Reading, Berkshire
Encyclopedia
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area
in England
. It is located in the Thames Valley
at the confluence
of the River Thames
and River Kennet
, and on both the Great Western Main Line
railway and the M4 motorway
, some 40 miles (64.4 km) west of London.
The town's urban population was 232,662 at the 2001 Census; the Borough of Reading has a population of 145,700 (2008 estimate). The town is currently represented in the UK parliament
by two members, and has been continuously represented there since 1295. For ceremonial purposes
the town is in the county of Berkshire
and has served as its county town
since 1867, previously sharing this status with Abingdon
.
The first evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century. Reading was an important centre in the medieval
period, as the site of Reading Abbey
, a monastery with strong royal connections. The town was seriously impacted by the Civil War
, with a major siege and loss of trade, and played a pivotal role in the Revolution of 1688
, with that revolution's only significant military action fought on the streets of the town. The 19th century saw the coming of the Great Western Railway
and the development of the town's brewing, baking and seed growing businesses.
Today Reading is a commercial centre, with involvement in information technology and insurance, and, despite its proximity to London, has a net inward commuter flow. The town is also a retail centre serving a large area of the Thames Valley, and is home to the University of Reading
. Every year it hosts the Reading Festival
, one of England's biggest music festivals. Sporting teams based in Reading include Reading Football Club
and the London Irish
rugby union team, and over 15,000 runners annually compete in the Reading Half Marathon
.
, possibly as a trading port for Calleva Atrebatum. However the first clear evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century, when the town came to be known as Readingum. The name probably comes from the Readingas
, an Anglo-Saxon
tribe whose name means Reada's People in Old English, or less probably the Celtic
Rhydd-Inge, meaning Ford over the River.
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 winter quarters in London.
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.
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
. 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 of Reading Abbey, Henry of Appleford
, was one of its victims in 1361, and that nearby Henley
lost 60% of its population. The Abbey was largely destroyed in 1538 during Henry VIII's
dissolution of the monasteries
. The last abbot, Hugh Cook Faringdon
, was subsequently tried and convicted of high treason and hanged, drawn and quartered
in front of the Abbey Church.
By 1525, Reading was the largest town in Berkshire, and tax returns show that Reading was the 10th 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
.
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. The town's cloth trade was especially badly damaged, and the town's economy did not fully recover until the 20th century. Reading played a significant role during the Revolution of 1688
: the second Battle of Reading
was the only substantial military action of the campaign.
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. 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
. From 1714, and probably earlier, the role of county town
of Berkshire was shared between Reading and Abingdon
.
During the 19th century, the town grew rapidly as a manufacturing
centre. The Great Western Railway
arrived in 1841, followed by the South Eastern Railway
in 1849 and the London and South Western Railway
in 1856. 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. The town became a county borough
under the Local Government Act 1888
. The town has been famous for the Three Bs of beer (1785–2010, Simonds' Brewery
), bulbs (1837–1974, Suttons Seeds
), and biscuits (1822–1976, Huntley and Palmers
).
The town continued to expand in the 20th century, annexing Caversham
across the River Thames in Oxfordshire
in 1911. The Lower Earley development, built in 1977, was one of the largest private housing developments in Europe. 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. The local 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.
Local government for the town of Reading is principally provided by the Borough of Reading, a single level unitary authority
without civil parish
es. 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. 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 and its surrounding area has been divided between the parliamentary constituencies of Reading East and Reading West
. The whole of the town is within the multi-member South East England European constituency
.
Reading is the site of both a Crown Court
, administering criminal justice, and a County Court
, responsible for civil cases. Lesser matters are dealt with in a local Magistrates' Court
.
was granted a royal charter
. 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.
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. 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. 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
. In 1976, Reading Borough Council moved to the new Civic Centre
.
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. The borough also has a (largely ceremonial) mayor. In 2011–12 this position is held by Councillor Deborah Edwards.
and Whitley
and small parts of Earley
and Tilehurst
. By 1911, it also encompassed the Oxfordshire village of Caversham and still more of Tilehurst. 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. Today the borough itself is unparished, and the wards used to elect the borough councillor
s generally ignore the accepted suburbs and use invented ward names.
Reading's municipal boundaries do not include all of the surrounding suburbs. However, the constricted boundaries also create more serious difficulties for the town, as it attempts to develop and grow. The diminishing amount of suitable land within the borough's boundary can bring the council into conflict its neighbours. An example of this is the planned third crossing of the Thames, which South Oxfordshire
's politicians and residents oppose. On this subject, Rob Wilson
, MP for (Reading East), said in a House of Commons debate in January 2006:
. The borough council has bid for city status on two occasions—in 2000 to celebrate the new millennium and in 2002 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II
—but these bids were unsuccessful. On 27 May 2011 the council submitted its bid for city status celebrating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee
; the final decision is expected in Spring 2012. This application for city status is controversial, because areas just outside the borough, such as Woodley, Earley and Wokingham, fear expansion, although it has support from a number of MPs including ex-Prime Minister Gordon Brown
.
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Reading is 41 miles (66 km) due west of central London
, 30 miles (48.3 km) southeast of Oxford, 70 miles (112.7 km) east of Bristol
, and 50 miles (80.5 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 floodplain
. The absence of a floodplain on the Kennet in this defile
enabled the development of wharves
.
As Reading has grown, its suburbs have spread: to the west between the two rivers into the foothills of the Berkshire Downs
(part of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
); to the south and south-east on the south side of the Kennet; and to the north of the Thames into the Chiltern Hills
. 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 floodplain. All other routes between the three built-up areas are in the central area, which is a cause of road congestion there.
The floodplains adjoining Reading's two rivers are subject to occasional flooding. However, in the 2007 United Kingdom floods
no properties were affected by flooding from the Thames and only four properties were affected by flooding from the Kennet.
parishes of the churches of St Mary
, St Laurence
and St Giles
, or the even smaller pre-19th century borough.
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, sometimes referred to as Greater Reading, incorporates the town's eastern and western suburbs outside the borough, in the civil parishes of Earley, Woodley, Purley-on-Thames
and Tilehurst. Reading has its own subregional catchment area, incorporating the suburban districts of Earley and Woodley, the nearby towns of Wokingham, Bracknell
, Henley-on-Thames
and Twyford
and several large villages such as Pangbourne
, Theale
, Winnersh
, Burghfield
and Shiplake
.
, 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. The local absolute maximum temperature of 36.4 °C (97.5 °F) was recorded in August 1990 and the local absolute minimum temperature of -14.5 C was recorded in January 1982.
The borough has a population of and a population density of , while the Office for National Statistics
' definition of the urban area of Reading is significantly larger at 232,662 people in an area of 55.35 km². This urban area is itself a component of the Reading/Wokingham Urban Area
with a population of 335,757 (1991 est.), and is the most populous town in the United Kingdom not to have city status.
According to 2009 estimates, 82.0% of the population were described as White
(74.2% White British
), 8.4% as South Asian
, 4.3 % as Black
, 2.7% Mixed Race, 1.1% as Chinese
and 1.5% as other ethnic group
. In 2010 it was reported that Reading has 150 different spoken languages within its population. Reading has a large Polish community, which dates back over 30 years, and in October 2006 the Reading Chronicle
printed 5,000 copies of a Polish edition called the Kronika Reading.
and Southern England
. The town hosts the headquarters of several British companies and the UK offices of foreign multinationals, as well as being a major retail centre.
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.
Major companies BG Group
, ING Direct, Microsoft
, Oracle
Yell Group
, have their headquarters in Reading. The insurance company Prudential
has an administration centre in the town. PepsiCo
and Wrigley have offices. 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 and Digital
. Other technology companies with a significant presence in the town include Agilent Technologies
, Cisco
, Ericsson
, Nvidia
, Regus
, SGI
, Symantec
, Verizon Business
, and Websense
. 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
.
, which runs between the Oracle in the east and Broad Street Mall
in the west and was pedestrianised in 1995. The smaller Friars Walk
in Friar Street
is derelict and will be demolished if the proposed Station Hill
redevelopment project goes ahead.
There are three major department store
s in Reading: John Lewis Reading
(formerly known as Heelas), Debenhams
and House of Fraser
. The bookseller Waterstone's
has two branches in Reading. Their Broad Street branch
is a conversion of a nonconformist chapel dating from 1707. 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. Reading has no indoor market, but there is a street market
in Hosier Street. A farmers' market
operates on two Saturdays a month.
, which has been running since 1971. The festival takes place on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday
weekend. For some twenty years until 2006, Reading was also known for its WOMAD Festival
until it moved to Charlton Park
in Malmesbury
, Wiltshire
. The Reading Beer Festival
was first held in 1994 and has now grown to one of the largest beer festivals in the UK. It is held at King's Meadow for the four days immediately preceding the May Day bank holiday every year.
On the south side of Friar Street
there once stood the Royal County Theatre, designed by Frank Matcham
and built in 1895. It was destroyed by fire in 1937. Within the town hall is a 700-seat concert hall that houses a Father Willis
organ. Reading theatre venues include The Hexagon
and 21 South Street. Amateur theatre venues in Reading include Progress Theatre
, a self-governing, self-funding theatre group and registered charity founded in 1947 that operates and maintains its own 97-seat theatre.
The demonym for a person from Reading is Readingensian, giving the name of the local rugby team Redingensians
, based in Sonning
, and of former members of Reading School
. An alternative demonym is Readingite.
was imprisoned in Reading Gaol
from 1895–97. 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 an execution carried out in Reading Gaol whilst he was imprisoned there.
Jane Austen
attended Reading Ladies Boarding School, based in the Abbey Gateway, in 1784–86. 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
. Ricky Gervais
, who is from Reading, made a film Cemetery Junction
although filmed elsewhere in the UK, is set in 1970s Reading and is named after a busy junction in East Reading
.
, published on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the Reading Post, published on Wednesdays and Fridays. Three local radio stations broadcast from Reading: BBC Radio Berkshire
, Reading 107 FM
and Heart Thames Valley
. Other local radio stations, such as London's 95.8 Capital FM, Basingstoke's 107.6 Kestrel FM and East Berkshire's Time 106.6
, can also be received. Local television news programmes are the BBC
's South Today
and ITV
's Meridian Tonight
.
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. The Blade
, a fourteen-storey building completed in 2009, is 128 m (420 ft) tall and can be seen from the surrounding area. Reading has 5 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, and Reading Minster
.
, a public park built on the site of the outer court of Reading Abbey. The largest public park in Reading is Prospect Park
, previously an estate owned by Frances Kendrick and acquired by the Reading Corporation in 1901.
The principal National Health Service
(NHS) hospital in Reading is the Royal Berkshire Hospital
, founded in 1839 and much enlarged and rebuilt since. A second major NHS general hospital, the Battle Hospital
, closed in 2005. Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
runs a NHS hospital, Prospect Park Hospital, that specialises in the provision of care for people with mental health and learning disabilities. Reading has two private hospitals, the Berkshire Independent Hospital in Coley Park
and the Dunedin Hospital situated on the main A4 Bath Road.
The Reading Borough Public Library
service dates back to 1877. Initially housed in Reading Town Hall
, the central branch of the library relocated in 1985 to a new building
on King's Road.
Mains water and sewerage services are supplied by Thames Water Utilities Limited
, a private sector water supply company. 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
. The commercial energy supplier for electricity and gas is at the consumer's choice. Southern Electric
runs the local electricity distribution network, while Scotia Gas Networks
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, wired to the local sub-grid. It has the potential to produce 3.5 million units of electricity a year, enough to power over a thousand homes.
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.
The town grew up as a river port at the confluence of the Thames and the 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 exclusively 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
.
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 Reading Coachway
, at Junction 12 of the M4. 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
.
Reading is a major junction point of the National Rail
system, and hence Reading station
is a major transfer point and terminus. Reading station will be redeveloped at a cost of £850m, with grade separation
of some conflicting traffic flows, and extra platforms, to relieve severe congestion at this station. The project is scheduled to finish in 2015. Railway lines link Reading to both Paddington and Waterloo stations in London. Other stations in the Reading area are Reading West
, Tilehurst
and Earley
. Green Park railway station is planned on the Reading to Basingstoke Line
to serve Green Park Business Park.
There have been two airfields in or near Reading, one at Coley Park
and one at Woodley, but they have both closed. The nearest airport is London Heathrow
, 25 miles (40.2 km) away by road. An express bus service named RailAir
links Reading with Heathrow, or the airport can be accessed by rail by taking the Paddington train and changing to the Heathrow Connect
rail service at Hayes and Harlington railway station
.
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. Other bus operators include First
, Thames Travel
and Newbury Buses.
The OYBike
bicycle sharing system operates in Reading, with approximately 15 bicycles and with docking stations at Reading station, Holiday Inn (Basingstoke Road) and Green Park.
In March 2011, Reading Borough Council approved a larger scheme similar to Barclays Cycle Hire
in London, with 1,000 bicycles available at up to 150 docking stations across Reading.
, founded in 1125, is the 16th oldest school in England. There are six other state secondary schools and 37 state primary schools within the borough, together with a number of private and independent schools and nurseries.
Reading College
has provided further education
in Reading since 1955, with over 8,500 local learners on over 900 courses.
The University of Reading
was established in 1892 as an affiliate of Oxford University. It moved to its London Road Campus
in 1904 and to its new Whiteknights Campus
in 1947. It took over the Bulmershe teacher training college in 1989, becoming Bulmershe Court Campus
. The Henley Management College
, situated in Buckinghamshire
and about 10 miles (16.1 km) from Reading, was taken over in 2008, becoming Greenlands Campus
. 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.
opened in 1883 in the town's municipal buildings
. It contains galleries relating to the history of Reading and to the excavations of Calleva Atrebatum, together with a full-size replica of the Bayeux Tapestry
, an art collection, and galleries relating to Huntley and Palmers
.
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.
On the University of Reading's Whiteknights Campus can be found the Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology
, the Cole Museum of Zoology
and the Harris Botanic Gardens
. In the suburb of Woodley, the Museum of Berkshire Aviation
has a collection of aircraft and other artefacts relating to the aircraft industry in the town.
, or the Minster Church of St Mary the Virgin as it is more properly known, is Reading's oldest ecclesiastical foundation, known to have been founded by the 9th century and possibly earlier. 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. The abbey was one of the pilgrimage centres of medieval England, it held over 230 relic
s including the hand of St. James
.
The mediaeval borough of Reading was served by three parish churches: Reading Minster, St Giles' Church
and St Laurence's Church
. All are still in use as Anglican churches. The Franciscan friars
built a friary in the town in 1311 and after the friars were expelled in 1538, the building was used as a hospital, a poorhouse
and a jail, before being restored as the Anglican parish church of Greyfriars Church
in 1863.
St James' Church
was built on a portion of the site of the abbey between 1837–40, 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.
Reading also has several places of worship of other religions. These include the Shantideva Mahayana Buddhist
centre and several mosques, such as the Central Reading Mosque. A new Islamic centre is under construction on the Oxford Road
in West Reading
. The £3–4m Abu Bakr Islamic Centre was granted planning permission in 2002. The community-funded project began construction in 2006, but, as of July 2008, had no estimated completion date. A second Islamic centre in eastern Reading has also been granted planning permission. This £4m project has garnered some controversy.
Reading is the home of Reading Football Club
, an association football club nicknamed The Royals, formed in 1871. Formerly based at Elm Park
, the club plays at the 24,161 capacity Madejski Stadium
, named after chairman Sir John Madejski
. After winning the 2005–06 Football League Championship with a record of 106 points, Reading F.C. spent two seasons in the Premier League before being relegated to The Championship
.
Reading Town Football Club
, formed in 1966, play at Scours Lane and are currently playing in the Hellenic League
Premier Division.
Reading is a centre for rugby union football in the area, with the Aviva Premiership team London Irish
as tenants at the Madejski Stadium. Reading is also home to another three senior semi-professional rugby clubs; Reading Abbey R.F.C.
, Redingensians R.F.C.
and Reading R.F.C.
.
The town hosts Australian rules football team Reading Kangaroos
and American football team Berkshire Renegades. Palmer Park Stadium
within Palmer Park has a velodrome
and athletics track. It is used by Reading Athletic Club
and the Berkshire Renegades for training. The Reading Hockey Club
play in the Men's Premier Division and in Women's Division One of the English Hockey League
. The Reading Rockets
basketball club plays in the English Basketball League
.
Rowing is pursued by the Reading Rowing Club
and the Reading University Boat Club. The Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake
in Caversham provides training facilities, although much rowing is also done on the River Thames. The annual Reading Town Regatta
takes place near Thames Valley Park
.
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
, which was demolished at the end of 2008. The team is inactive pending the building of a new stadium, which it is hoped to complete in 2012.
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. It was first run in 1983 and took place in every subsequent year except 2001, when it was cancelled because of concerns over that year's outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease
.
The British Triathlon Association was formed at the town's former Mall health club in 11 December 1982. Britain's first ever triathlon took place just outside Reading at Kirtons's Farm in Pingewood
in 1983. 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.
The Hexagon
theatre was home to snooker's Grand Prix
tournament, one of the sport's "Big Four", from 1984 to 94.
Reading-born Richard Burns
became the first Englishman to win the World Rally Championship
, in 2001.
, Germany (since 1947, officially since 1988) Clonmel
, Ireland (since 1994) San Francisco Libre
, Nicaragua (since 1994) Speightstown
, Barbados (since 2003)
Reading is also a sister city of: Beruwala
, Sri Lanka (since 2004) Reading
, Pennsylvania
Unitary authorities of England
Unitary authorities of England are areas where a single local authority is responsible for a variety of services for a district that elsewhere are administered separately by two councils...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is located in the Thames Valley
Thames Valley
The Thames Valley Region is a loose term for the English counties and towns roughly following the course of the River Thames as it flows from Oxfordshire in the west to London in the east. It includes parts of Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, North Hampshire, Surrey and west London...
at the confluence
Confluence
Confluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water.Confluence may also refer to:* Confluence , a property of term rewriting systems...
of the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
and River Kennet
River Kennet
The Kennet is a river in the south of England, and a tributary of the River Thames. The lower reaches of the river are navigable to river craft and are known as the Kennet Navigation, which, together with the Avon Navigation, the Kennet and Avon Canal and the Thames, links the cities of Bristol...
, and on both the Great Western Main Line
Great Western Main Line
The Great Western Main Line is a main line railway in Great Britain that runs westwards from London Paddington station to the west of England and South Wales. The core Great Western Main Line runs from London Paddington to Temple Meads railway station in Bristol. A major branch of the Great...
railway and the M4 motorway
M4 motorway
The M4 motorway links London with South Wales. It is part of the unsigned European route E30. Other major places directly accessible from M4 junctions are Reading, Swindon, Bristol, Newport, Cardiff and Swansea...
, some 40 miles (64.4 km) west of London.
The town's urban population was 232,662 at the 2001 Census; the Borough of Reading has a population of 145,700 (2008 estimate). The town is currently represented in the UK parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
by two members, and has been continuously represented there since 1295. For ceremonial purposes
Ceremonial counties of England
The ceremonial counties are areas of England to which are appointed a Lord Lieutenant, and are defined by the government as counties and areas for the purposes of the Lieutenancies Act 1997 with reference to the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England and Lieutenancies Act 1997...
the town is in the county of Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
and has served as its county town
County town
A county town is a county's administrative centre in the United Kingdom or Ireland. County towns are usually the location of administrative or judicial functions, or established over time as the de facto main town of a county. The concept of a county town eventually became detached from its...
since 1867, previously sharing this status with Abingdon
Abingdon, Oxfordshire
Abingdon or archaically Abingdon-on-Thames is a market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England. It is the seat of the Vale of White Horse district. Previously the county town of Berkshire, Abingdon is one of several places that claim to be Britain's oldest continuously occupied town, with...
.
The first evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century. Reading was an important centre in the medieval
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
period, as the site of Reading Abbey
Reading Abbey
Reading Abbey is a large, ruined abbey in the centre of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. It was founded by Henry I in 1121 "for the salvation of my soul, and the souls of King William, my father, and of King William, my brother, and Queen Maud, my wife, and all my ancestors...
, a monastery with strong royal connections. The town was seriously impacted by the Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, with a major siege and loss of trade, and played a pivotal role in the Revolution of 1688
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...
, with that revolution's only significant military action fought on the streets of the town. The 19th century saw the coming of the Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
and the development of the town's brewing, baking and seed growing businesses.
Today Reading is a commercial centre, with involvement in information technology and insurance, and, despite its proximity to London, has a net inward commuter flow. The town is also a retail centre serving a large area of the Thames Valley, and is home to the University of Reading
University of Reading
The University of Reading is a university in the English town of Reading, Berkshire. The University was established in 1892 as University College, Reading and received its Royal Charter in 1926. It is based on several campuses in, and around, the town of Reading.The University has a long tradition...
. Every year it hosts the Reading Festival
Reading and Leeds Festivals
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend, sharing the same bill. The Reading Festival is held at Little John's Farm...
, one of England's biggest music festivals. Sporting teams based in Reading include Reading Football Club
Reading F.C.
Reading Football Club is an English association football club based in the town of Reading, Berkshire who currently play in the Championship...
and the London Irish
London Irish
London Irish RFC is an English rugby union club based in Sunbury, Surrey, where the senior squad train, the youth teams and senior academy play home games, and the club maintain their administrative offices. The senior squad play home games at the Madejski Stadium in Reading and compete in the top...
rugby union team, and over 15,000 runners annually compete in the Reading Half Marathon
Reading Half Marathon
The Reading Half Marathon is a half marathon road running event held on the streets of the English town of Reading. The race is normally held on a Sunday in March or early April of each year...
.
History
Reading may have existed as early as the Roman occupation of BritainRoman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
, possibly as a trading port for Calleva Atrebatum. However the first clear evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century, when the town came to be known as Readingum. The name probably comes from the Readingas
Readingas
The Readingas were a tribe or clan of early Anglo-Saxon England, whose territory adjoined that of the Sunningas to the east and that of the Basingas to the south. The name literally means means "Rēada's people" and later gave its name to the town of Reading.-Bibliography:*...
, an Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
tribe whose name means Reada's People in Old English, or less probably the Celtic
Celtic languages
The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic"; a branch of the greater Indo-European language family...
Rhydd-Inge, meaning Ford over the River.
In late 870, an army of Danes invaded the kingdom of Wessex
Wessex
The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...
and set up camp at Reading. On 4 January 871, in the first Battle of Reading
Battle of Reading (871)
The first Battle of Reading was a battle on 4 January 871 at Reading in what is now the English county of Berkshire. It was one of a series of battles, with honours to both sides, that took place following an invasion of the then kingdom of Wessex by an army of Danes led by Bagsecg and Halfdan...
, King Ethelred
Ethelred of Wessex
King Æthelred I was King of Wessex from 865 to 871. He was the fourth son of King Æthelwulf of Wessex...
and his brother Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...
attempted unsuccessfully to breach the Danes' defences. The battle is described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...
, 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 winter quarters in London.
After the Battle of Hastings
Battle of Hastings
The Battle of Hastings occurred on 14 October 1066 during the Norman conquest of England, between the Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy and the English army under King Harold II...
and the Norman conquest of England
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
, William the Conqueror gave land in and around Reading to his foundation of Battle Abbey
Battle Abbey
Battle Abbey is a partially ruined abbey complex in the small town of Battle in East Sussex, England. The abbey was built on the scene of the Battle of Hastings and dedicated to St...
. In its 1086 Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
listing, the town was explicitly described as a borough
Borough
A borough is an administrative division in various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely....
. The presence of six mills is recorded: four on land belonging to the king and two on the land given to Battle Abbey.
Reading Abbey
Reading Abbey
Reading Abbey is a large, ruined abbey in the centre of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. It was founded by Henry I in 1121 "for the salvation of my soul, and the souls of King William, my father, and of King William, my brother, and Queen Maud, my wife, and all my ancestors...
was founded in 1121 by Henry I
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
, 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
Cholsey
Cholsey is a village and civil parish south of Wallingford, in South Oxfordshire. In 1974 it was transferred from Berkshire to the county of Oxfordshire, and from Wallingford Rural District to the district of South Oxfordshire....
. It is not known how badly Reading was affected by the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
that swept through England in the 14th century, but it is known that the abbot of Reading Abbey, Henry of Appleford
Henry of Appleford
Henry of Appleford, O.S.B., was a monk who ruled as Abbot of Reading Abbey in the English county of Berkshire from 1342 to 1361.Originating from the village of Appleford-on-Thames, twenty miles to the north-west and also in Berkshire , all that is otherwise known about him is that his death in 1361...
, was one of its victims in 1361, and that nearby Henley
Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, England, about 10 miles downstream and north-east from Reading, 10 miles upstream and west from Maidenhead...
lost 60% of its population. The Abbey was largely destroyed in 1538 during Henry VIII's
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
dissolution of the monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
. The last abbot, Hugh Cook Faringdon
Hugh Cook Faringdon
Blessed Hugh Cook Faringdon, O.S.B., , also known as Hugh Faringdon or Hugh Cook, was a Benedictine monk who ruled as the last Abbot of Reading Abbey in the English town of Reading. At the dissolution of the monasteries under King Henry VIII of England, he was accused of high treason and executed...
, was subsequently tried and convicted of high treason and hanged, drawn and quartered
Hanged, drawn and quartered
To be hanged, drawn and quartered was from 1351 a penalty in England for men convicted of high treason, although the ritual was first recorded during the reigns of King Henry III and his successor, Edward I...
in front of the Abbey Church.
By 1525, Reading was the largest town in Berkshire, and tax returns show that Reading was the 10th 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
John Kendrick (cloth merchant)
John Kendrick was a prosperous English cloth merchant and patron of the towns of Reading and Newbury in Berkshire....
.
Reading played an important role during the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
. Despite its fortifications, it had a Royalist garrison imposed on it in 1642. The subsequent Siege of Reading
Siege of Reading
The Siege of Reading refers to the English Civil War military campaign waged to besiege a Royalist garrison quartered in the town of Reading, Berkshire from 4 November 1642 to 25 April 1643.-Background:...
by Parliamentary forces succeeded in April 1643. The town's cloth trade was especially badly damaged, and the town's economy did not fully recover until the 20th century. Reading played a significant role during the Revolution of 1688
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...
: the second Battle of Reading
Battle of Reading (1688)
The Battle of Reading took place on 9 December 1688 in Reading, Berkshire. It was the only substantial military action in England during the Glorious Revolution and ended in a decisive victory for forces loyal to William of Orange...
was the only substantial military action of the campaign.
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. Reading's trade benefited from better designed turnpike
Turnpike trust
Turnpike trusts in the United Kingdom were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road tolls for maintaining the principal highways in Britain from the 17th but especially during the 18th and 19th centuries...
roads which helped it establish its location on the major coaching routes from London to Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
and the West Country
West Country
The West Country is an informal term for the area of south western England roughly corresponding to the modern South West England government region. It is often defined to encompass the historic counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset and the City of Bristol, while the counties of...
. In 1723, despite considerable local opposition, the Kennet Navigation opened the River Kennet to boats as far as Newbury
Newbury, Berkshire
Newbury is a civil parish and the principal town in the west of the county of Berkshire in England. It is situated on the River Kennet and the Kennet and Avon Canal, and has a town centre containing many 17th century buildings. Newbury is best known for its racecourse and the adjoining former USAF...
. Opposition stopped when it became apparent that the new route benefited the town. After the opening of the Kennet and Avon Canal
Kennet and Avon Canal
The Kennet and Avon Canal is a waterway in southern England with an overall length of , made up of two lengths of navigable river linked by a canal. The name is commonly used to refer to the entire length of the navigation rather than solely to the central canal section...
in 1810, one could go by barge from Reading to the Bristol Channel
Bristol Channel
The Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean...
. From 1714, and probably earlier, the role of county town
County town
A county town is a county's administrative centre in the United Kingdom or Ireland. County towns are usually the location of administrative or judicial functions, or established over time as the de facto main town of a county. The concept of a county town eventually became detached from its...
of Berkshire was shared between Reading and Abingdon
Abingdon, Oxfordshire
Abingdon or archaically Abingdon-on-Thames is a market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England. It is the seat of the Vale of White Horse district. Previously the county town of Berkshire, Abingdon is one of several places that claim to be Britain's oldest continuously occupied town, with...
.
During the 19th century, the town grew rapidly as a manufacturing
Manufacturing
Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...
centre. The Great Western Railway
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway was a British railway company that linked London with the south-west and west of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament in 1835 and ran its first trains in 1838...
arrived in 1841, followed by the South Eastern Railway
South Eastern Railway (UK)
The South Eastern Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1836 until 1922. The company was formed to construct a route from London to Dover. Branch lines were later opened to Tunbridge Wells, Hastings, Canterbury and other places in Kent...
in 1849 and the London and South Western Railway
London and South Western Railway
The London and South Western Railway was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Its network extended from London to Plymouth via Salisbury and Exeter, with branches to Ilfracombe and Padstow and via Southampton to Bournemouth and Weymouth. It also had many routes connecting towns in...
in 1856. 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
Privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
in 1869. The town became a county borough
County borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control. They were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales, but continue in use for lieutenancy and shrievalty in...
under the Local Government Act 1888
Local Government Act 1888
The Local Government Act 1888 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which established county councils and county borough councils in England and Wales...
. The town has been famous for the Three Bs of beer (1785–2010, Simonds' Brewery
Simonds' Brewery
H & G Simonds Ltd was a brewery founded in Reading, Berkshire, England in 1785 by William Blackall Simonds. The company amalgamated with Courage & Barclay in 1960, eventually becoming part of Scottish & Newcastle...
), bulbs (1837–1974, Suttons Seeds
Suttons Seeds
Suttons Seeds is a long established supplier of seeds, bulbs, and other horticultural products. Today based in English town of Paignton, the company supplies its products worldwide, and is part of the Vilmorin Clause & Compagnie group of companies.- History :...
), and biscuits (1822–1976, Huntley and Palmers
Huntley & Palmers
Huntley & Palmers was a British firm of biscuit makers originally based in Reading, Berkshire. The company created one of the world's first global brands and ran what was once the world’s largest biscuit factory. Over the years, the company was also known as J...
).
The town continued to expand in the 20th century, annexing Caversham
Caversham, Berkshire
Caversham is a suburb and former village in the unitary authority of Reading, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, within the royal county of Berkshire, on the opposite bank from the rest of Reading...
across the River Thames in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
in 1911. The Lower Earley development, built in 1977, was one of the largest private housing developments in Europe. 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. The local shopping centre, The Oracle
The Oracle, Reading
The Oracle is a large indoor shopping and leisure mall, located on the banks of the River Kennet on the site of a 17th century workhouse of the same name in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire...
, opened in 1999, is named after the 17th century Oracle workhouse
Oracle (workhouse)
The Oracle was a workhouse that produced cloth in the English town of Reading, Berkshire. The Oracle shopping mall which occupies a small part of the site takes its name from the Oracle workhouse.- History :...
, 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.
Government
Unitary authority
A unitary authority is a type of local authority that has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area or performs additional functions which elsewhere in the relevant country are usually performed by national government or a higher level of sub-national...
without civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
es. However some of the town's outer suburbs are in West Berkshire
West Berkshire
West Berkshire is a local government district in the ceremonial county of Berkshire, England, governed by a unitary authority . Its administrative capital is Newbury, located almost equidistantly between Bristol and London.-Geography:...
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
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
since 1295. Historically, Reading was represented by the members for the Parliamentary Borough of Reading, and the parliamentary constituencies of Reading
Reading (UK Parliament constituency)
Reading was a parliamentary borough, and later a borough constituency, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It comprised the town of Reading in the county of Berkshire....
, Reading North
Reading North (UK Parliament constituency)
Reading North was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
, and Reading South
Reading South (UK Parliament constituency)
Reading South was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
. Since the 2010 general election, Reading and its surrounding area has been divided between the parliamentary constituencies of Reading East and Reading West
Reading West (UK Parliament constituency)
Reading West is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like all such constituencies, it elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...
. The whole of the town is within the multi-member South East England European constituency
South East England (European Parliament constituency)
South East England is a constituency of the European Parliament. It currently elects 10 Members of the European Parliament using the D'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.- Boundaries :...
.
Reading is the site of both a Crown Court
Crown Court
The Crown Court of England and Wales is, together with the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal, one of the constituent parts of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
, administering criminal justice, and a County Court
County Court
A county court is a court based in or with a jurisdiction covering one or more counties, which are administrative divisions within a country, not to be confused with the medieval system of county courts held by the High Sheriff of each county.-England and Wales:County Court matters can be lodged...
, responsible for civil cases. Lesser matters are dealt with in a local Magistrates' Court
Magistrates' Court
A magistrates' court or court of petty sessions, formerly known as a police court, is the lowest level of court in England and Wales and many other common law jurisdictions...
.
Borough of Reading
Reading has had some degree of local government autonomy since 1253, when the local merchant guildGuild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
was granted a royal charter
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...
. Since then, the town has been run by a borough corporation
Borough
A borough is an administrative division in various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing township although, in practice, official use of the term varies widely....
, as a county borough
County borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control. They were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales, but continue in use for lieutenancy and shrievalty in...
, and as a district of Berkshire. The Borough of Reading became a unitary authority area in 1998, when Berkshire County Council
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
was abolished under the Banham Review, and is now responsible for all aspects of local government within the borough.
Prior to the 16th century, civic administration for the town of Reading was situated in the Yield Hall, a guild hall
Guildhall
A guildhall, or guild hall, is a building historically used by guilds for meetings and other purposes. It is also the official or colloquial name for many of these specific buildings, now often used as town halls or museums....
situated by the River Kennet
River Kennet
The Kennet is a river in the south of England, and a tributary of the River Thames. The lower reaches of the river are navigable to river craft and are known as the Kennet Navigation, which, together with the Avon Navigation, the Kennet and Avon Canal and the Thames, links the cities of Bristol...
near today's Yield Hall Lane. After a brief stay in what later became Greyfriars Church
Greyfriars Church, Reading
Greyfriars Church is an evangelical Anglican church in the town centre of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. The church forms part of the Church of England's Diocese of Oxford....
, 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. 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
Reading Town Hall
Reading Town Hall is the town hall for the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. The town hall was built in several phases between 1786 and 1897, although the principal facade was designed by Alfred Waterhouse in 1875...
. In 1976, Reading Borough Council moved to the new Civic Centre
Reading Civic Centre
Reading Civic Centre is a civic centre in the town of Reading, itself in the English county of Berkshire. The centre dates from the mid-1970s.The civic centre comprises four adjacent and interlinked buildings:...
.
The government of the Borough of Reading follows the leader and cabinet model. Following the 2011 local elections
Reading Borough Council election, 2011
Elections to Reading Borough Council took place on Thursday 5 May 2011.There were 15 seats up for election, one third of the council. The election meant that the council continued to have no overall control but a Labour led minority administration replaced the previous Conservative Liberal...
, a Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
minority administration replaced the previous Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
-Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
coalition on the casting vote of the mayor. The borough also has a (largely ceremonial) mayor. In 2011–12 this position is held by Councillor Deborah Edwards.
Boundaries
Since 1887, the borough has included the former villages of SouthcoteSouthcote, Berkshire
Southcote is a suburb and local government ward of Reading in the English county of Berkshire.The suburb of Southcote is bounded to the north by the Bath Road and Prospect Park, to the west by the more recently developed suburb of Fords Farm, to the south by the Holy Brook and the water meadows of...
and Whitley
Whitley, Berkshire
Whitley is a suburb of Reading in the English county of Berkshire.-Geography:Whitley, commonly known as one of the larger suburbs of Reading, is bounded to the north and east by a ridge of high ground carrying the road to Shinfield, to the west by the valleys of the River Kennet and the Foudry...
and small parts of Earley
Earley
Earley is a town and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire. The Office for National Statistics places Earley within the Reading/Wokingham Urban Area, for purposes of local government it falls within the Borough of Wokingham, outside of the jurisdiction of Reading Borough Council. The name...
and Tilehurst
Tilehurst
Tilehurst is a suburb of the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It is also, with different boundaries as described below, a civil parish in West Berkshire district.-History:...
. By 1911, it also encompassed the Oxfordshire village of Caversham and still more of Tilehurst. A small area of Mapledurham
Mapledurham
Mapledurham is a small village, civil parish and country estate beside the River Thames in Oxfordshire.It should not be confused with the Mapledurham electoral ward of the nearby Borough of Reading, which is a subdivision of that town's suburb of Caversham....
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. Today the borough itself is unparished, and the wards used to elect the borough councillor
Councillor
A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...
s generally ignore the accepted suburbs and use invented ward names.
Reading's municipal boundaries do not include all of the surrounding suburbs. However, the constricted boundaries also create more serious difficulties for the town, as it attempts to develop and grow. The diminishing amount of suitable land within the borough's boundary can bring the council into conflict its neighbours. An example of this is the planned third crossing of the Thames, which South Oxfordshire
South Oxfordshire
South Oxfordshire is a local government district in Oxfordshire, England. Its council is based in Crowmarsh Gifford, just outside Wallingford....
's politicians and residents oppose. On this subject, Rob Wilson
Rob Wilson
Robert Owen Biggs Wilson is a United Kingdom politician and entrepreneur. He was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for the Reading East parliamentary constituency in the 2005 general election.-Early life:...
, MP for (Reading East), said in a House of Commons debate in January 2006:
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.
City status
Reading is the second largest urban area and the largest urban sub-division in the United Kingdom to be without city statusCity status in the United Kingdom
City status in the United Kingdom is granted by the British monarch to a select group of communities. The holding of city status gives a settlement no special rights other than that of calling itself a "city". Nonetheless, this appellation carries its own prestige and, consequently, competitions...
. The borough council has bid for city status on two occasions—in 2000 to celebrate the new millennium and in 2002 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II
Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II
The Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II was the international celebration marking the 50th anniversary of the accession of Elizabeth II to the thrones of seven countries, upon the death of her father, George VI, on 6 February 1952, and was intended by the Queen to be both a commemoration of her 50...
—but these bids were unsuccessful. On 27 May 2011 the council submitted its bid for city status celebrating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee
Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II
The Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II is the forthcoming international celebration in 2012 marking the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II to the thrones of seven countries, upon the death of her father, King George VI, on 6 February 1952...
; the final decision is expected in Spring 2012. This application for city status is controversial, because areas just outside the borough, such as Woodley, Earley and Wokingham, fear expansion, although it has support from a number of MPs including ex-Prime Minister Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
.
Geography
Central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, England. There is no official or commonly accepted definition of its area, but its characteristics are understood to include a high density built environment, high land values, an elevated daytime population and a concentration of regionally,...
, 30 miles (48.3 km) southeast of Oxford, 70 miles (112.7 km) east of Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, and 50 miles (80.5 km) north of the English south coast. The centre of Reading is on a low ridge between the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
and River Kennet
River Kennet
The Kennet is a river in the south of England, and a tributary of the River Thames. The lower reaches of the river are navigable to river craft and are known as the Kennet Navigation, which, together with the Avon Navigation, the Kennet and Avon Canal and the Thames, links the cities of Bristol...
, close to their confluence
Confluence
Confluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water.Confluence may also refer to:* Confluence , a property of term rewriting systems...
, reflecting the town's history as a river port. Just above the confluence, the Kennet cuts through a narrow steep-sided gap
Mountain pass
A mountain pass is a route through a mountain range or over a ridge. If following the lowest possible route, a pass is locally the highest point on that route...
in the hills forming the southern flank of the Thames floodplain
Floodplain
A floodplain, or flood plain, is a flat or nearly flat land adjacent a stream or river that stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls and experiences flooding during periods of high discharge...
. The absence of a floodplain on the Kennet in this defile
Defile (geography)
Defile is a geographic term for a narrow pass or gorge between mountains or hills. It has its origins as a military description of a pass through which troops can march only in a narrow column or with a narrow front...
enabled the development of wharves
Wharf
A wharf or quay is a structure on the shore of a harbor where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers.Such a structure includes one or more berths , and may also include piers, warehouses, or other facilities necessary for handling the ships.A wharf commonly comprises a fixed...
.
As Reading has grown, its suburbs have spread: to the west between the two rivers into the foothills of the Berkshire Downs
Berkshire Downs
The Berkshire Downs are a range of chalk downland hills in southern England, part of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
(part of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an area of countryside considered to have significant landscape value in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, that has been specially designated by the Countryside Agency on behalf of the United Kingdom government; the Countryside Council for Wales on...
); to the south and south-east on the south side of the Kennet; and to the north of the Thames into the Chiltern Hills
Chiltern Hills
The Chiltern Hills form a chalk escarpment in South East England. They are known locally as "the Chilterns". A large portion of the hills was designated officially as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in 1965.-Location:...
. Outside the central area, the floors of the valleys containing the two rivers remain largely unimproved floodplain. Apart from the M4
M4 motorway
The M4 motorway links London with South Wales. It is part of the unsigned European route E30. Other major places directly accessible from M4 junctions are Reading, Swindon, Bristol, Newport, Cardiff and Swansea...
curving to the south there is only one road across the Kennet floodplain. All other routes between the three built-up areas are in the central area, which is a cause of road congestion there.
The floodplains adjoining Reading's two rivers are subject to occasional flooding. However, in the 2007 United Kingdom floods
2007 United Kingdom floods
The 2007 United Kingdom floods were a series of destructive floods that occurred in various areas across the country during the summer of 2007. The most severe floods occurred across Northern Ireland on 12 June; East Yorkshire and The Midlands on 15 June; Yorkshire, The Midlands, Gloucestershire,...
no properties were affected by flooding from the Thames and only four properties were affected by flooding from the Kennet.
Definition
Depending on the definition adopted, neither the town nor the urban area are necessarily coterminous with the borough. Historically, the town of Reading was smaller than the borough. Definitions include the old ecclesiasticalEcclesiology
Today, ecclesiology usually refers to the theological study of the Christian church. However when the word was coined in the late 1830s, it was defined as the science of the building and decoration of churches and it is still, though rarely, used in this sense.In its theological sense, ecclesiology...
parishes of the churches of St Mary
Reading Minster
Reading Minster, or the Minster Church of St Mary the Virgin as it is more properly known, is the oldest ecclesiastical foundation in the English town of Reading...
, St Laurence
St Laurence's Church, Reading
St Laurence's Church is a Church of England mission and former parish church in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It is situated alongside the site of Reading Abbey, formerly bounded by the main Compter Gate to the south and the Hospitium of St John to the north...
and St Giles
St Giles' Church, Reading
St Giles' Church is a parish church in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire.St Giles' was one of the three original parish churches, along with St Mary's and St Laurence's, serving the medieval borough of Reading...
, or the even smaller pre-19th century borough.
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, sometimes referred to as Greater Reading, incorporates the town's eastern and western suburbs outside the borough, in the civil parishes of Earley, Woodley, Purley-on-Thames
Purley-on-Thames
Purley on Thames or simply Purley, is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. It forms part of the Reading urban area, but remains outside the borough, in West Berkshire. The village is situated about north-west of Reading, and east of Pangbourne...
and Tilehurst. Reading has its own subregional catchment area, incorporating the suburban districts of Earley and Woodley, the nearby towns of Wokingham, Bracknell
Bracknell
Bracknell is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Bracknell Forest in Berkshire, England. It lies to the south-east of Reading, southwest of Windsor and west of central London...
, Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames
Henley-on-Thames is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, England, about 10 miles downstream and north-east from Reading, 10 miles upstream and west from Maidenhead...
and Twyford
Twyford, Berkshire
For other places of the same name, see Twyford.Twyford is a village and civil parish in the English Royal county of Berkshire. It is situated, at , in the heart of the Thames Valley on the A4 between Reading and Maidenhead, close to Henley-on-Thames and Wokingham.-History:The town's name is...
and several large villages such as Pangbourne
Pangbourne
Pangbourne is a large village and civil parish on the River Thames in the English county of Berkshire. Pangbourne is the home of the independent school, Pangbourne College.-Location:...
, Theale
Theale, Berkshire
Theale is a large village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire. The village has many of the attributes of a small town, with a high street lined with shops, pubs and restaurants.- Location :...
, Winnersh
Winnersh
Winnersh is a village and civil parish, a part of the Borough of Wokingham, in the English county of Berkshire. The parish is roughly bounded on the north-east by the A329, to the north-west by the river Loddon, Old Forest Road and Simons Lane on the south east and Bearwood Road on the south west...
, Burghfield
Burghfield
Burghfield is a village and civil parish in West Berkshire, England, close to the boundary with Reading.-Location:Burghfield is about southwest of Reading...
and Shiplake
Shiplake
Shiplake is a village and civil parish about south of Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, England on the River Thames.-History:The Church of England parish church of St. Peter and St. Paul dates from at least the 13th century, but in 1869 the Gothic Revival architect G.E. Street rebuilt the chancel,...
.
Climate
Like the rest of the United Kingdom, Reading has a maritime climateOceanic climate
An oceanic climate, also called marine west coast climate, maritime climate, Cascadian climate and British climate for Köppen climate classification Cfb and subtropical highland for Köppen Cfb or Cwb, is a type of climate typically found along the west coasts at the middle latitudes of some of the...
, with limited seasonal temperature ranges and generally moderate rainfall throughout the year. The nearest official Met Office
Met Office
The Met Office , is the United Kingdom's national weather service, and a trading fund of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills...
weather station is located at the Reading University Atmospheric Observatory on the Whiteknights Campus
Whiteknights Park
Whiteknights Park, or the Whiteknights Campus of the University of Reading, is the principal campus of that university. The park covers the area of the manor of Earley Whiteknights, also known as Earley St Nicholas and Earley Regis.Whiteknights Park is some two miles south of the centre of the town...
, which has recorded atmospheric measurements and meteorological observations since 1970. The local absolute maximum temperature of 36.4 °C (97.5 °F) was recorded in August 1990 and the local absolute minimum temperature of -14.5 C was recorded in January 1982.
Demography
| Population growth Population growth Population growth is the change in a population over time, and can be quantified as the change in the number of individuals of any species in a population using "per unit time" for measurement.... of the Borough of Reading |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Population | Year | Population | Year | Population |
| 1801 | 10,792 | 1871 | 39,497 | 1941 | 103,518 |
| 1811 | 12,191 | 1881 | 47,336 | 1951 | 112,364 |
| 1821 | 14,547 | 1891 | 63,085 | 1961 United Kingdom Census 1861 The United Kingdom Census of 1861 recorded the people residing in every household on the night of 7 April 1861, and was the third of the UK censuses to include details of household members.-See also:*Census in the United Kingdom... |
125,177 |
| 1831 | 14,547 | 1901 United Kingdom Census 1901 A nationwide census was conducted in England and Wales on 31 March 1901. It contains records for 32 million people and 6 million houses, It covers the whole of England and Wales, with the exception of parts of Deal in Kent. Separate censuses were held in Scotland and Ireland... |
72,946 | 1971 | 139,495 |
| 1841 United Kingdom Census 1841 The United Kingdom Census of 1841 recorded the occupants of every UK household on the night of 6 June, 1841. It was described as the "first modern census" in that it was the first to record information about every member of the household and because it was administered as a single event, under... |
21,103 | 1911 | 84,354 | 1981 | 130,888 |
| 1851 United Kingdom Census 1851 The United Kingdom Census of 1851 recorded the people residing in every household on the night of 30 March 1851, and was the second of the UK censuses to include details of household members... |
23,819 | 1921 | 89,690 | 1991 United Kingdom Census 1991 A nationwide census, commonly known as Census 1991, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday 21 April 1991. This was the 19th UK census.... |
136,062 |
| 1861 | 31,658 | 1931 | 95,369 | 2001 United Kingdom Census 2001 A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194.... |
143,124 |
| Source: A Vision of Britain through Time. | |||||
The borough has a population of and a population density of , while the Office for National Statistics
Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.- Overview :...
' definition of the urban area of Reading is significantly larger at 232,662 people in an area of 55.35 km². This urban area is itself a component of the Reading/Wokingham Urban Area
Reading/Wokingham Urban Area
The Reading/Wokingham Urban Area is a name given by the Office for National Statistics to a conurbation in Berkshire, England, with a population of 369,804 , up 10.1% from the 1991 figure of 335,757...
with a population of 335,757 (1991 est.), and is the most populous town in the United Kingdom not to have city status.
According to 2009 estimates, 82.0% of the population were described as White
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
(74.2% White British
White British
White British was an ethnicity classification used in the 2001 United Kingdom Census. As a result of the census, 50,366,497 people in the United Kingdom were classified as White British. In Scotland the classification was broken down into two different categories: White Scottish and Other White...
), 8.4% as South Asian
British Asian
British Asian is a term used to describe British citizens who descended from mainly South Asia, also known as South Asians in the United Kingdom...
, 4.3 % as Black
Black British
Black British is a term used to describe British people of Black African descent, especially those of Afro-Caribbean background. The term has been used from the 1950s to refer to Black people from former British colonies in the West Indies and Africa, who are residents of the United Kingdom and...
, 2.7% Mixed Race, 1.1% as Chinese
British Chinese
British Chinese , including British-born Chinese are people of Chinese ancestry who were born in, or have migrated to, the United Kingdom. They are part of the Chinese diaspora, or overseas Chinese...
and 1.5% as other ethnic group
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
. In 2010 it was reported that Reading has 150 different spoken languages within its population. Reading has a large Polish community, which dates back over 30 years, and in October 2006 the Reading Chronicle
Reading Chronicle
The Reading Chronicle is an English local weekly newspaper covering Reading in Berkshire and surrounding areas, starting off as the Berkshire Chronicle.-Editions:...
printed 5,000 copies of a Polish edition called the Kronika Reading.
Economy
Reading is an important commercial centre in the Thames ValleyThames Valley
The Thames Valley Region is a loose term for the English counties and towns roughly following the course of the River Thames as it flows from Oxfordshire in the west to London in the east. It includes parts of Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, North Hampshire, Surrey and west London...
and Southern England
Southern England
Southern England, the South and the South of England are imprecise terms used to refer to the southern counties of England bordering the English Midlands. It has a number of different interpretations of its geographic extents. The South is considered by many to be a cultural region with a distinct...
. The town hosts the headquarters of several British companies and the UK offices of foreign multinationals, as well as being a major retail centre.
Whilst located close enough to London to be sometimes regarded as part of the London commuter belt
London commuter belt
The London commuter belt is the metropolitan area surrounding London, England from which it is practical to commute to work in the capital. It is alternatively known as the Greater South East, the London metropolitan area or the Southeast metropolitan area...
, 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.
Industry and commerce
BG Group
BG Group plc is a global oil and gas company headquartered in Reading, United Kingdom. It has operations in 25 countries across Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, North America and South America and produces around 680,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. It has a major Liquefied Natural Gas ...
, ING Direct, Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, Oracle
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly database management systems...
Yell Group
Yell Group
Yell Group plc is a multinational directories company headquartered in Reading, United Kingdom. As well as the United Kingdom, it has operations in the United States, Spain and some countries in Latin America...
, have their headquarters in Reading. The insurance company Prudential
Prudential plc
Prudential plc is a multinational financial services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom.Prudential's largest division is Prudential Corporation Asia, which has over 15 million customers across 13 Asian markets and is a top-three provider of life insurance in mainland China, Hong...
has an administration centre in the town. PepsiCo
PepsiCo
PepsiCo Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Purchase, New York, United States, with interests in the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of grain-based snack foods, beverages, and other products. PepsiCo was formed in 1965 with the merger of the Pepsi-Cola Company...
and Wrigley have offices. 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 and Digital
Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
. Other technology companies with a significant presence in the town include Agilent Technologies
Agilent Technologies
Agilent Technologies , or Agilent, is a company that designs and manufactures electronic and bio-analytical measurement instruments and equipment for measurement and evaluation...
, Cisco
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
, Ericsson
Ericsson
Ericsson , one of Sweden's largest companies, is a provider of telecommunication and data communication systems, and related services, covering a range of technologies, including especially mobile networks...
, Nvidia
NVIDIA
Nvidia is an American global technology company based in Santa Clara, California. Nvidia is best known for its graphics processors . Nvidia and chief rival AMD Graphics Techonologies have dominated the high performance GPU market, pushing other manufacturers to smaller, niche roles...
, Regus
Regus
Regus plc is a multinational corporation that provides serviced office accommodation in business centres worldwide. As of March 2011, it operates 1,100 business centres in 85 countries. The Company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index...
, SGI
Silicon Graphics
Silicon Graphics, Inc. was a manufacturer of high-performance computing solutions, including computer hardware and software, founded in 1981 by Jim Clark...
, Symantec
Symantec
Symantec Corporation is the largest maker of security software for computers. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and is a Fortune 500 company and a member of the S&P 500 stock market index.-History:...
, Verizon Business
Verizon Business
Verizon Business is one of three operating units of Verizon Communications It was created in 2006 when Verizon Communications closed on its merger with MCI, Inc..Verizon Business has over 30,000 employees with 321 offices in 75 countries...
, and Websense
Websense
Websense is a San Diego-based company specializing in Web security gateway software. It enables clients to block access to chosen categories of websites.-History:Websense was founded by Phil Trubey in 1994...
. These companies are distributed around Reading or just outside the borough boundary, some in business parks including Thames Valley Park
Thames Valley Park
Thames Valley Park is a high-tech business park adjacent to the River Thames on the eastern outskirts of Reading in the English county of Berkshire.-Location and companies:The park partially lies within the civil parish of Sonning...
in nearby Earley, Green Park Business Park and Arlington Business Park
Arlington Business Park
Arlington Business Park is a Goodman business park in Reading, England.The park is home to a number of big brands such as PepsiCo, RBS and Wrigleys....
.
Retail
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 UK. The main shopping street is Broad StreetBroad Street, Reading
Broad Street is a main pedestrianised thoroughfare and the primary high street in the English town of Reading. The street is situated in the town centre, running for approximately , from west to east. The western end of the road lies at the crossroads with Oxford Road, West Street and St Mary's...
, which runs between the Oracle in the east and Broad Street Mall
Broad Street Mall, Reading
Broad Street Mall is a large indoor shopping mall located in central Reading, England. There is a large multi-storey car park with direct access to the first floor of the Mall...
in the west and was pedestrianised in 1995. The smaller Friars Walk
Friars Walk, Reading
Friars Walk is a derelict indoor shopping centre in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It is situated at the eastern end of Friar Street in the town centre.- History :...
in Friar Street
Friar Street, Reading
Friar Street is a thoroughfare in the English town of Reading. It runs parallel to Broad Street, connected by Union Street, Queen Victoria Street and Cross Street...
is derelict and will be demolished if the proposed Station Hill
Station Hill, Reading
Station Hill is a road and proposed redevelopment project in Reading, Berkshire, England.-Redevelopment:There is a proposed redevelopment project of Station Hill....
redevelopment project goes ahead.
There are three major department store
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
s in Reading: John Lewis Reading
John Lewis Reading
John Lewis Reading is a major department store in Reading in the English county of Berkshire. Until 2001, the store was known as Heelas, and that name is still in common usage. The store fronts on to Reading's main pedestrianised shopping street, Broad Street, and backs onto Minster Street and...
(formerly known as Heelas), Debenhams
Debenhams
Debenhams plc is a British retailer operating under a department store format in the UK, Ireland and Denmark, and franchise stores in other countries. The Company was founded in the eighteenth century as a single store in London and has now grown to around 160 shops...
and House of Fraser
House of Fraser
House of Fraser is a British department store group with over 60 stores across the United Kingdom and Ireland. It was established in Glasgow, Scotland in 1849 as Arthur and Fraser. By 1891 it was known as Fraser & Sons. The company grew steadily during the early 20th century, but after the Second...
. The bookseller Waterstone's
Waterstone's
Waterstone's is a British book specialist established in 1982 by Tim Waterstone that employs around 4,500 staff throughout the United Kingdom and Europe....
has two branches in Reading. Their Broad Street branch
Broad Street Independent Chapel, Reading
Broad Street Independent Chapel is a former nonconformist chapel dating from 1707. It is situated in Broad Street, now the principal shopping street of the English town of Reading. The building has been sympathetically reused as a branch of the Waterstone's chain of bookshops...
is a conversion of a nonconformist chapel dating from 1707. 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
Union Street, Reading
Union Street known locally as Smelly Alley is a pedestrianised thoroughfare in the English town of Reading, Berkshire. It connects Broad Street and Friar Street.The name Smelly Alley is thanks to the long-established Frosts Fishmongers....
, popularly known as Smelly Alley. Reading has no indoor market, but there is a street market
Street market
A street market is an outdoor market such as traditionally held in a market square or in a market town, and often held only on particular days of the week...
in Hosier Street. A farmers' market
Farmers' market
A farmers' market consists of individual vendors—mostly farmers—who set up booths, tables or stands, outdoors or indoors, to sell produce, meat products, fruits and sometimes prepared foods and beverages...
operates on two Saturdays a month.
Culture
Every year Reading hosts the Reading FestivalReading and Leeds Festivals
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend, sharing the same bill. The Reading Festival is held at Little John's Farm...
, which has been running since 1971. The festival takes place on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday
Bank Holiday
A bank holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom or a colloquialism for public holiday in Ireland. There is no automatic right to time off on these days, although the majority of the population is granted time off work or extra pay for working on these days, depending on their contract...
weekend. For some twenty years until 2006, Reading was also known for its WOMAD Festival
Womad Charlton Park
WOMAD Charlton Park is the name given to the World of Music Arts and Dance festival held in Charlton Park in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England, since 2007...
until it moved to Charlton Park
Charlton Park, Wiltshire
Charlton Park is an estate in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England. It has been owned by the Earls of Suffolk since the Reformation. It was formerly the land on which Malmesbury Abbey was built. The house was finished in 1607, having been built for Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk and his wife...
in Malmesbury
Malmesbury
Malmesbury is a market town and civil parish located in the southern Cotswolds in the county of Wiltshire, England. Historically Malmesbury was a centre for learning and home to Malmesbury Abbey...
, Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
. The Reading Beer Festival
Beer festival
A Beer Festival is an organised event during which a variety of beers are available for tasting and purchase. Beer festivals are held in a number of countries...
was first held in 1994 and has now grown to one of the largest beer festivals in the UK. It is held at King's Meadow for the four days immediately preceding the May Day bank holiday every year.
On the south side of Friar Street
Friar Street, Reading
Friar Street is a thoroughfare in the English town of Reading. It runs parallel to Broad Street, connected by Union Street, Queen Victoria Street and Cross Street...
there once stood the Royal County Theatre, designed by Frank Matcham
Frank Matcham
Frank Matcham was a famous English theatrical architect. He is buried in Highgate Cemetery.-Early career:...
and built in 1895. It was destroyed by fire in 1937. Within the town hall is a 700-seat concert hall that houses a Father Willis
Henry Willis & Sons
thumb|250px|St Bees Priory organ, the last major instrument to be personally supervised by "Father" Henry Willis, 1899Henry Willis & Sons is a British firm of pipe organ builders founded in 1845 in Liverpool. Although most of their installations have been in the UK, examples can be found in other...
organ. Reading theatre venues include The Hexagon
The Hexagon
The Hexagon is a multi-purpose arts venue and theatre with a capacity of 1,200 in central Reading, Berkshire, England. It is named for its shape....
and 21 South Street. Amateur theatre venues in Reading include Progress Theatre
Progress Theatre
Progress Theatre is a theatre company owning and managing its own theatre on The Mount, in Reading, Berkshire, England, close to Reading University. The theatre is the oldest one operating in Reading and the only venue in the town dedicated entirely to theatrical productions.The company was formed...
, a self-governing, self-funding theatre group and registered charity founded in 1947 that operates and maintains its own 97-seat theatre.
The demonym for a person from Reading is Readingensian, giving the name of the local rugby team Redingensians
Redingensians R.F.C.
Redingensians R.F.C is an English Rugby Union club. The club is near the village of Sonning on the outskirts of Reading in the county of Berkshire.-History:...
, based in Sonning
Sonning
Sonning, occasionally called Sonning-on-Thames is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Wokingham in the English county of Berkshire, a few miles east of Reading. The village is situated on the River Thames and was described by Jerome K...
, and of former members of Reading School
Reading School
Reading School is a state-funded, selective academy school for boys in the English town of Reading. It is notable for tracing its history back to the school of Reading Abbey, making it one of the oldest schools in England. There are no tuition fees for day pupils, and boarders only pay for food and...
. An alternative demonym is Readingite.
Cultural references
Oscar WildeOscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
was imprisoned in Reading Gaol
Reading (HM Prison)
HM Prison Reading, formerly known as Reading Gaol, is a prison located in Reading, Berkshire, England. The prison is operated by Her Majesty's Prison Service.-History:...
from 1895–97. While there, he wrote his letter De Profundis
De Profundis (letter)
De Profundis is an epistle written by Oscar Wilde during his imprisonment in Reading Gaol, to Lord Alfred Douglas. During its first half Wilde recounts their previous relationship and extravagant lifestyle which eventually led to Wilde's conviction and imprisonment for gross indecency...
. After his release, he lived in exile in France and wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol
The Ballad of Reading Gaol
The Ballad of Reading Gaol is a poem by Oscar Wilde, written in exile either in Berneval or in Dieppe, France, after his release from Reading Gaol on or about 19 May 1897. Wilde had been incarcerated in Reading, after being convicted of homosexual offences in 1895 and sentenced to two years' hard...
, based on his experience of an execution carried out in Reading Gaol whilst he was imprisoned there.
Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
attended Reading Ladies Boarding School, based in the Abbey Gateway, in 1784–86. Mary Russell Mitford
Mary Russell Mitford
Mary Russell Mitford , was an English author and dramatist. She was born at Alresford, Hampshire. Her place in English literature is as the author of Our Village...
lived in Reading for a number of years and then spent the rest of her life just outside the town at Three Mile Cross
Three Mile Cross
Three Mile Cross is a village in the civil parish of Shinfield, to the South of Reading, and immediately North of the adjoining village of Spencers Wood, in the English county of Berkshire....
and Swallowfield
Swallowfield
Swallowfield is a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire. It is situated south of the town of Reading, and north of the county boundary with Hampshire....
. Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais is an English comedian, actor, director, radio presenter, producer, musician, and writer.Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator...
, who is from Reading, made a film Cemetery Junction
Cemetery Junction (film)
Cemetery Junction is a coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. The film was released in the United Kingdom on 14 April 2010.-Plot:...
although filmed elsewhere in the UK, is set in 1970s Reading and is named after a busy junction in East Reading
East Reading
East Reading is a district of the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire.The district has no formal boundaries, but the name is generally used to refer to the area within the borough boundaries to the east of the city centre, to the south of the River Kennet, to the north of Whitley and...
.
Media
Reading has two local newspapers, the Reading ChronicleReading Chronicle
The Reading Chronicle is an English local weekly newspaper covering Reading in Berkshire and surrounding areas, starting off as the Berkshire Chronicle.-Editions:...
, published on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the Reading Post, published on Wednesdays and Fridays. Three local radio stations broadcast from Reading: BBC Radio Berkshire
BBC Radio Berkshire
BBC Radio Berkshire is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Berkshire, as well as parts of North Hampshire, including Basingstoke. Radio Berkshire broadcasts on 94.6 , 95.4 , 104.1 and 104.4 FM from its studios at Caversham Park near Reading. The 104.1 FM signal is the strongest...
, Reading 107 FM
Reading 107 FM
Reading 107 FM is an Independent Local Radio station in the English town of Reading. The station is based at studios in the Madejski Stadium, home of Reading F.C. and London Irish...
and Heart Thames Valley
Heart Thames Valley
Heart Thames Valley is an Independent Local Radio Station serving Berkshire, Oxfordshire, north Hampshire and parts of west Buckinghamshire from studios in Reading, southern England...
. Other local radio stations, such as London's 95.8 Capital FM, Basingstoke's 107.6 Kestrel FM and East Berkshire's Time 106.6
Time 106.6
Time 106.6 is a local radio station for East Berkshire, South Bucks, North Surrey and the Heathrow area of London. The station plays a variety of music from the latest songs to music from the 80s, 90s and 00s from various genres. The station strapline is "All Time Favourites"...
, can also be received. Local television news programmes are the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's South Today
South Today
South Today is the BBC's regional television news programme for East Dorset, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Berkshire, West Sussex and the western fringes of Surrey...
and ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
's Meridian Tonight
Meridian Tonight
Meridian Tonight is a regional television news and current affairs programme, produced by ITV Meridian , serving the South and South East of England , and usually broadcast at 6pm and 10.30pm every weeknight. Other bulletins are branded as Meridian News...
.
Landmarks
The Maiwand LionMaiwand Lion
The Maiwand Lion is a sculpture and war memorial in the Forbury Gardens, a public park in the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. The statue was named after the Battle of Maiwand and was erected in 1886 to commemorate the deaths of 329 men from the 66th Berkshire Regiment during...
in Forbury Gardens
Forbury Gardens
Forbury Gardens is a public park in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. The park is on the site of the outer court of Reading Abbey, which was in front of the Abbey Church. The site was formerly known as the Forbury, and one of the roads flanking the current gardens is still...
, an unofficial symbol of Reading, commemorates the 328 officers of the Royal Berkshire Regiment
Royal Berkshire Regiment
The Royal Berkshire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army, formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 49th Regiment of Foot and the 66th Regiment of Foot.The regiment was originally formed as The Princess Charlotte of Wales's , taking the...
who died in the Battle of Maiwand
Battle of Maiwand
The Battle of Maiwand in 1880 was one of the principal battles of the Second Anglo-Afghan War. Under the leadership of Malalai Anaa, the legendary woman of Afghanistan, the Afghan followers of Ayub Khan defeated the British Army in one of the rare nineteenth-century victories of an Asian force...
in 1880. The Blade
The Blade Reading
The Blade Reading is a skyscraper and the tallest building in Reading, Berkshire, England. Used for office space, it rises 128m above the Reading skyline. The Blade is visible from many places in Reading because of its height. The building is near Reading station which has about 12 departures to...
, a fourteen-storey building completed in 2009, is 128 m (420 ft) tall and can be seen from the surrounding area. Reading has 5 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, and Reading Minster
Reading Minster
Reading Minster, or the Minster Church of St Mary the Virgin as it is more properly known, is the oldest ecclesiastical foundation in the English town of Reading...
.
Public services
Reading has over 100 parks and playgrounds, including 5 miles of riverside paths. In the town centre is Forbury GardensForbury Gardens
Forbury Gardens is a public park in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. The park is on the site of the outer court of Reading Abbey, which was in front of the Abbey Church. The site was formerly known as the Forbury, and one of the roads flanking the current gardens is still...
, a public park built on the site of the outer court of Reading Abbey. The largest public park in Reading is Prospect Park
Prospect Park, Reading
Prospect Park is both a public park and a historic house at Tilehurst in the western suburbs of the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It is at .Prospect Park was originally the site of Dirle's Farm and part of the estate of Calcot Park...
, previously an estate owned by Frances Kendrick and acquired by the Reading Corporation in 1901.
The principal National Health Service
National Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
(NHS) hospital in Reading is the Royal Berkshire Hospital
Royal Berkshire Hospital
The Royal Berkshire Hospital is a National Health Service hospital in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It provides acute hospital services to the residents of the western and central portions of Berkshire, and is managed by the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust.The...
, founded in 1839 and much enlarged and rebuilt since. A second major NHS general hospital, the Battle Hospital
Battle Hospital
Battle Hospital was a National Health Service hospital in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. The hospital was located on a large site between Oxford Road and Portman Road, in West Reading....
, closed in 2005. Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is a public benefit, not-for-profit NHS organisation providing mental health services primarily to the resident population of the Royal County of Berkshire, England, in the United Kingdom....
runs a NHS hospital, Prospect Park Hospital, that specialises in the provision of care for people with mental health and learning disabilities. Reading has two private hospitals, the Berkshire Independent Hospital in Coley Park
Coley Park
Coley Park is a suburb of the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It is largely built on the estate of a country house of the same name.-Location:...
and the Dunedin Hospital situated on the main A4 Bath Road.
Reading Borough Libraries
Reading Borough Libraries are responsible for public library provision in the English town of Reading, Berkshire.-History:Despite the Public Libraries Act 1850 it was not until the 1870s that serious thought was given to the creation of a free public library in Reading...
service dates back to 1877. Initially housed in Reading Town Hall
Reading Town Hall
Reading Town Hall is the town hall for the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. The town hall was built in several phases between 1786 and 1897, although the principal facade was designed by Alfred Waterhouse in 1875...
, the central branch of the library relocated in 1985 to a new building
Reading Central Library
Reading Central Library is a public library in the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire.- History :From 1882, the main library was in the Town Hall. However as early as World War I complaints were being made there was insufficient space for books and readers...
on King's Road.
Mains water and sewerage services are supplied by Thames Water Utilities Limited
Thames Water
Thames Water Utilities Ltd, known as Thames Water, is the private utility company responsible for the public water supply and waste water treatment in large parts of Greater London, the Thames Valley, Surrey, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Kent, and some other areas of in the United Kingdom...
, a private sector water supply company. Water abstraction and disposal is regulated by the Environment Agency
Environment Agency
The Environment Agency is a British non-departmental public body of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and an Assembly Government Sponsored Body of the Welsh Assembly Government that serves England and Wales.-Purpose:...
. Reading's water supply is largely derived from underground aquifers, and as a consequence the water is hard
Hard water
Hard water is water that has high mineral content . Hard water has high concentrations of Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions. Hard water is generally not harmful to one's health but can pose serious problems in industrial settings, where water hardness is monitored to avoid costly breakdowns in boilers, cooling...
. The commercial energy supplier for electricity and gas is at the consumer's choice. Southern Electric
Southern Electric
Southern Electric plc was an electricity company in the UK. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange as SSE . Southern Electric merged with Scottish Hydro-Electric plc in 1998 forming SSE. Since then SSE bought SWALEC and Atlantic Electric and Gas...
runs the local electricity distribution network, while Scotia Gas Networks
Scotia Gas Networks
Scotia Gas Networks is a holding company of Scotland Gas Networks and Southern Gas Networks based in Horley.- History :The company was formed following National Grid plc's decision to sell four of its local gas distribution zones in order to raise funds for expansion...
runs the gas distribution network. A notable part of the local energy infrastructure is the presence of a 2-megawatt (peak) Enercon
Enercon
Enercon GmbH, based in Aurich, Germany, is the fourth-largest wind turbine manufacturer in the world and has been the market leader in Germany since the mid-nineties. Enercon has production facilities in Germany , Sweden, Brazil, India, Canada, Turkey and Portugal...
wind turbine
Wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used to produce electricity, the device may be called a wind generator or wind charger. If the mechanical energy is used to drive machinery, such as for grinding grain or...
at Green Park Business Park, wired to the local sub-grid. It has the potential to produce 3.5 million units of electricity a year, enough to power over a thousand homes.
The dialling code
UK telephone numbering plan
The UK telephone numbering plan, also known as the National Telephone Numbering Plan, is the system used for assigning telephone numbers in the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies...
for fixed-line telephones in Reading is 0118. BT provides fixed-line telephone coverage throughout the town and ADSL
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
Asymmetric digital subscriber line is a type of digital subscriber line technology, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over copper telephone lines than a conventional voiceband modem can provide. It does this by utilizing frequencies that are not used by a voice...
broadband internet
Broadband Internet access
Broadband Internet access, often shortened to just "broadband", is a high data rate, low-latency connection to the Internet— typically contrasted with dial-up access using a 56 kbit/s modem or satellite Internet with inherently high latency....
connection to most areas. Parts of Reading are cabled by Virgin Media
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...
, supplying cable television, telephone and broadband internet connections.
Transport
Reading's location in the Thames Valley to the west of London has made the town an important location in the nation's transport system.The town grew up as a river port at the confluence of the Thames and the Kennet. Both of these rivers are navigable, and Caversham Lock
Caversham Lock
Caversham Lock is a lock and weir situated on the River Thames in England at Reading, Berkshire. The lock is connected to De Bohun Island, a somewhat larger than normal lock island...
, Blake's Lock
Blake's Lock
Blake's Lock is a lock situated on the River Kennet in Reading, Berkshire, England. It is on the short reach of the River Kennet which is administered as if it were part of the River Thames and is hence owned and managed by the Environment Agency....
, County Lock
County Lock
County Lock is a lock on the River Kennet in Reading town centre in the English county of Berkshire. It is now administered by British Waterways as part of the Kennet and Avon Canal...
, Fobney Lock
Fobney Lock
Fobney Lock is a lock on the River Kennet in the Small Mead area of Reading in the English county of Berkshire.Fobney Lock was built between 1718 and 1723 under the supervision of the engineer John Hore of Newbury, and this stretch of the river is now administered by British Waterways and known as...
and Southcote Lock
Southcote Lock
Southcote Lock is a lock on the River Kennet at Southcote within the town of Reading in Berkshire, England.Southcote Lock was built between 1718 and 1723 under the supervision of the engineer John Hore of Newbury, and this stretch of the river is now administered by British Waterways and known as...
are all within the borough. Today, navigation is exclusively 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
Caversham Bridge
Caversham Bridge is a bridge across the River Thames between Caversham and the town centre of Reading. The bridge is situated on the reach above Caversham Lock, carrying the A4155 road across the river and also providing pedestrian access to the adjacent mid-river Pipers Island.The first bridge on...
.
Reading was a major staging point on the old Bath Road (A4) from London to Avonmouth
Avonmouth
Avonmouth is a port and suburb of Bristol, England, located on the Severn Estuary, at the mouth of the River Avon.The council ward of Avonmouth also includes Shirehampton and the western end of Lawrence Weston.- Geography :...
, near Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. This road still carries local traffic, but has now been replaced for long distance traffic by the M4 motorway
M4 motorway
The M4 motorway links London with South Wales. It is part of the unsigned European route E30. Other major places directly accessible from M4 junctions are Reading, Swindon, Bristol, Newport, Cardiff and Swansea...
, which closely skirts the borough and serves it with three junctions, J10-J12. Other main roads serving Reading include the A33
A33 road
The A33 is a major road in England. The road formerly ran from Reading to Southampton, but now consists of three disjoint sections:*Reading to Basingstoke*The A30 road south of Basingstoke to just north of Winchester...
, A327, A329
A329 road
The A329 is an east-west road in Southern England that runs from Wentworth in Surrey to Thame in Oxfordshire. The A329 starts at the A30 in Surrey and passes through the towns of Ascot, Bracknell, Wokingham, Earley, Reading, the village of Pangbourne, and Wallingford in Oxfordshire...
, A4074 and A4155
A4155 road
The A4155 is a road in the United Kingdom that starts at Bourne End in Buckinghamshire and leads westwards by way of Little Marlow, Marlow, Medmenham, Henley-on-Thames, Lower Shiplake and Caversham to terminate at Reading in Berkshire...
. Within Reading there is the Inner Distribution Road
Inner Distribution Road
Inner Distribution Road or IDR is a dual carriageway ring road that encircles the town centre of Reading, Berkshire, England. It forms part of the A329 that runs from Wentworth in Surrey to Thame in Oxfordshire.- History :...
(IDR), a ring road for local traffic. The IDR is linked with the M4 by the A33 relief road
Bypass (road)
A bypass is a road or highway that avoids or "bypasses" a built-up area, town, or village, to let through traffic flow without interference from local traffic, to reduce congestion in the built-up area, and to improve road safety....
. National Express Coaches run out of Reading Coachway
Reading Coachway
The Reading Coachway is a Coachway interchange situated close to Junction 12 of the M4 motorway in Calcot, west of Reading in the English county of Berkshire...
, at Junction 12 of the M4. The Thames is crossed by both Reading
Reading Bridge
Reading Bridge is a road bridge over the River Thames at Reading in the English county of Berkshire. The bridge links the centre of Reading on the south bank with the Lower Caversham area of the cross-river suburb, and former village, of Caversham on the north bank...
and Caversham
Caversham Bridge
Caversham Bridge is a bridge across the River Thames between Caversham and the town centre of Reading. The bridge is situated on the reach above Caversham Lock, carrying the A4155 road across the river and also providing pedestrian access to the adjacent mid-river Pipers Island.The first bridge on...
road bridges, while several road bridges cross the Kennet, the oldest surviving one of which is High Bridge
High Bridge, Reading
High Bridge is a bridge across the River Kennet in the town centre of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It is the oldest surviving bridge that crosses the Kennet.- History :...
.
National Rail
National Rail is a title used by the Association of Train Operating Companies as a generic term to define the passenger rail services operated in Great Britain...
system, and hence Reading station
Reading railway station
Reading railway station is a major rail transport hub in the English town of Reading. It is situated on the northern edge of the town centre, close to the main retail and commercial areas, and also the River Thames...
is a major transfer point and terminus. Reading station will be redeveloped at a cost of £850m, with grade separation
Grade separation
Grade separation is the method of aligning a junction of two or more transport axes at different heights so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other transit routes when they cross each other. The composition of such transport axes does not have to be uniform; it can consist of a...
of some conflicting traffic flows, and extra platforms, to relieve severe congestion at this station. The project is scheduled to finish in 2015. Railway lines link Reading to both Paddington and Waterloo stations in London. Other stations in the Reading area are Reading West
Reading West railway station
Reading West is a railway station in Reading in England. It is in West Reading, west of the town centre, about from the main retail and commercial areas. The station is served by local services operated by First Great Western.-History:...
, Tilehurst
Tilehurst railway station
Tilehurst railway station is a railway station in the suburb and former village of Tilehurst to the west of Reading in England. The station is served by local services operated by First Great Western.- History :...
and Earley
Earley railway station
Earley railway station is a railway station in the suburb of Earley, east of Reading, England.- History :Earley station was opened in 1863 by the South Eastern Railway. The line had been built in 1849 and bought by the South Eastern Railway in 1852...
. Green Park railway station is planned on the Reading to Basingstoke Line
Reading to Basingstoke Line
The Reading to Basingstoke Line is a short railway link between the South Western Main Line and the Great Western Main Line, constructed by the Great Western Railway between 1846 and 1848. The line is served by First Great Western local services between Reading and Basingstoke, which stop at the...
to serve Green Park Business Park.
There have been two airfields in or near Reading, one at Coley Park
Coley Park
Coley Park is a suburb of the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It is largely built on the estate of a country house of the same name.-Location:...
and one at Woodley, but they have both closed. The nearest airport is London Heathrow
London Heathrow Airport
London Heathrow Airport or Heathrow , in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic, handling more international passengers than any other airport around the globe...
, 25 miles (40.2 km) away by road. An express bus service named RailAir
RailAir
RailAir, Railair or Rail Air describes a number of airport bus and coach services designed to connect the National Rail network to airports in the United Kingdom. Services are currently concentrated on London Heathrow Airport, with one other from London Luton Airport...
links Reading with Heathrow, or the airport can be accessed by rail by taking the Paddington train and changing to the Heathrow Connect
Heathrow Connect
Heathrow Connect is a train operating company in London provided jointly by Heathrow Express and First Great Western, connecting Heathrow Airport with station. The service follows the same route as the Heathrow Express service but serves intermediate stations en route, thus connecting several...
rail service at Hayes and Harlington railway station
Hayes and Harlington railway station
thumb|right|Up freight west of Hayes & Harlington in 1962Hayes and Harlington railway station is a railway station in Hayes and Harlington in the London Borough of Hillingdon.-History:...
.
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. Other bus operators include First
First Berkshire & The Thames Valley
First Berkshire & The Thames Valley is a bus operator serving Bracknell, Slough and Wokingham, in England. It is part of First Group, a major bus and train operator with a turnover of nearly £2.5 billion a year and 62,000 employees across the UK and North America...
, Thames Travel
Thames Travel
Thames Travel is a bus operator based in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, in England. It is the third largest bus company in the county It operates a fleet of around 34 vehicles, and employs 75 staff. Running services across the Thames region, the company carries approximately 1.25 million passengers a year...
and Newbury Buses.
The OYBike
OYBike
OYBike is a bicycle sharing scheme in Cardiff, Reading and Farnborough in the United Kingdom. The program is similar to, but not exactly the same as, other programs in different cities. The OYBike system was developed by former-cabbie Bernie Hanning over the last 20 years but officially launched...
bicycle sharing system operates in Reading, with approximately 15 bicycles and with docking stations at Reading station, Holiday Inn (Basingstoke Road) and Green Park.
In March 2011, Reading Borough Council approved a larger scheme similar to Barclays Cycle Hire
Barclays Cycle Hire
Barclays Cycle Hire is a public scheme bicycle sharing scheme that was launched on 30 July 2010 in London, United Kingdom. The scheme's bicycles are informally referred to as Boris bikes, after Boris Johnson, who was the Mayor of London at the time of the official launch.BCH commenced operations...
in London, with 1,000 bicycles available at up to 150 docking stations across Reading.
Education
Reading SchoolReading School
Reading School is a state-funded, selective academy school for boys in the English town of Reading. It is notable for tracing its history back to the school of Reading Abbey, making it one of the oldest schools in England. There are no tuition fees for day pupils, and boarders only pay for food and...
, founded in 1125, is the 16th oldest school in England. There are six other state secondary schools and 37 state primary schools within the borough, together with a number of private and independent schools and nurseries.
Reading College
Reading College
Reading College is a further education college based in Reading, Berkshire, England. It has over 8,500 local learners on over 900 courses.The Kings Road site that is the principal location of Reading College has been used for further education since 1955, when the Reading College of Technology was...
has provided further education
Further education
Further education is a term mainly used in connection with education in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is post-compulsory education , that is distinct from the education offered in universities...
in Reading since 1955, with over 8,500 local learners on over 900 courses.
The University of Reading
University of Reading
The University of Reading is a university in the English town of Reading, Berkshire. The University was established in 1892 as University College, Reading and received its Royal Charter in 1926. It is based on several campuses in, and around, the town of Reading.The University has a long tradition...
was established in 1892 as an affiliate of Oxford University. It moved to its London Road Campus
London Road Campus
London Road Campus of the University of Reading is the original campus of that university. It is on the London Road, immediately to the south of Reading town centre in the English county of Berkshire....
in 1904 and to its new Whiteknights Campus
Whiteknights Park
Whiteknights Park, or the Whiteknights Campus of the University of Reading, is the principal campus of that university. The park covers the area of the manor of Earley Whiteknights, also known as Earley St Nicholas and Earley Regis.Whiteknights Park is some two miles south of the centre of the town...
in 1947. It took over the Bulmershe teacher training college in 1989, becoming Bulmershe Court Campus
Bulmershe Court
Bulmershe Court is, today, a campus of the University of Reading, situated in what is now the Reading suburb of Woodley, in the English county of Berkshire...
. The Henley Management College
Henley Business School
The Henley Business School at the University of Reading is an English triple accredited business school, and the first business school to be established in the United Kingdom. It was formed by merging the previously independent Henley Management College, formerly the Administrative Staff College,...
, situated in Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire
Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....
and about 10 miles (16.1 km) from Reading, was taken over in 2008, becoming Greenlands Campus
Greenlands
Greenlands is a country house situated by the River Thames in Buckinghamshire, just outside Henley-on-Thames. Built in the nineteenth century, it now forms the core of Greenlands Campus of the University of Reading, and is used by their Henley Business School as the base for its MBA and corporate...
. The University of West London maintains a presence in the town for its higher education students, principally in nursing
Nursing
Nursing is a healthcare profession focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life from conception to death....
, but has now divested itself of its previous ownership of Reading College and its further education students.
Museums
The Museum of ReadingMuseum of Reading
The Museum of Reading is a museum of the history of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire, and the surrounding area...
opened in 1883 in the town's municipal buildings
Reading Town Hall
Reading Town Hall is the town hall for the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. The town hall was built in several phases between 1786 and 1897, although the principal facade was designed by Alfred Waterhouse in 1875...
. It contains galleries relating to the history of Reading and to the excavations of Calleva Atrebatum, together with a full-size replica of the Bayeux Tapestry
Bayeux Tapestry
The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered cloth—not an actual tapestry—nearly long, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings...
, an art collection, and galleries relating to Huntley and Palmers
Huntley & Palmers
Huntley & Palmers was a British firm of biscuit makers originally based in Reading, Berkshire. The company created one of the world's first global brands and ran what was once the world’s largest biscuit factory. Over the years, the company was also known as J...
.
The Museum of English Rural Life
Museum of English Rural Life
The Museum of English Rural Life is a museum dedicated to recording the changing face of farming and the countryside in England. It houses designated collections of national importance that span the full range of objects, archives, photographs, film and books.The museum is run by the University of...
, in East Reading
East Reading
East Reading is a district of the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire.The district has no formal boundaries, but the name is generally used to refer to the area within the borough boundaries to the east of the city centre, to the south of the River Kennet, to the north of Whitley and...
, is a museum dedicated to recording the changing face of farming and the countryside in England. It houses designated collections
Designation Scheme
The Designation Scheme is an English system that awards "designated status" to museums and library collections considered to be of great importance by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council . As of 2009, 125 collections are officially recognized...
of national importance. It is owned and run by the University of Reading.
On the University of Reading's Whiteknights Campus can be found the Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology
Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology
The Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology forms part of the Department of Classics at the University of Reading. It is situated on the university's Whiteknights Campus, about from the centre of the English town of Reading....
, the Cole Museum of Zoology
Cole Museum of Zoology
The Cole Museum of Zoology is a university museum, part of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Reading. It is located on the university's Whiteknights Campus in the town of Reading, Berkshire, England....
and the Harris Botanic Gardens
Harris Garden
The Harris Garden is a botanical garden on the Whiteknights Campus of the University of Reading, about from the centre of the English town of Reading. It was established in 1972 and expanded into its current form in 1988. It is named after Professor Tom Harris, a distinguished palaeobotanist and...
. In the suburb of Woodley, the Museum of Berkshire Aviation
Museum of Berkshire Aviation
The Museum of Berkshire Aviation is a small aviation museum in Woodley, a suburb of the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. The museum is on the edge of the site of the former Woodley Aerodrome, and many of its exhibits relate to Phillips & Powis and Miles Aircraft companies that...
has a collection of aircraft and other artefacts relating to the aircraft industry in the town.
Religion
Reading MinsterReading Minster
Reading Minster, or the Minster Church of St Mary the Virgin as it is more properly known, is the oldest ecclesiastical foundation in the English town of Reading...
, or the Minster Church of St Mary the Virgin as it is more properly known, is Reading's oldest ecclesiastical foundation, known to have been founded by the 9th century and possibly earlier. Although eclipsed in importance by the later Abbey, Reading Minster has regained its importance since the destruction of the Abbey.
Reading Abbey
Reading Abbey
Reading Abbey is a large, ruined abbey in the centre of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. It was founded by Henry I in 1121 "for the salvation of my soul, and the souls of King William, my father, and of King William, my brother, and Queen Maud, my wife, and all my ancestors...
was founded by Henry I
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
in 1121. He was buried there, as were parts of his daughter Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda , also known as Matilda of England or Maude, was the daughter and heir of King Henry I of England. Matilda and her younger brother, William Adelin, were the only legitimate children of King Henry to survive to adulthood...
, William of Poitiers, Constance of York
Constance of York
Constance of York, Countess of Gloucester was the only daughter of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York and his wife Isabella of Castile, daughter of Pedro of Castile and Maria de Padilla. On about 7 November 1379, Constance married Thomas le Despenser, 1st Earl of Gloucester , who was eventually...
, and Princess Isabella of Cornwall, among others. The abbey was one of the pilgrimage centres of medieval England, it held over 230 relic
Relic
In religion, a relic is a part of the body of a saint or a venerated person, or else another type of ancient religious object, carefully preserved for purposes of veneration or as a tangible memorial...
s including the hand of St. James
Saint James the Great
James, son of Zebedee was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was a son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of John the Apostle...
.
The mediaeval borough of Reading was served by three parish churches: Reading Minster, St Giles' Church
St Giles' Church, Reading
St Giles' Church is a parish church in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire.St Giles' was one of the three original parish churches, along with St Mary's and St Laurence's, serving the medieval borough of Reading...
and St Laurence's Church
St Laurence's Church, Reading
St Laurence's Church is a Church of England mission and former parish church in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It is situated alongside the site of Reading Abbey, formerly bounded by the main Compter Gate to the south and the Hospitium of St John to the north...
. All are still in use as Anglican churches. The Franciscan friars
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
built a friary in the town in 1311 and after the friars were expelled in 1538, the building was used as a hospital, a poorhouse
Poorhouse
A poorhouse or workhouse was a government-run facility in the past for the support and housing of dependent or needy persons, typically run by a local government entity such as a county or municipality....
and a jail, before being restored as the Anglican parish church of Greyfriars Church
Greyfriars Church, Reading
Greyfriars Church is an evangelical Anglican church in the town centre of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. The church forms part of the Church of England's Diocese of Oxford....
in 1863.
St James' Church, Reading
St James's Church is a Roman Catholic church situated in the centre of the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It is located adjacent to the remaining ruins of Reading Abbey, between the Forbury Gardens and Reading Gaol....
was built on a portion of the site of the abbey between 1837–40, and marked the return of the Roman Catholic faith to Reading. Reading was also the site of the death of Blessed Dominic Barberi
Dominic Barberi
Blessed Dominic of the Mother of God, born Dominic Barberi was an Italian theologian and a member of the Passionist Congregation...
, the Catholic missionary to England in the 19th century who received John Henry Newman into the Catholic faith.
Reading also has several places of worship of other religions. These include the Shantideva Mahayana Buddhist
Mahayana
Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...
centre and several mosques, such as the Central Reading Mosque. A new Islamic centre is under construction on the Oxford Road
Oxford Road, Reading
Oxford Road is a major arterial road in Reading, Berkshire, England, near the town centre. The road leads west to Pangbourne, continuing eventually to the city of Oxford. The road was previously known as Pangbourne Lane....
in West Reading
West Reading, Berkshire
West Reading is a district of the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire.-Geography:The district has no formal boundaries, but the name is generally used to refer to the area to the west of Reading's town centre, to the north of the suburbs of Coley and Southcote, to the east of the...
. The £3–4m Abu Bakr Islamic Centre was granted planning permission in 2002. The community-funded project began construction in 2006, but, as of July 2008, had no estimated completion date. A second Islamic centre in eastern Reading has also been granted planning permission. This £4m project has garnered some controversy.
Sport
Reading F.C.
Reading Football Club is an English association football club based in the town of Reading, Berkshire who currently play in the Championship...
, an association football club nicknamed The Royals, formed in 1871. Formerly based at Elm Park
Elm Park (stadium)
Elm Park was a football stadium in the West Reading district of the English town of Reading. It was the home of Reading Football Club from 1896 until 1998, when they moved to the new Madejski Stadium....
, the club plays at the 24,161 capacity Madejski Stadium
Madejski Stadium
The Madejski Stadium is a stadium in Reading, Berkshire, England. The stadium is the home of Reading Football Club and to the rugby union club London Irish as tenants. It also provides the finish for the Reading Half Marathon...
, named after chairman Sir John Madejski
John Madejski
Sir John Robert Madejski OBE DL is an English businessman, with commercial interests, spanning property, broadcast media, hotels, restaurants, publishing and football...
. After winning the 2005–06 Football League Championship with a record of 106 points, Reading F.C. spent two seasons in the Premier League before being relegated to The Championship
Football League Championship
The Football League Championship is the highest division of The Football League and second-highest division overall in the English football league system after the Premier League...
.
Reading Town Football Club
Reading Town F.C.
Reading Town Football Club are a Semi-Professional English football club in the Hellenic League Premier Division, based in Reading, Berkshire.The club previously played in the Combined Counties Football League, but with the agreement of the leagues involved, swapped places with Badshot Lea in time...
, formed in 1966, play at Scours Lane and are currently playing in the Hellenic League
Hellenic Football League
The Hellenic Football League is an English football league covering an area including the English counties of Berkshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, southern Buckinghamshire, southern Herefordshire, western Greater London, and northern Wiltshire. There is also one team from Hampshire.The league...
Premier Division.
Reading is a centre for rugby union football in the area, with the Aviva Premiership team London Irish
London Irish
London Irish RFC is an English rugby union club based in Sunbury, Surrey, where the senior squad train, the youth teams and senior academy play home games, and the club maintain their administrative offices. The senior squad play home games at the Madejski Stadium in Reading and compete in the top...
as tenants at the Madejski Stadium. Reading is also home to another three senior semi-professional rugby clubs; Reading Abbey R.F.C.
Reading Abbey R.F.C.
Reading Abbey R.F.C is an English Rugby Union club. Although the club is named for, and historically connected with, the Berkshire town of Reading, it is now between Reading and Peppard and just over the boundary into the county of Oxfordshire....
, Redingensians R.F.C.
Redingensians R.F.C.
Redingensians R.F.C is an English Rugby Union club. The club is near the village of Sonning on the outskirts of Reading in the county of Berkshire.-History:...
and Reading R.F.C.
Reading R.F.C.
Reading R.F.C. is an English rugby union club, which runs senior and junior sides for both men and women. The 1st XV play in South West 1 East. The club is located in the village of Sonning, on the outskirts of Reading. The 1st XV are managed by Kevin Rackley with forwards coach Ben Hughes and...
.
The town hosts Australian rules football team Reading Kangaroos
Reading Kangaroos
The Reading Kangaroos are an Australian rules football club who play in the English town of Reading. Formed by Australians living in the area, the club quickly grew with strong local interest, now attracting players from all over Berkshire...
and American football team Berkshire Renegades. Palmer Park Stadium
Palmer Park Stadium
Palmer Park Stadium is located in Palmer Park, Reading. It contains a velodrome and athletics stadium. Set in acres of parkland, the stadium provides a focal point for a variety of indoor and outdoor leisure activities, and is also used by the Berkshire Renegades for training-Velodrome:The...
within Palmer Park has a velodrome
Velodrome
A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights...
and athletics track. It is used by Reading Athletic Club
Reading Athletic Club
Reading Athletic Club, based in Reading, Berkshire, is one of the oldest and longest established athletic clubs in the United Kingdom. They officially formed in November 1881, however records show that they were one of the inaugural clubs that formed the governing body of athletics at that time,...
and the Berkshire Renegades for training. The Reading Hockey Club
Reading Hockey Club
Reading Hockey Club is a field hockey club based at Sonning Lane in the English town of Reading.It is presently one of the most successful clubs in the United Kingdom with National League and Cup honours....
play in the Men's Premier Division and in Women's Division One of the English Hockey League
English Hockey League
The English Hockey League is a national hockey league run by England Hockey. It is currently sponsored by Slazenger and known as the Slazenger England Hockey League or EHL...
. The Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets
Reading Rockets is a basketball club based in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. Currently Reading Rockets play in the English Basketball League Division 1. Reading Rockets work with around 1,000 young players every week in Berkshire...
basketball club plays in the English Basketball League
English Basketball League
The English Basketball League is a semi-professional and amateur basketball league in England. It forms the second-tier of competition below the professional British Basketball League....
.
Rowing is pursued by the Reading Rowing Club
Reading Rowing Club
Reading Rowing Club is an amateur rowing club, on the River Thames in England. It is situated on the Berkshire bank of the Thames at Reading, Berkshire just above Caversham Bridge and on the reach above Caversham Lock....
and the Reading University Boat Club. The Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake
Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake
The Redgrave-Pinsent Rowing Lake is a rowing lake in the United Kingdom, named after the Olympic rowers Sir Steve Redgrave and Sir Matthew Pinsent. The lake and its boathouse are specifically designed for training use, and will provide training, medical, and scientific facities for the GB rowing...
in Caversham provides training facilities, although much rowing is also done on the River Thames. The annual Reading Town Regatta
Reading Town Regatta
Reading Town Regatta is Reading's rowing regatta. It takes place at the town of Reading in Berkshire on the River Thames in southern England, near the Thames Valley Park business park on the south side of the river. A more local Thames Valley Park Regatta takes place at the same location.The...
takes place near Thames Valley Park
Thames Valley Park
Thames Valley Park is a high-tech business park adjacent to the River Thames on the eastern outskirts of Reading in the English county of Berkshire.-Location and companies:The park partially lies within the civil parish of Sonning...
.
The town was home to a motorcycle speedway team, Reading Racers
Reading Racers
Reading Racers were a British motorcycle speedway team. Formed in 1968, they won four British League titles during their history...
. Speedway came to Reading in 1968 at Tilehurst Stadium, until the team moved to Smallmead Stadium in Whitley
Whitley, Berkshire
Whitley is a suburb of Reading in the English county of Berkshire.-Geography:Whitley, commonly known as one of the larger suburbs of Reading, is bounded to the north and east by a ridge of high ground carrying the road to Shinfield, to the west by the valleys of the River Kennet and the Foudry...
, which was demolished at the end of 2008. The team is inactive pending the building of a new stadium, which it is hoped to complete in 2012.
Reading Half Marathon
The Reading Half Marathon is a half marathon road running event held on the streets of the English town of Reading. The race is normally held on a Sunday in March or early April of each year...
is held on the streets of Reading in March of each year, with 16,000 competitors from elite to fun runners. It was first run in 1983 and took place in every subsequent year except 2001, when it was cancelled because of concerns over that year's outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease
Foot-and-mouth disease
Foot-and-mouth disease or hoof-and-mouth disease is an infectious and sometimes fatal viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals, including domestic and wild bovids...
.
The British Triathlon Association was formed at the town's former Mall health club in 11 December 1982. Britain's first ever triathlon took place just outside Reading at Kirtons's Farm in Pingewood
Pingewood
Pingewood is a hamlet in the civil parish of Burghfield, to the south of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. It lies to the Southwest of Burghfield Bridge...
in 1983. Thames Valley Triathletes, based in the town, is Britain's oldest triathlon club, having its origins in the 1984 event at nearby Heckfield
Heckfield
Heckfield is a village in Hampshire, England. It lies between Reading, Berkshire and Hook, Hart. It is the location of Highfield Park, where Neville Chamberlain died in 1940, and it is adjacent to Stratfield Saye House, the large stately home that has been the home of the Dukes of Wellington since...
, when a relay team raced under the name Reading Triathlon Club.
The Hexagon
The Hexagon
The Hexagon is a multi-purpose arts venue and theatre with a capacity of 1,200 in central Reading, Berkshire, England. It is named for its shape....
theatre was home to snooker's Grand Prix
Grand Prix (snooker)
The World Open is a professional ranking snooker tournament. It has previously been known as the Professional Players Tournament, the LG Cup and the Grand Prix. During 2006 and 2007, it was played in a unique round-robin format, more similar to association football and rugby tournaments than the...
tournament, one of the sport's "Big Four", from 1984 to 94.
Reading-born Richard Burns
Richard Burns
Richard Alexander Burns was an English rally driver. He was born in Reading, Berkshire. He was the 2001 World Rally Champion, having previously finished runner-up in the series in 1999 and 2000. He also helped Mitsubishi to the world manufacturers' title in 1998, and Peugeot in 2002...
became the first Englishman to win the World Rally Championship
World Rally Championship
The World Rally Championship is a rallying series organised by the FIA, culminating with a champion driver and manufacturer. The driver's world championship and manufacturer's world championship are separate championships, but based on the same point system. The series currently consists of 13...
, in 2001.
Notable people
Town twinning
Reading is twinned with: DüsseldorfDüsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
, Germany (since 1947, officially since 1988) Clonmel
Clonmel
Clonmel is the county town of South Tipperary in Ireland. It is the largest town in the county. While the borough had a population of 15,482 in 2006, another 17,008 people were in the rural hinterland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian army which sacked both...
, Ireland (since 1994) San Francisco Libre
San Francisco Libre
San Francisco Libre is a municipality in the Managua department of Nicaragua. It is twinned with Reading ....
, Nicaragua (since 1994) Speightstown
Speightstown
Speightstown , also known as Little Bristol, is the second largest town centre of Barbados. It is situated north of the capital city of Bridgetown, in the northern parish of Saint Peter....
, Barbados (since 2003)
Reading is also a sister city of: Beruwala
Beruwala
Beruwala, is a small resort town in the south western coastal belt of Sri Lanka. The name Beruwala is derived from the Sinhalese word for the place where the sail is lowered. It marks the spot for the first Muslim settlement on the island, established by Arab traders around the 8th century AD...
, Sri Lanka (since 2004) Reading
Reading, Pennsylvania
Reading is a city in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA, and seat of Berks County. Reading is the principal city of the Greater Reading Area and had a population of 88,082 as of the 2010 census, making it the fifth most populated city in the state after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie,...
, Pennsylvania