Fforde s Nursery Crimes Division novels The Big Over Easy and The Fourth Bear are also placed in Reading The BBC Two sitcom Beautiful People based on the memoirs of Simon Doonan is set in Reading in the late 1990s Further information Heavenly Planet Landmarks Edit The Maiwand Lion in Forbury Gardens an unofficial symbol of Reading commemorates the 328 officers of the Royal Berkshire Regiment who died in the Battle of Maiwand in 1880 56 142 There are a number of other works of public art in Reading The Blade a fourteen storey building completed in 2009 is 128 m 420 ft tall and can be seen from the surrounding area 143 Jacksons Corner with its prominent sign former home 144 of Jacksons department store occupies the corner of Kings Road and High Street just south of the Market Place Reading has six Grade I listed buildings 22 Grade II and 853 Grade II buildings in a wide variety of architectural styles that range from the medieval to the 21st century The Grade I listed buildings are Reading Abbey the Abbey Gateway Greyfriars Church St Laurence s Church Reading Minster and the barn at Chazey Farmhouse on the Warren 145 146 Media Edit Reading has a local newspaper the Reading Chronicle published on Thursdays The town s other local newspaper the Reading Post ceased publication on paper in December 2014 in order to transition to an online only format under the title getreading As of 2018 getreading joined the InYourArea local news network 147 A local publishing company the Two Rivers Press has published over 70 book titles many on the topic of local history and art 148 149 Two local radio stations broadcast from Reading BBC Radio Berkshire and Heart South Other local radio stations such as Capital Mid Counties and Basingstoke s Greatest Hits Radio Berkshire amp North Hampshire can also be received Reading has one local television station That s Thames Valley which broadcasts local news throughout the Greater Reading area Local television news programmes are the BBC s South Today and ITV s Meridian Tonight are available on BBC One and ITV Public services Edit The Royal Berkshire Hospital original frontage built in 1839 with bath stone 150 The former hospitium Parks and open spaces Edit Reading has over 100 parks and playgrounds including 5 miles 8 km of riverside paths In the town centre is Forbury Gardens a public park built on the site of the outer court of Reading Abbey The largest public park in Reading is Prospect Park an estate in west Reading previously owned by Frances Kendrick but acquired by Reading Corporation in 1901 This is complemented by Palmer Park a purpose built public park in east Reading gifted to the town by the proprietors of Huntley amp Palmers in 1889 151 152 153 A string of open spaces stretch along one or other side of the River Thames throughout its passage through Reading From west to east these are Thameside Promenade Caversham Court Christchurch Meadows Hills Meadow View Island and King s Meadow Reading also has five local nature reserves Clayfield Copse in Caversham with the other four McIlroy Park Blundells Copse Lousehill Copse and Round Copse all in Tilehurst 154 155 156 Healthcare Edit The principal National Health Service NHS hospital in Reading is the Royal Berkshire Hospital founded in 1839 and much enlarged and rebuilt since 157 A second major NHS general hospital the Battle Hospital closed in 2005 158 Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust runs a NHS hospital Prospect Park Hospital which specialises in the provision of care for people with mental health and learning disabilities 159 Reading has three private hospitals the Berkshire Independent Hospital in Coley Park the Dunedin Hospital situated on the main A4 Bath Road and the Circle Hospital at Kennet Island 160 161 162 Utilities Edit Mains water and sewerage services are provided by Thames Water Utilities Limited a private sector water supply company whilst water abstraction and disposal is regulated by the Environment Agency Reading s water supply is largely derived from underground aquifers and as a consequence the water is hard 163 164 165 The commercial energy supplier for electricity and gas is at the consumer s choice Southern Electric runs the local electricity distribution network while SGN runs the gas distribution network A notable part of the local energy infrastructure is the presence of a 2 megawatt peak Enercon wind turbine at Green Park Business Park with the potential to produce 2 7 million kWh of electricity a year enough to power over a thousand homes 166 Additionally Reading Hydro runs a micro hydroelectric power station on the Thames Reading had its own power station in Vastern Road from 1895 to the 1960s The power station was initially owned and operated by the Reading Electric Supply Company Limited then from 1933 by the Reading Corporation until the nationalisation of the British electricity supply industry in 1948 167 The dialling code for fixed line telephones in Reading is 0118 BT provides fixed line telephone coverage throughout the town and ADSL broadband internet connection to most areas Parts of Reading are cabled by Virgin Media supplying cable television telephone and broadband internet connections Hyperoptic also has a presence in the town supplying Fibre to the Premises FTTP broadband internet connections at speeds of up to 1 Gbit s 168 Education Edit See also List of schools in Reading Part of the University of Reading s main Whiteknights Campus Entrance to the Museum of English Rural Life The Museum of English Rural Life s rear garden with the original East Thorpe House in the centre Reading School founded in 1125 132 is the 16th oldest school in England 169 There are six other state secondary schools and 38 state primary schools within the borough together with a number of private and independent schools and nurseries 170 Alfred Sutton Boys School closed in the mid 1980s 171 Reading College has provided further education in Reading since 1955 with over 8 500 local learners on over 900 courses 172 English language schools in Reading include Gateway Languages the English Language Centre ELC London Street and Eurospeak Language School The University of Reading was established in 1892 as an affiliate of Oxford University 173 It moved to its London Road Campus in 1904 and to its new Whiteknights Campus in 1947 It took over the Bulmershe College of Higher Education a teacher training college in 1989 becoming Bulmershe Court Campus The Henley Management College situated in Buckinghamshire and about 10 miles 16 km from Reading was taken over in 2008 becoming Greenlands Campus 174 The University of West London maintains a presence in the town for its higher education students principally in nursing but has now divested itself of its previous ownership of Reading College and its further education students 175 Libraries and museums Edit The Reading Borough Libraries service dates back to 1877 56 Initially housed in Reading Town Hall the central branch of the library was relocated to a new building on King s Road in 1985 176 The Reading Museum 177 opened in 1883 in the town s municipal buildings 56 It contains galleries relating to the history of Reading and to the excavations of Calleva Atrebatum 178 together with a full size replica of the Bayeux Tapestry an art collection and galleries relating to Huntley and Palmers 179 The Museum of English Rural Life in East Reading is a museum dedicated to recording the changing face of farming and the countryside in England It houses designated collections of national importance It is owned and run by the University of Reading as are the Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology the Cole Museum of Zoology and the Harris Botanic Gardens all of which can be found on the university s Whiteknights Campus 180 181 182 The small Riverside Museum at Blake s Lock tells the story of Reading s two rivers The Museum of Berkshire Aviation has a collection of aircraft and other artefacts relating to the aircraft industry in the town 183 184 Transport EditMain article Transport in Reading Berkshire The River Thames from Caversham Bridge looking eastwards Aerial view of Reading station in August 2014 A Great Western Railway Class 800 with a service to London Reading station platforms showing new footbridge Reading s location in the Thames Valley to the west of London has made the town a significant element in the nation s transport system River Edit The town grew up as a river port at the confluence of the River Thames and the River Kennet Both of these rivers are navigable and Caversham Lock Blake s Lock County Lock Fobney Lock and Southcote Lock are all within the borough Today navigation is predominantly for purposes of leisure private and hire boats dominate traffic while scheduled boat services operate on the Thames from wharves on the Reading side of the river near Caversham Bridge 185 186 Road Edit Reading was a major staging point on the old Bath Road A4 from London to Avonmouth near Bristol This road still carries local traffic but has now been replaced for long distance traffic by the M4 motorway which closely skirts the borough and serves it with three junctions J10 J12 Other main roads serving Reading include the A33 A327 A329 A4074 and A4155 Within Reading there is the Inner Distribution Road IDR a ring road for local traffic The IDR is linked with the M4 by the A33 relief road National Express Coaches run out of Mereoak Park and Ride at Junction 11 of the M4 187 The Thames is crossed by both Reading and Caversham road bridges while several road bridges cross the Kennet the oldest surviving one of which is High Bridge 188 Rail Edit Reading is a major junction point of the National Rail system and hence Reading station is an important transfer point and terminus In a project that finished in 2015 Reading station was redeveloped at a cost of 850m with grade separation of some conflicting traffic flows and extra platforms to relieve severe congestion at this station 189 190 Railway lines link Reading to both Paddington and Waterloo stations in London Other stations in the Reading area are Reading West Tilehurst and Earley Reading Green Park railway station is planned on the Reading to Basingstoke Line to serve Green Park Business Park 191 Reading is a western terminus of the Elizabeth line which provides stopping services to London Paddington and means Reading is featured on the London Tube map When the Crossrail project is fully delivered in mid 2023 cross London connections will be possible from Reading to Abbey Wood and Shenfield in the east passengers desiring through service are currently required to change trains at Paddington 192 Air Edit There have been two airfields in or near Reading one at Coley Park 193 and one at Woodley 194 but they have both closed The nearest airport is London Heathrow 25 miles 40 km away by road An express bus service named RailAir links Reading with Heathrow 195 or the airport can be accessed by rail by taking the Paddington train and changing to the TfL Rail service at Hayes amp Harlington 196 In addition Birmingham Airport Gatwick Airport and Southampton Airport can all be accessed via direct trains from Reading station 197 Public transport Edit Today local public transport is largely by road which is often affected by peak hour congestion in the borough A frequent local bus network within the borough and a less frequent network in the surrounding area are provided by Reading Buses one of the few remaining municipal bus companies in the country and its subsidiaries Newbury amp District and Thames Valley Buses Other bus operators serving Reading include Arriva Shires amp Essex Thames Travel and Oxford Bus Company 198 ReadiBus provides an on demand transport service for people with restricted mobility in the area 199 Bike sharing Edit In March 2011 Reading Borough Council approved a bike sharing scheme similar to London Cycle Hire Scheme with 1 000 bicycles available at up to 150 docking stations across Reading However this scheme came to an end in March 2019 with the operator unable to cover the operational costs or find a sponsor to do so 200 201 202 Religion Edit St Mary s Church tower chequered with flint and ashlar 203 The interior of the ruined chapter house Reading Minster the Minster Church of St Mary the Virgin is Reading s oldest ecclesiastical foundation known to have been founded by the 9th century and possibly earlier 204 Although eclipsed in importance by the later abbey Reading Minster has regained its importance since the destruction of the abbey Reading Abbey was founded by Henry I in 1121 He was buried there as were parts of his daughter Empress Matilda William of Poitiers Constance of York and Princess Isabella of Cornwall among others 7 8 The abbey was one of the pilgrimage centres of medieval England it held over 230 relics including the hand of St James Today all that remains of the abbey are the inner rubble cores of the walls of many of the major buildings of the abbey together with a much restored inner gateway and the intact hospitium 205 206 The medieval borough of Reading was served by three parish churches Reading Minster St Giles Church and St Laurence s Church All are still in use by the Church of England 207 The Franciscan friars built a friary in the town in 1311 After the friars were expelled in 1538 the building was used as a hospital a poorhouse and a jail before being restored as the Church of England parish church of Greyfriars Church in 1863 208 209 The Bishop of Reading is a suffragan bishop within the Church of England s Diocese of Oxford The bishop is based in Reading and is responsible for the archdeaconry of Berkshire There are a total of 18 Church of England parish churches in Reading 210 211 St James s Church was built on a portion of the site of the abbey between 1837 and 1840 and marked the return of the Roman Catholic faith to Reading Reading was also the site of the death of Blessed Dominic Barberi the Catholic missionary to England in the 19th century who received John Henry Newman into the Catholic faith There are now eight Roman Catholic parish churches in Reading 212 213 214 Kings Road Baptist Church was founded in Reading in 1640 or 1641 215 In addition to Catholicism and the Church of England the Seventh Day Adventist denomination is also represented in the town particularly by Reading West SDA Church on Loverock Road Reading Central SDA Church on Tilehurst Road and various other churches around Reading 216 217 Reading has had an organised Jewish community since 1886 At least one Jewish family living in the area has been traced back as far as 1842 The group grew to 13 families who in 1886 declared themselves a community and commenced building a synagogue On 31 October 1900 Reading Hebrew Congregation 218 officially opened in a solemn public ceremony packed to capacity with dignitaries led by the Chief Rabbi Hermann Adler Reading Hebrew Congregation which still stands on its original site at the junction of Goldsmid Road and Clifton Street near the town centre is a Grade II listed building built to a traditional design in the Moorish style The community is affiliated with the Orthodox United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth 218 Reading also has a Liberal Jewish community which convenes in the Reading Quaker Meeting House 219 a Modern Orthodox Judaism community an active Jewish Society for students at the university as well as being served by a Reform Jewish community which convenes in nearby Maidenhead Synagogue 220 There are presently three mosques in Reading initially just having the Central Reading Mosque on Waylen Street 221 The 3 4m Abu Bakr Islamic Centre on Oxford Road in West Reading was granted planning permission in 2002 The community funded project began construction in 2007 222 and opened its doors in July 2013 the holy month of Ramadan for this year 223 A second Islamic centre in eastern Reading has also been granted planning permission 224 This 4m project has garnered some controversy 225 Reading also has places of worship of other religions the Shantideva Mahayana Buddhist centre 226 a Hindu temple 227 a Sikh gurdwara 228 a Salvation Army citadel 229 a Quaker meeting house 230 and a Christadelphian Hall 231 Sport EditMain article Sport in Reading Berkshire The Madejski Stadium home of Reading Football Club The Madejski Stadium as viewed from the stadium s north stand The Voco Reading Hotel pictured when still known as the Millennium Madejski The Reading Half Marathon 2004 climbing Russell Street in West Reading Reading is the home of Reading Football Club an association football club nicknamed The Royals formed in 1871 232 Formerly nicknamed The Biscuitmen 233 and based at Elm Park the club plays at the 24 161 capacity 234 Madejski Stadium named after chairman Sir John Madejski and which opened in 1998 After winning the 2005 06 Football League Championship with a record of 106 points Reading spent two seasons in the Premier League before being relegated to The Championship 235 For the 2012 2013 season the club again competed in the Premier League after securing first place in the Championship in the 2011 2012 season but were relegated back down to the Championship at season s end 236 Reading Town Football Club formed in 1966 237 played at Scours Lane and were playing in the Hellenic League Premier Division but were dissolved in 2016 while fellow non league football club Reading City Football Club now play at Scours Lane after moving from Palmer Park Stadium at the end of the 2015 16 season Scours Lane was also renamed to Rivermoor Stadium in 2016 Reading is home to three senior semi professional rugby clubs Reading Abbey RFC Rams RFC and Reading RFC The Reading Rockets are the town s semi professional basketball team They compete in the second tier English Basketball League Division 1 though they have tried several times in recent years to move up to the top tier British Basketball League They play home games at the Rivermead Leisure Complex and are coached by Manuel Pena Garces In 2016 17 the club embarked on an 18 game winning streak The town hosts Australian Rules football team Reading Kangaroos and American football team Berkshire Renegades Palmer Park Stadium has a velodrome and athletics track It is used by Reading Athletic Club 238 and the Berkshire Renegades for training 239 Reading Hockey Club enter teams in both the Men s and Women s England Hockey Leagues Rowing is pursued by the Reading Rowing Club and the Reading University Boat Club 240 both next to Caversham Bridge whilst Reading Blue Coat School trains at Sonning adjacent to the Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake in Caversham which provides training facilities for the Great Britain National Squad 241 However almost all club rowing is done on the River Thames The annual Reading Town Regatta takes place near Thames Valley Park 242 with the Reading Amateur Regatta taking place in June usually two weeks before the Henley Royal Regatta The town was home to a motorcycle speedway team Reading Racers Speedway came to Reading in 1968 at Tilehurst Stadium until the team moved to Smallmead Stadium in Whitley 243 which was demolished at the end of 2008 The team is inactive pending the building of a new stadium which was once hoped to be completed in 2012 244 The Reading Racers reformed in 2016 and joined the new Southern Developmental League upon its formation in 2017 winning its inaugural season undefeated The team started back up in Eastbourne and currently races in Swindon awaiting return to a track in Reading The Reading Half Marathon is held on the streets of Reading in March of each year with 16 000 competitors from elite to fun runners 245 It was first run in 1983 and has taken place in every subsequent year except 2001 when it was cancelled because of concerns over that year s outbreak of foot and mouth disease 2018 when it was cancelled on the morning of the race due to heavy overnight snowfall and 2020 when it was cancelled due to the COVID 19 pandemic 246 247 248 The British Triathlon Association was formed at the town s former Mall health club on 11 December 1982 249 Britain s first ever triathlon took place just outside Reading at Kirtons s Farm in Pingewood in 1983 and was revived 10 years later by Banana Leisure with one of the original organisers as Event Director 250 Thames Valley Triathletes based in the town is Britain s oldest triathlon club having its origins in the 1984 event at nearby Heckfield when a relay team raced under the name Reading Triathlon Club 251 The Hexagon was home to snooker s Grand Prix tournament one of the sport s Big Four from 1984 to 1994 252 253 Notable people EditMain article List of people from Reading Berkshire See also Category People from Reading BerkshireTwin towns EditSee also List of twin towns and sister cities in England Reading is twinned with 254 Dusseldorf Germany since 1947 officially since 1988 Clonmel Ireland since 1994 San Francisco Libre Nicaragua since 1994 Speightstown Barbados since 2003 Though not twinned with Reading two suburbs of the New Zealand city of Dunedin Caversham and Forbury were named after places in and around Reading by early New Zealand settler and Reading native William Henry Valpy See also Edit Berkshire portal England portal United Kingdom portal Politics portal Geography portalList of administrative counties and county boroughs of England by population in 1971 List of college towns List of conservation areas in England List of English districts List of non US places that have a US place named after them List of towns in England List of unitary authorities of England 2020 Reading 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ISBN 978 1 86077 458 4 Archived from the original on 15 January 2023 Retrieved 27 February 2016 Kidner R W 1982 1974 The Reading to Tonbridge Line Locomotion Papers 3rd ed Salisbury UK The Oakwood Press ISBN 9780853611561 ISSN 0305 5493 Archived from the original on 15 January 2023 Retrieved, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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