EDITOR'S NOTE
A dry, mild start - 21°C on Monday and Tuesday - then a cooler, fresher second half of the week. Saturday is the big one: SOKA Fest, a brand-new music festival, takes over seven town-centre venues from noon, raising money for Reading Pride. On Sunday the first Berkshire Biodiversity & Regenerative Food Festival fills Forbury Gardens, free. Comedy carries the weeknights - Alan Davies on Monday, Chris Ramsey on Wednesday - and the Bootleg Beatles play the Hexagon on Thursday. It's Dracula's last week at Reading Rep. Pooh turns 100 at Central Library on Friday. The weekend brings rail disruption to West Country and North Downs trains. On the register, a quiet week - a primary school expansion in Whitley is the headline.
FEATURED THIS WEEK
SOKA Fest - town centre, Saturday 10 October, from 12pm
A new multi-genre music festival across seven venues - the Purple Turtle, The Butler, The Boundary, Market House, Milk, Broad Street Mall and Oakford Social Club - with dozens of local acts from midday to late. It's a music trail: move between venues, collect passport stamps and discover new artists as you go. An all-access wristband is about £15; a £5 passport gets you into the donation-entry venues. Created in memory of Sophie Sheehan, it raises money for Reading Pride. Tickets →
BEST FOR KIDS
Winnie-the-Pooh turns 100, and the new Central Library is marking it with a free storytime on Friday 9 October, 3.45pm–4.15pm - no booking, aimed at under-8s, and the first of a series running every Friday in October. Then on Sunday, take them to the free Biodiversity & Regenerative Food Festival in Forbury Gardens from 10.30am: growers, bakers, makers, wildlife groups and street food.
NEW THIS WEEK
Whitley Park Primary wants to grow. A hybrid application validated this week seeks a bigger car park, new play equipment and landscaping now - and outline permission for up to 890 square metres of extra school and learning space later, with a second car park extension. The Ridgeway School, also in Church ward, has put in its own plans for a car park extension and new outdoor play space.
HEADS UP
Weekend rail disruption. From Saturday 10 to Friday 16 October, track renewal near Pewsey diverts Paddington–Plymouth and Penzance trains via Swindon and Bristol, adding up to 30 minutes, with no direct trains to Paignton or Frome. On Saturday and Sunday, North Downs line trains run only between Reading and Ash, with road transport beyond. Reading–Newbury trains run as normal. GWR planned engineering →
👨👩👧 Things To Do
Kids & Family
Winnie-the-Pooh at 100 storytime, Central Library, Friday 9 October, 3.45pm. Free, drop in, under-8s. A craft session follows on Friday 16 October.
Berkshire Biodiversity & Regenerative Food Festival, Forbury Gardens, Sunday 11 October, from 10.30am. Free. Organic growers, heritage seeds, local crafts, charities and street food - the first one in Berkshire.
Taylormania, Hexagon, Sunday 11 October, 6pm. Live band, dancers and replica costumes from every era - an early tea-time show for young Swifties. Tickets →
Caribbean Contribution to the RAF, Reading Museum. A free Black History Month display on Caribbean men and women who served in both World Wars, on until 31 October.
Adults · Date Night
Alan Davies: Think Ahead, Hexagon, Monday 5 October, 7.30pm. His first stand-up tour in a decade. Tickets →
Chris Ramsey: Here, Man!, Hexagon, Wednesday 7 October, 7.30pm. One of the extra autumn dates after a sell-out spring tour. Tickets →
The Bootleg Beatles, Hexagon, Thursday 8 October, 7.30pm. This time it's the five best-selling albums, from Rubber Soul to Abbey Road. Tickets →
Pop-up Ceilidh, South Street Studio, Thursday 8 October, 7pm. A midweek dance with a difference. Tickets →
Oktoberfest at Siren RG1, Friday 9 October, from 12pm. Steins and German beer two minutes from the station. Book a table. Book →
Dracula, Reading Rep, final week to Saturday 10 October. Last chance for Blackeyed Theatre's gothic hit. Tickets →
Weekend Events
Fri 9 Oct: Pooh storytime at Central Library, 3.45pm. Oktoberfest at Siren RG1. Candlelight: Vivaldi's Four Seasons at the university's Great Hall. Sindhu Vee at the Concert Hall (sold out). Mostly cloudy, 17°C.
Sat 10 Oct: SOKA Fest across the town centre from noon. Dracula's final night at Reading Rep. Alfie Moore's Radio Warm Up Show, South Street, 8pm. Sunny spells and breezy, 17°C.
Sun 11 Oct: Biodiversity & Regenerative Food Festival, Forbury Gardens, from 10.30am. Huntley & Palmers guided walkabout. Taylormania at the Hexagon, 6pm. Readifolk singers' night. Cloudy, 17°C.
Looking ahead: the Earley station footbridge closes from mid-October until April; Pooh craft sessions continue at Central Library on Friday 16 October; and the Castle Tap's Autumn Beer & Cider Festival runs 22–25 October.
🏙️ What's New in Reading
A quiet week for openings. No major new shops or restaurants confirmed this week - here's what moved instead.
Cattle Market Café stays empty. The council has pulled out of letting the former café on Great Knollys Street to The Way Ministry, which had won planning approval to turn it into a hub for people facing homelessness and isolation. The council says the time left on the short-term lease - which ends in March 2028 while it decides the future of the wider Cattle Market site - had become too short. The charity is now looking for other premises.
Three new council children's homes are opening. Two will house up to eight children between them, including two short-term assessment places, and a third will care for up to two children with more complex needs - meaning more Reading children in care can stay near their schools and families.
A new shopfront for St Mary's Butts. Planners have approved new illuminated signs, relocated entrance doors and window graphics at 4–5 St Mary's Butts.
🚧 Useful Reading Updates
Roads - Bennet Road and Earley. Thames Water's latest notice keeps the Bennet Road junction with the A33 closed until Saturday 10 October, almost a year after it shut for a sewer collapse; the company says crews will work round the clock to reopen it by then. The A33 southbound exit stays open. From mid-October the Earley station footbridge over the A329(M) closes until April 2027, with a long walking diversion via Wokingham Road and Henley Wood Road - and Earley station car park closed. Winnersh Park & Ride is the suggested alternative.
Rail - a quiet week, then a busy weekend. No planned engineering on Reading's main lines Monday to Friday. From Saturday 10 October, Pewsey track renewal diverts West Country trains for a week, and North Downs trains run Reading–Ash only on Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday 11 October, South Western Railway's Waterloo–Reading trains are diverted between Clapham Junction and Virginia Water via Wimbledon and Surbiton, so allow extra time. GWR planned engineering →
Council - homes, gardens and a covenant. As well as the three new children's homes, the council has condemned vandalism at its new community garden beside the Civic Centre - damaged a day after volunteers finished the first phase, funded by a £13,000 Lottery grant. And the council and 7 Rifles have signed the Armed Forces Covenant, promising fair access to services for veterans and service families.
Planning - a quiet week. Validated: the Whitley Park Primary expansion and a car park and play space for The Ridgeway School; seven extra EV chargers at Unit 4, International Logistics Park on Basingstoke Road. Decided: two flats on St Peters Road returned to a family home; 36 solar panels approved for Reading Gateway Church (St Barnabas) on Elm Road; the St Mary's Butts shopfront. The rest is householder extensions and tree works.
COMING UP THIS WEEK
Mon 5 Oct: Alan Davies, Hexagon, 7.30pm · mostly cloudy, 21°C
Tue 6 Oct: Leon McCawley piano recital, Concert Hall · The Rock Orchestra by Candlelight, Hexagon, 8pm · sun after a cloudy start, 21°C
Wed 7 Oct: Chris Ramsey, Hexagon, 7.30pm · Robyn Hitchcock, South Street (sold out) · a morning shower, cooler, 16°C
Thu 8 Oct: The Bootleg Beatles, Hexagon, 7.30pm · Pop-up Ceilidh, South Street, 7pm · mostly cloudy, 17°C
Fri 9 Oct: Pooh storytime, Central Library, 3.45pm · Oktoberfest, Siren RG1 · Sindhu Vee, Concert Hall (sold out) · cloudy, 17°C
Sat 10 Oct: SOKA Fest, town centre, from 12pm · Dracula final night, Reading Rep · Bennet Road notice ends · rail works begin · sunny spells, breezy, 17°C
Sun 11 Oct: Biodiversity & Regenerative Food Festival, Forbury Gardens, 10.30am · Taylormania, Hexagon, 6pm · SWR Waterloo trains diverted · cloudy, 17°C
HIDDEN GEM OF THE WEEK
Thames Lido, King's Meadow
The building on King's Meadow, between the river and the railway, is believed to be the oldest surviving outdoor public pool of its Edwardian kind. Built in 1902 as the Ladies' Swimming Bath - with no windows onto the water, so women could bathe in private - it was originally fed straight from the Thames. It closed in 1974, sat derelict and graffitied for four decades, survived a plan to turn it into a hotel, was Grade II listed after a residents' campaign, and reopened in 2017 with a heated pool inside the original shell. October is when it comes into its own: steam rising off a 25-metre pool on a cold morning. Swims are booked ahead; if you don't swim, the poolside restaurant is the way in - look for the original Edwardian detailing, most of it made locally.
Before the restoration: the King's Meadow ladies' baths, derelict in 2009 © jonathanb1989, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
WEATHER THIS WEEK
Mild and mostly dry. Monday and Tuesday reach 21°C, with sunshine returning on Tuesday afternoon. A passing shower on Wednesday morning brings a cooler turn - 16–17°C for the rest of the week, with nights down to 6°C on Wednesday. Saturday has sunny spells but a stiff breeze, and Sunday stays grey and dry - good news for SOKA Fest's venue-hop and Sunday's festival in the Forbury. Bring a layer.
👀 WORTH KNOWING
You can help finish a Southcote mural. Artist Jenna Fox - whose work is already on the Reading West railway bridge and at Cow Lane - is painting the Granville underpass between Southcote and Prospect Park with local flowers, trees and residents' memories. You can add a memory or a message, and suggest a name for the mural, through the council's online form.
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Published by Getbrief, a trading name of RJP Group Ltd