Reading (/ˈrɛdɪŋ/ⓘRED-ing)[2] is a town and borough in Berkshire, England, and the county town of Berkshire. Most of its built-up area lies within the Borough of Reading, although some outer suburbs are parts of neighbouring local authority areas. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers Thames and Kennet, Reading is 40 miles (64 km) east of Swindon, 28 miles (45 km) south of Oxford, 40 miles (64 km) west of London and 16 miles (26 km) north of Basingstoke.
Reading is a major commercial centre, especially for information technology and insurance.[3] It is also a regional retail centre, serving a large area of the Thames Valley with its shopping centres, including the Oracle, the Broad Street Mall, and the pedestrianised area around Broad Street. It is home to the University of Reading. Every year it hosts the Reading Festival, one of England's biggest music festivals. Reading has a professional association football team, Reading F.C., and participates in many other sports.
Reading dates from the 8th century. It was a trading and ecclesiastical centre in the Middle Ages, the site of Reading Abbey, one of the largest and richest monasteries of medieval England with royal connections, of which the 12th-century abbey gateway and significant ancient ruins remain. By 1525, Reading was the largest town in Berkshire, and tenth in England for taxable wealth. The town was seriously affected by the English Civil War, with a major siege and loss of trade, but played a pivotal role in the Glorious Revolution, whose only significant military action was fought on its streets. The 18th century saw the beginning of a major ironworks in the town and the growth of the brewing trade for which Reading was to become famous. The 19th century saw the coming of the Great Western Railway and the development of the town's brewing, baking and seed-growing businesses, and the town grew rapidly as a manufacturing centre.
Occupation at the site of Reading may date back to the Roman period, possibly in the form of a trading port for Calleva Atrebatum.[4] However, the first clear evidence for Reading as a settlement dates from the 8th century, when the town came to be known as Readingas. The name probably comes from the Readingas, an Anglo-Saxon tribe whose name means Reada's People in Old English[5] (the Anglo-Saxons often had the same name for a place and its inhabitants). In late 870, an army of Danes invaded the kingdom of Wessex and set up camp at Reading. On 4 January 871, in the first Battle of Reading, King Ethelred and his brother Alfred the Great attempted unsuccessfully to breach the Danes' defences. The battle is described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and that account provides the earliest known written record of the existence of Reading. The Danes remained in Reading until late in 871, when they retreated to their winter quarters in London.[6][7]
After the Battle of Hastings and the Norman conquest of England, William the Conqueror gave land in and around Reading to his foundation of Battle Abbey. In its 1086 Domesday Book listing, the town was explicitly described as a borough. The presence of six mills is recorded: four on land belonging to the king and two on the land given to Battle Abbey.[7]Reading Abbey was founded in 1121 by Henry I, who is buried within the Abbey grounds. As part of his endowments, he gave the abbey his lands in Reading, along with land at Cholsey.[7][8]
The town grew around a crossing of the River Kennet, about 1 mile (1.6 km) upstream from its confluence with the River Thames. In 1312, King Edward II directed that its bridges should be kept in good order.[9] It is not known how badly Reading was affected by the Black Death that swept through England in the 14th century, but it is known that the abbot, Henry of Appleford, was one of its victims in 1361, and that nearby Henley lost 60% of its population.[10] The Abbey was largely destroyed in 1538 during Henry VIII'sdissolution of the monasteries. The last abbot, Hugh Faringdon, was subsequently tried and convicted of high treason and hanged, drawn and quartered in front of the Abbey Church.[11][12]
By 1525, Reading was the largest town in Berkshire and the tenth largest town in England when measured by taxable wealth reported in tax returns. By 1611, it had a population of over 5,000 and had grown rich on its trade in cloth, as instanced by the fortune made by local merchant John Kendrick.[10][13] Reading played a role during the English Civil War. Despite its fortifications, it had a Royalistgarrison imposed on it in 1642. The subsequent Siege of Reading by Parliamentary forces succeeded in April 1643.[14] The town's cloth trade was especially badly damaged, and the town's economy did not fully recover until the 20th century.[7][15] Reading played a significant role during the Glorious Revolution: the second Battle of Reading was the only substantial military action of the campaign.[7][16]
The 18th century saw the beginning of a major iron works in the town and the growth of the brewing trade for which Reading was to become famous.[17] Reading's trade benefited from better designed turnpike roads which helped it establish its location on the major coaching routes from London to Oxford and the West Country. In 1723, despite considerable local opposition, the Kennet Navigation opened the River Kennet to boats as far as Newbury. Opposition stopped when it became apparent that the new route benefited the town. After the opening of the Kennet and Avon Canal in 1810, one could go by barge from Reading to the Bristol Channel.[18] From 1714, and probably earlier, the role of county town of Berkshire was shared between Reading and Abingdon.[19][20] In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was one of the southern termini of the Hatfield and Reading Turnpike that allowed travellers from the north to continue their journey to the west without going through the congestion of London.
The town continued to expand in the 20th century, annexing Caversham across the River Thames in Oxfordshire in 1911, as well as most of Tilehurst to the west at the same time. Reading suffered much less physical damage than many other English towns and cities during the two world wars of the 20th century, although many citizens were killed or injured. In one significant air raid on 10 February 1943 a single Luftwaffe plane strafed and bombed the town centre, causing 41 deaths and over 100 injuries.[31]
The Lower Earley development, begun in 1977, was one of the largest private housing developments in Europe,[32][33] extending the urban area of Reading as far as the M4 Motorway. Further housing developments have increased the number of modern houses and hypermarkets in the outskirts of Reading. A major town-centre shopping centre, The Oracle, opened in 1999, is named after the 17th-century Oracle workhouse, which once occupied a small part of the site. It provides three storeys of shopping space and boosted the local economy by providing 4,000 jobs.[34][35]
Reading was an ancient borough, being described as a borough by the time of the Domesday Book in 1086. The borough was initially controlled by Reading Abbey as its manorial owner. The town gradually gained a degree of independence from the abbey from the 13th century onwards, particularly after the town's merchant guild was granted a royal charter in 1253. Following the dissolution of the abbey in 1538 the borough was granted a new charter in 1542.[7] The borough boundaries were then set out in a subsequent charter from Elizabeth I in 1560. The borough covered the whole of the parish of St Laurence and parts of the parishes of St Giles and St Mary. The part of St Giles' parish outside the borough was known as the hamlet of Whitley, and the part of St Mary's parish outside the borough was known as the tithing of Southcote.[47]
The borough was reformed in 1836 to become a municipal borough under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, which standardised how most boroughs operated across the country.[48] The borough boundaries, which had not been changed since 1560, were enlarged in 1887 to take in Southcote, Whitley, the north-western parts of Earley, and the eastern end of the parish of Tilehurst.[49][50] When elected county councils were established in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888, Reading was considered large enough for its existing borough council to provide county-level services, and so Reading was made a county borough, independent from Berkshire County Council.[48]
The borough boundaries were enlarged again in 1911 to take in Caversham on the north bank of the Thames from Oxfordshire (except the Caversham Park area, which was transferred to the parish of Eye and Dunsden), and most of the parish of Tilehurst (including the main village at Tilehurst Triangle and the area around the parish church at Churchend) to the west.[51]
Local government was reformed in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, which saw Reading redesignated as a non-metropolitan district, with Berkshire County Council providing county-level services in the borough for the first time. Ahead of those reforms, the borough council campaigned to have Reading's boundaries enlarged to take in Earley, Woodley, Purley on Thames, the residual Tilehurst parish (covering the parts of Tilehurst which had not been transferred into the borough in 1911), and the eastern part of the parish of Theale.[52] The government decided to make no change to Reading's boundaries, leaving them as they had been since last reviewed in 1911.[53] Shortly after the 1974 reforms came into effect, a more limited review of the borough's boundaries north of the Thames was carried out, which saw the Caversham Park area and part of the parish of Mapledurham on the western side of Caversham transferred into the borough of Reading in 1977.[54]
The borough council became a unitary authority in 1998, when the county council was abolished under the Banham Review, which saw the borough council take over county-level functions, effectively restoring the council to the powers it had held when Reading was a county borough prior to 1974.[55] As part of those reforms, the Local Government Commission had initially recommended expanding Reading's boundaries to include Earley, Tilehurst parish, Purley on Thames and the parts of the parishes of Shinfield, Burghfield and Theale north of the M4 motorway, but it was ultimately decided to leave Reading's boundaries unchanged.[56]
Reading's boundaries south of the Thames therefore have not changed since 1911, despite the urban area having now expanded well beyond the borough boundaries. Cross-boundary working between the borough council and the neighbouring councils which cover the suburban and adjoining rural areas is sometimes criticised, particularly over matters such as transport and school catchment areas.[57][58][59]
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.[60] 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.[60] 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.[61] In 1976, Reading Borough Council moved to the new Civic Centre.[62] In 2014, they moved again to civic offices in a refurbished existing office building on Bridge Street, in order to facilitate the demolition and redevelopment of the previous site.[63]
Geography
Broad Street
Reading is 42 miles (68 km) north of the English south coast. The centre of Reading is on a low ridge between the River Thames and River Kennet, close to their confluence, reflecting the town's history as a river port. Just above the confluence, the Kennet cuts through a narrow steep-sided gap in the hills forming the southern flank of the Thames flood plain. The Kennet, which naturally divided into multiple shallow streams through the centre of Reading, was embanked as part of the construction of the Kennet and Avon Canal in the 18th century, allowing the development of wharves. The floodplains adjoining Reading's two rivers are subject to occasional flooding.[64][65]
As Reading has grown, its suburbs have spread: to the west between the two rivers into the foothills of the Berkshire Downs as far as Calcot, Tilehurst and Purley; to the south and south-east on the south side of the River Kennet as far as Whitley Wood and Lower Earley and as far north of the Thames into the Chiltern Hills as far as Caversham Heights, Emmer Green and Caversham Park Village. Outside the central area, the floors of the valleys containing the two rivers remain largely unimproved floodplain. Apart from the M4 curving to the south there is only one road across the Kennet flood plain. All other routes between the three built-up areas are in the central area.[66]
Climate
Like the rest of the United Kingdom, Reading has a maritime climate, with limited seasonal temperature ranges and generally moderate rainfall throughout the year. The nearest official Met Office weather station is located at the Reading University Atmospheric Observatory on the Whiteknights Campus, which has recorded atmospheric measurements and meteorological observations since 1970.[67] The local absolute maximum temperature of 37.6 °C (99.7 °F) was recorded on 19 July 2022 and the local absolute minimum temperature of −14.5 °C (5.9 °F) was recorded in January 1982.
Climate data for Reading University, elevation: 62 m (203 ft), 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1959–present
Population pyramid of Reading in 2021Borough of Reading population growth rate from 1801 to 2011
In mid-2018, the area covered by the Borough of Reading had 174,820 inhabitants and a population density of 4,327 per square kilometre (11,207/sq mi).[72] Meanwhile, the wider urban area had a population of 318,014 in the 2011 census, ranking 23rd in the United Kingdom.[73] This grew to an estimated 337,108 by mid-2018.[74] According to the 2011 census, 74.8% of the borough's population were described as White (65.3% White British), 9.1% as South Asian, 6.7% as Black, 3.9% Mixed, 4.5% as Chinese and 0.9% as other ethnic group.[75] In 2010, it was reported that Reading had 150 different spoken languages within its population.[76][77] Reading has a large Polish community, which dates back over 30 years,[78] and in October 2006 the Reading Chronicle printed 5,000 copies of a Polish edition called the Kronika Reading.[79][80][81]
Reading International Business Park. This crescent of offices beside the A33 is home to Verizon, a telecommunications company, and was formerly the European headquarters of WorldCom before its demiseThe front of the store on Broad StreetThe central lake makes a virtue of the necessity of flood alleviation measuresGreen Park wind turbine viewed from Lime Square
Reading is a commercial centre in the Thames Valley and Southern England. The town hosts the headquarters of several British companies and the United Kingdom offices of foreign multinationals, as well as being a major retail centre.[91] 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.[92] Major companies Microsoft, Oracle[93] and Hibu (formerly Yell Group)[94] have their headquarters in Reading. The insurance company Prudential has an administration centre in the town.[95]PepsiCo[96] and Wrigley[96] have offices.
Reading town centre is a major shopping centre. In 2007, an independent poll placed Reading 16th in a league table of best performing retail centres in the United Kingdom.[105][106] The main shopping street is Broad Street, which runs between The Oracle in the east and Broad Street Mall in the west and was pedestrianised in 1995.[107] The smaller Friars Walk in Friar Street is closed and will be demolished if the proposed Station Hill redevelopment project goes ahead.[108] There are three major department stores in Reading: John Lewis & Partners (known as Heelas until 2001),[109]Debenhams (now closed down), and House of Fraser.[110] The Broad Street branch of bookseller Waterstone's is a conversion of a nonconformist chapel dating from 1707.[111] 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.[112][113] Reading has no indoor market, but there is a street market in Hosier Street.[114] A farmers' market operates on two Saturdays a month.[115] The old Victorian Corn Exchange now provides an alternative access to a shopping centre.[116]
Every year Reading hosts the Reading Festival, which has been running since 1971.[117][118] The festival takes place on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend and is the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom aside from the Glastonbury Festival. Reading Festival takes place at Little Johns Farm in Reading, Richfield Avenue.[119] For some twenty years until 2006, Reading was also known for its WOMAD Festival until it moved to Charlton Park in Malmesbury, Wiltshire.[120][121] The Reading Beer Festival was first held in 1994[122] and has now grown to one of the largest beer festivals in the United Kingdom. It is held at King's Meadow for the five days immediately preceding the May Day bank holiday every year.[123] Reading also holds Reading Pride, an annual LGBT festival in Kings Meadow.
The Frank Matcham-designed Royal County Theatre, built in 1895, was located on the south side of Friar Street. It burned down in 1937.[124] Within the town hall is a 700-seat concert hall that houses a Father Willis organ.[125] Reading theatre venues include The Hexagon and South Street Arts Centre.[126][127] Reading Repertory Theatre is based at Reading College: its Royal Patron is Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh.[128]
Amateur theatre venues in Reading include Progress Theatre,[129] a self-governing, self-funding theatre group and registered charity founded in 1947 that operates and maintains its own 97-seat theatre.[130] Rabble Theatre[131] in Caversham and Reading Rep[132] on London Road offer classic and contemporary performances. Jelly[133] is an artist-led organisation that has been committed to improving access to the arts since 1993. The demonym for a person from Reading is Redingensian,[134] giving the name of the local rugby team Redingensians, based in Sonning, and of former members of Reading School.[135]
Cultural references
Jane Austen attended Reading Ladies Boarding School, based in the Abbey Gateway, in 1784–1786.[136]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.[137] The fictional Belford Regis of her eponymous novel,[138] first published in 1835, is largely based on Reading. Described with topographical accuracy, it is still possible to follow the steps of the novel's characters in present-day Reading. Reading also appears in the works of Thomas Hardy where it is called 'Aldbrickham'.[139] It features most heavily in his final novel, Jude the Obscure, as the temporary home of Jude Fawley and Sue Bridehead.
Oscar Wilde was imprisoned in Reading Gaol from 1895 to 1897. While there, he wrote his letter De Profundis. After his release, he lived in exile in France and wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol, based on his experience of the execution of Charles Wooldridge, carried out in Reading Gaol whilst he was imprisoned there.[140][141] In March 2021, street artist Banksy claimed responsibility for a painting on the wall of the jail. It depicted an inmate escaping with bedsheets and a typewriter, said to resemble Oscar Wilde.[142]
Reading was the location of the world's first commercial studio for photograph printing, which was set up by William Henry Fox Talbot in 1844.[143]
The Maiwand Lion in Forbury Gardens, an unofficial symbol of Reading, commemorates the 328 officers of the Royal Berkshire Regiment who died in the Battle of Maiwand in 1880.[50][147] There are a number of other works of public art in Reading. The Blade, a fourteen-storey building completed in 2009, is 86 m (282 ft) tall and can be seen from the surrounding area.[148] Jacksons Corner with its prominent sign, former home[149] of Jacksons department store, occupies the corner of Kings Road and High Street, just south of the Market Place. Reading has six Grade I listed buildings, 22 Grade II* and 853 Grade II buildings, in a wide variety of architectural styles that range from the medieval to the 21st century. The Grade I listed buildings are Reading Abbey, the Abbey Gateway, Greyfriars Church, St Laurence's Church, Reading Minster, and the barn at Chazey Farmhouse on the Warren.[150][151]
Media
Reading has a local newspaper, the Reading Chronicle, published on Thursdays. The town's other local newspaper, the Reading Post, ceased publication on paper in December 2014, in order to transition to an online only format under the title getreading. As of 2018, getreading joined the InYourArea local news network.[152] A local publishing company, the Two Rivers Press, has published over 70 book titles, many on the topic of local history and art.[153][154] Three local radio stations broadcast from Reading: BBC Radio Berkshire, Heart South and Greatest Hits Radio Berkshire and North Hampshire. Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC South and ITV Meridian, BBC London & ITV London can also be received. Reading has one local television station, That's Thames Valley, which broadcasts local news throughout the Greater Reading area.
Reading has over 100 parks and playgrounds, including 5 miles (8 km) of riverside paths. In the town centre is Forbury Gardens, a public park built on the site of the outer court of Reading Abbey. The largest public park in Reading is Prospect Park, an estate in west Reading previously owned by Frances Kendrick but acquired by Reading Corporation in 1901. This is complemented by Palmer Park, a purpose built public park in east Reading gifted to the town by the proprietors of Huntley & Palmers in 1889.[156][157][158]
Mains water and sewerage services are provided by Thames Water Utilities Limited, a private sector water supply company, whilst water abstraction and disposal is regulated by the Environment Agency. Reading's water supply is largely derived from underground aquifers, and as a consequence the water is hard.[168][169][170]
The commercial energy supplier for electricity and gas is at the consumer's choice. SSEN runs the local electricity distribution network, while SGN runs the gas distribution network. A notable part of the local energy infrastructure is the presence of a 2 megawatt (peak) Enerconwind turbine at Green Park Business Park, with the potential to produce 2.7 million kWh of electricity a year, enough to power over a thousand homes.[171] Additionally, Reading Hydro runs a micro hydroelectric power station on the Thames. Reading had its own power station in Vastern Road from 1895 to the 1960s. The power station was initially owned and operated by the Reading Electric Supply Company Limited, then from 1933 by the Reading Corporation until the nationalisation of the British electricity supply industry in 1948.[172]
The dialling code for fixed-line telephones in Reading is 0118. BT provides fixed-line telephone coverage throughout the town and ADSLbroadband internet connection to most areas. Parts of Reading are cabled by Virgin Media, supplying cable television, telephone and broadband internet connections. Hyperoptic also has a presence in the town, supplying Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband internet connections at speeds of up to 1 Gbit/s.[173]
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. 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.[192]
Reading has two operational park and ride sites. Mereoak, a short distance south of Junction 11 of the M4, is also a stop for National Express Coaches between London and the West.[193] A site outside the Winnersh Triangle railway station opened in 2015 and is easily accessed from the junction where the A329(M) becomes the A3290.[194]
Rail
Reading is a major junction point of the National Rail system, and hence Reading station is a transfer point and terminus. In a project that finished in 2015, Reading station was redeveloped at a cost of £850m, with grade separation of some conflicting traffic flows, and extra platforms, to relieve severe congestion at this station.[195][196] Railway lines link Reading to both Paddington and Waterloo stations in London. Other stations in the Reading area are Reading West, Reading Green Park, Tilehurst and Earley.
Reading is a western terminus of the Elizabeth line, which provides stopping services to London Paddington, and means Reading is featured on the London Tube map. Cross-London connections are possible from Reading to Abbey Wood and Shenfield in the east.[197]
Air
There have been two airfields in or near Reading, one at Coley Park[198] and one at Woodley,[199] but they have both closed. The nearest international airport is London Heathrow, 20 miles (32 km) away. An express bus service named RailAir links Reading with Heathrow,[200] or the airport can be accessed by rail by taking the Elizabeth line to Hayes & Harlington and changing for a connecting service to Heathrow. This journey takes around 45 minutes by rail.[201] London City Airport can be reached via a direct train to Custom House on the Elizabeth line followed by a short bus connection. Gatwick Airport can be accessed accessed via a direct local train operating via Guildford, and Luton and Stansted airports can be accessed with one change in Central London. Further afield, Southampton Airport can be accessed directly by rail in around 50-70 minutes depending on the service, or reached by road in approximately the same timeframe.
Public transport
Today local public transport is largely by road, which is often affected by peak hour congestion in the borough. A frequent local bus network within the borough, and a less frequent network in the surrounding area, are provided by Reading Buses - one of the few remaining municipal bus companies in the country - and its subsidiaries Newbury & District and Thames Valley Buses. Other bus operators serving Reading include Carousel Buses, Thames Travel and RedRose.[202]ReadiBus provides an on-demand transport service for people with restricted mobility in the area.[203]
Bike sharing
In March 2011, Reading Borough Council approved a bike sharing scheme similar to London Cycle Hire Scheme, with 1,000 bicycles available at up to 150 docking stations across Reading. However this scheme came to an end in March 2019, with the operator unable to cover the operational costs or find a sponsor to do so.[204][205][206]
Reading Minster (the Minster Church of St Mary the Virgin) is Reading's oldest ecclesiastical foundation, known to have been founded by the 9th century and possibly earlier.[208] Although eclipsed in importance by the later abbey, Reading Minster has regained its importance since the destruction of the abbey. Reading Abbey was founded by Henry I in 1121. He was buried there, as were parts of his daughter Empress Matilda, William of Poitiers, Constance of York, and Princess Isabella of Cornwall, among others.[7][8] The abbey was one of the pilgrimage centres of medieval England; it held over 230 relics including the hand of St. James. Today all that remains of the abbey are the inner rubble cores of the walls of many of the major buildings of the abbey, together with a much restored inner gateway and the intact hospitium.[209][210]
St James's Church was built on a portion of the site of the abbey between 1837 and 1840, and marked the return of the Roman Catholic faith to Reading. Reading was also the site of the death of Blessed Dominic Barberi, the Catholic missionary to England in the 19th century who received John Henry Newman into the Catholic faith. There are now eight Roman Catholic parish churches in Reading.[216][217][218]Kings Road Baptist Church was founded in Reading in 1640 or 1641.[219] In addition to Catholicism and the Church of England, the Seventh-Day Adventist denomination is also represented in the town, particularly by Reading West SDA Church on Loverock Road, Reading Central SDA Church on Tilehurst Road, and various other churches around Reading.[220][221]
Reading has had an organised Jewish community since 1886. At least one Jewish family living in the area has been traced back as far as 1842. The group grew to 13 families, who in 1886 declared themselves a community and commenced building a synagogue. On 31 October 1900, Reading Hebrew Congregation[222] officially opened in a solemn public ceremony, packed to capacity with dignitaries, led by the Chief RabbiHermann Adler. Reading Hebrew Congregation, which still stands on its original site at the junction of Goldsmid Road and Clifton Street near the town centre, is a Grade II-listed building, built to a traditional design in the Moorish style. The community is affiliated with the Orthodox United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth.[222] Reading also has a Liberal Jewish community which convenes in the Reading Quaker Meeting House,[223] a Modern Orthodox Judaismcommunity, an active Jewish Society for students at the university, as well as being served by a Reform Jewish community which convenes in nearby Maidenhead Synagogue.[224]
There are presently three mosques in Reading, initially just having the Central Reading Mosque on Waylen Street.[225] The £3–4m Abu Bakr Islamic Centre, on Oxford Road in West Reading, was granted planning permission in 2002. The community-funded project began construction in 2007,[226] and opened its doors in July 2013 - the holy month of Ramadan for this year.[227] A second Islamic centre in eastern Reading has also been granted planning permission.[228] This £4m project has garnered some controversy.[229] Reading also has places of worship of other religions: the Shantideva Mahayana Buddhist centre,[230] a Hindu temple,[231] a Sikhgurdwara,[232] a Salvation Army citadel,[233] a Quaker meeting house,[234] and a Christadelphian Hall.[235]
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.[250] It was first run in 1983 and has taken place in every subsequent year except 2001, when it was cancelled because of concerns over that year's outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, 2018, when it was cancelled on the morning of the race due to heavy overnight snowfall, and 2020, when it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[251][252][253] The British Triathlon Association was formed at the town's former Mallhealth club on 11 December 1982.[254] Britain's first ever triathlon took place just outside Reading at Kirtons's Farm in Pingewood in 1983 and was revived 10 years' later by Banana Leisure with one of the original organisers as Event Director.[255]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.[256] The Hexagon was home to snooker's Grand Prix tournament, one of the sport's "Big Four", from 1984 to 1994.[257][258]
Though not twinned with Reading, two suburbs of the New Zealand city of Dunedin — Caversham and Forbury — were named after places in and around Reading by early New Zealand settler and Reading native William Henry Valpy.
^Barrès-Baker, Malcolm: The Siege of Reading: The Failure of the Earl of Essex's 1643 Spring Offensive. Ottawa, EbooksLib, 2004 ISBN1-55449-999-2
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^"Occupiers". Reading International Business Park. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 10 October 2011.
^"Hicks Baker client acquires last suite at Apex Plaza". Hicks Baker. 5 August 2014. Archived from the original on 13 March 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2016. Fast growing data management software company CommVault has signed a new 7-year lease on Block B at Apex Plaza in Reading.
^"Detailed history". Reading Minster of St. Mary the Virgin. Archived from the original on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 12 June 2011.
^Ford, David Nash (2001). "Relics from Reading Abbey". Royal Berkshire History. Nash Ford Publishing. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 13 June 2011.
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