EDITOR'S NOTE
Half-term week, with Halloween landing on Saturday. Monday starts wet, Tuesday is windy, then it turns dry and cloudy for the rest of the week, dropping to 13°C by the weekend. Halloween Saturday is the big night: a silent disco at the University's Great Hall, a spooky sing-along at The Flowing Spring and a day-long bar crawl, with D'Lecter Cabaret's Halloween Thriller at Sub89 the night before. For families, Rude Science Live is at the Hexagon on Wednesday morning and the Autumn Adventure Trail runs to Sunday. On the register it's a quiet week, though a 23-home scheme on Silver Street has been withdrawn. Sunday brings more rail works between Paddington and Reading.
FEATURED THIS WEEK
Halloween weekend in Reading
Friday 30 October: D'Lecter Cabaret's Halloween Thriller at Sub89, 7.30pm. Saturday 31 October: the Halloween Silent Disco at the Great Hall, University of Reading; a Halloween day bar crawl from 1pm; Flight Club's Haunted House Party brunch (fancy dress encouraged, from £38); and Sing-along-a-Spooky Nick at The Flowing Spring, 8pm to 11pm. Forecast for Saturday: cloudy, mostly dry, 13°C.
BEST FOR KIDS
Rude Science Live is at the Hexagon on Wednesday 28 October at 11.30am, a daytime half-term show. The same day, Reading Libraries stage The Tailor of Gloucester (several showings). The free Autumn Adventure Trail, acorns hidden in town-centre shop windows, runs to Sunday 1 November. Rude Science Live tickets →
NEW THIS WEEK
An Agatha Christie tribute exhibition has opened at Royal Berkshire Archives on Coley Avenue and runs until 18 December.
HEADS UP
On Sunday 1 November only two of four tracks are open between Paddington and Reading, so GWR runs an amended timetable. The same applies on Sundays 15 and 22 November. Replacement buses run Reading–Basingstoke on Sunday 8 November and Reading–Guildford on Sunday 15 November. GWR planned engineering →
👨👩👧 Things To Do
Kids & Family
Rude Science Live, Hexagon, Wednesday 28 October, 11.30am. A daytime half-term show. Tickets →
The Tailor of Gloucester, Reading Libraries, Wednesday 28 October. Several showings through the day; times are on the library listing.
Autumn Adventure Trail, town centre, until Sunday 1 November. Free. Find the acorns in shop windows, then enter the prize draw online. Last week of the trail.
Rhymetime, Reading libraries, Tuesday and Thursday. Free drop-in baby and toddler sessions: Central Library Tuesday 10.30am and Thursday 10.15am and 11.15am; Palmer Park Tuesday and Thursday 10.30am; Whitley Thursday 11am; Southcote Thursday 9.45am.
Adults · Date Night
Ezra Furman with Dana Margolin, Reading Minster, Tuesday 27 October, 6.30pm.
Stand Up For Slapstick, Hexagon, Thursday 29 October, 7.30pm. Tickets →
Dreamboys 2026, Hexagon, Friday 30 October, 7.30pm. Tickets →
D'Lecter Cabaret's Halloween Thriller, Sub89, Friday 30 October, 7.30pm. Tickets →
Madhubanti Bagchi, Hexagon, Saturday 31 October, 6pm. Tickets →
Sing-along-a-Spooky Nick, The Flowing Spring, Saturday 31 October, 8pm-11pm. Details →
Agatha Christie tribute exhibition, Royal Berkshire Archives, Coley Avenue, until 18 December.
Caribbean Contribution to the RAF, Reading Museum, Welcome Gallery, until Saturday 31 October. Part of Black History Month; last week to see it.
Weekend Events
Fri 30 Oct: Dreamboys at the Hexagon, 7.30pm. D'Lecter Cabaret's Halloween Thriller at Sub89, 7.30pm. Halloween bar crawls and a Case Files night at Popworld. Sunny spells, 15°C.
Sat 31 Oct: Halloween Silent Disco, Great Hall. Day bar crawl from 1pm. Madhubanti Bagchi at the Hexagon, 6pm. Sing-along-a-Spooky Nick, 8pm. Cloudy, mostly dry, 13°C.
Sun 1 Nov: Autumn Adventure Trail ends. Rail works between Paddington and Reading. Peeks of sunshine, 13°C.
Looking ahead: Hexagon, Country Roads on Tuesday 3 November, Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra on Thursday 5 November, Sam Campbell: Kid Giblet on Friday 6 November and the London Symphonic Rock Orchestra on Saturday 7 November, all 7.30pm.
🏙️ What's New in Reading
A quiet week for big openings and closures. Nothing significant turned up in council, retail or restaurant news this week.
An independent menswear shop is opening in Caversham. It will focus on heritage brands and proper clothing, according to local news reports; we'll tell you more once it has a date.
🚧 Useful Reading Updates
Roads - nothing planned, one campaign. No significant roadworks have been flagged for Reading this week. A neighbour is renewing calls for safety measures on Bath Road, nearly a year after a fatal crash there.
Rail - another Sunday of two-track running. GWR lists no planned engineering at Reading from Monday to Saturday. On Sunday 1 November, only two of four tracks are open between Paddington and Reading and trains run to an amended timetable. GWR planned engineering →
Council - town centre 2040 and a planning change. Reading Borough Council wants views on what the town centre should look like by 2040, with the number of town centre homes expected to more than double; the online consultation closes on 30 November. Separately, Reading councillors have lost the power to call in planning applications for decision by their peers, a change critics have condemned. The NHS has also said it will consult on moving rehab beds out of Reading.
Planning - a quiet week. Decided: a four-storey scheme of 23 private rental homes at 40 Silver Street has been withdrawn; two nurseries won approval to grow, 37 to 50 places on Fatherson Road and 30 to 60 on Gosbrook Road; and roof repairs at St Peter's Church in Caversham were approved. Validated: kitchen-extraction equipment behind 21-22 Broad Street and replacement security gates at TransCentral on Bennet Road. Nothing significant new; the rest is householder extensions, conditions and tree works.
COMING UP THIS WEEK
Mon 26 Oct: Half-term week begins · Caribbean Contribution to the RAF, Reading Museum · occasional rain, 16°C
Tue 27 Oct: Ezra Furman with Dana Margolin, Reading Minster, 6.30pm · morning shower and windy, 15°C
Wed 28 Oct: Rude Science Live, Hexagon, 11.30am · The Tailor of Gloucester, Reading Libraries · cloudy, 15°C
Thu 29 Oct: Stand Up For Slapstick, Hexagon, 7.30pm · cloudy, 14°C
Fri 30 Oct: Dreamboys, Hexagon, 7.30pm · D'Lecter Cabaret's Halloween Thriller, Sub89, 7.30pm · sunny spells, 15°C
Sat 31 Oct: Halloween Silent Disco, Great Hall · Madhubanti Bagchi, Hexagon, 6pm · Sing-along-a-Spooky Nick, 8pm · cloudy, 13°C
Sun 1 Nov: Autumn Adventure Trail ends · Paddington–Reading rail works · peeks of sunshine, 13°C
HIDDEN GEM OF THE WEEK
The Huntley & Palmers Biscuit Tin Gallery, Reading Museum
The reason Reading was once called Biscuit Town, in a single room of the museum in the Town Hall on Blagrave Street. About 300 decorative biscuit tins, plus advertising, photographs and oral recordings from the factory's thousands of workers, and some of the earliest surviving film of a British factory in action. Look for the thumb piano made from a biscuit tin, a biscuit supplied to Captain Scott's final Antarctic expedition and a notoriously rude Kate Greenaway-themed tin. Free, and a good wet-Monday hour. The museum is usually open Tuesday to Saturday, so check hours before you go.
A Huntley & Palmers biscuit tin (not from the museum's own collection) © Alf van Beem, CC0 via Wikimedia Commons
WEATHER THIS WEEK
Wet start, then settled. Monday has occasional rain at 16°C and Tuesday brings a morning shower with a brisk south-westerly, then Wednesday to Sunday are dry or mostly dry, though cloudy and cooler. Halloween Saturday is dry but only 13°C (6°C overnight), so wrap up for trick-or-treating. No weather warnings are in force for Reading.
👀 WORTH KNOWING
Rivermead Leisure Centre has won a major industry award. The prize follows the council's £40m investment in leisure facilities across Reading.
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