EDITOR'S NOTE
A mild, showery start to October - a warm, breezy 25°C on Tuesday, then showers on Wednesday and a cooler, brighter end to the week. Sunday is the big one: Reading Buses turns 125 and fills Broad Street with buses from every decade, with free vintage rides from St Mary's Butts. On Saturday every library in town throws open its doors for Fun Palace, and Double-Barrelled's Dark Beer Weekend runs Thursday to Sunday. Comedy is stacked: Jonathan Pie, Al Murray and Mark Watson all play town, and Nigel Havers talks on Thursday. Dracula is still on at Reading Rep. On the register, a quiet week - a new filling station and EV hub is the headline. And the hosepipe ban isn't going anywhere.
FEATURED THIS WEEK
125 Years of Reading Buses - Broad Street, Sunday 4 October, 10am–4pm
Reading Buses marks its 125th year by lining Broad Street with buses from the 1940s to the 2020s - including a trolleybus - running from West Street down to one of its newest electric buses, decked out for the anniversary, near the Oracle. Vintage buses run free trips from St Mary's Butts along historic routes, with music from each decade and anniversary memorabilia on sale. Free, just turn up.
BEST FOR KIDS
Reading Libraries' Fun Palace is on Saturday 3 October: free, drop-in activities for all ages at libraries across the borough, part of the national Fun Palaces movement. No booking. Older kids with an interest in dance: Central Library also hosts a free talk on the hidden history of Black British ballet that morning, 11am–12.30pm.
NEW THIS WEEK
A filling station and EV hub is planned for Rose Kiln Lane. An application validated this week would turn land at the Rose Kiln Service Station into a petrol station with six electric vehicle charging bays, a canopy and a substation. It's the most notable new scheme on an otherwise quiet planning register.
HEADS UP
The hosepipe ban has been extended into autumn. Thames Water says recent rain hasn't been enough to recover rivers, reservoirs and groundwater after the hottest summer on record - August rainfall in the Thames catchment was 43% of normal - and weeks of sustained rain will be needed before it can lift the ban, in place since July. This week's showers won't do it.
👨👩👧 Things To Do
Kids & Family
Reading Libraries Fun Palace, all libraries, Saturday 3 October. Free, drop in, all ages.
125 Years of Reading Buses, Broad Street, Sunday 4 October, 10am–4pm. Free vintage bus rides from St Mary's Butts. The easiest win of the weekend for bus-obsessed kids.
Coley & Katesgrove History Walk, Thursday 1 October, 10.30am. A free guided walk with local historian Terry Dixon and Nature Nurture, from Coley Place past the area's community murals to the Holy Brook Nook, with refreshments at the end. Places limited - booking essential. Book →
Jelly: Making Space for Art, Reading Museum. Still on and still free, in the Welcome Gallery until February.
Adults · Date Night
Jonathan Pie, Hexagon, Wednesday 30 September, 7.30pm. The furious fictional newsman, live. Tickets →
Nigel Havers: Talking B*ll*cks, Hexagon, Thursday 1 October, 7.30pm. An evening of stories from the actor. Tickets →
Dark Beer Weekend, Double-Barrelled Brewery, Thursday 1 – Sunday 4 October. Stouts and porters from favourite craft breweries, flight boards and a new Double-Barrelled release. Book a table. Book →
Al Murray: All You Need Is Guv, Hexagon, Friday 2 October, 7.30pm. The Pub Landlord. Tickets →
Mark Watson: Before It Overtakes Us, Concert Hall, Saturday 3 October, 7.30pm. Tickets →
Dracula, Reading Rep, to Saturday 10 October. Blackeyed Theatre's gothic hit is into its second week. Tickets →
Weekend Events
Fri 2 Oct: Al Murray at the Hexagon. Medieval Reading guided walkabout. Dark Beer Weekend at Double-Barrelled. Mostly cloudy, 21°C.
Sat 3 Oct: Fun Palace at libraries across town. Black British ballet talk, Central Library, 11am. Mark Watson at the Concert Hall; Bye Bye Baby at the Hexagon; Reading Dub Club's Black History Month special at The Butler. A morning shower, then partly sunny, 20°C.
Sun 4 Oct: Reading Buses 125th, Broad Street, 10am–4pm. Every Little Thing Festival at the Penta Hotel. NT Live's The Misanthrope at the Hexagon, 7pm. Some afternoon rain, 20°C.
Looking ahead: Winnie-the-Pooh's 100th storytimes start at Central Library on Friday 9 October; SOKA Fest takes over eight town-centre venues on Saturday 10 October; the first Berkshire Biodiversity & Regenerative Food Festival is in Forbury Gardens on Sunday 11 October; and rail work affects Gatwick and West Country trains from 10 October.
🏙️ What's New in Reading
A quiet week for openings. No major new shops or restaurants confirmed in the town centre this week - so here's what moved on the register instead.
A pizza takeaway for Oxford Road. Planners have approved turning part of the old Pound Plus at 266–268 Oxford Road - now the pharmacy and post office - into a pizza takeaway, open 11am to 10pm daily.
The Reading Cold Store gets its rebuild. Approval has been given for partial demolition, a side extension, a new frontage and relocated vehicle access at the former cold store on Deacon Way, Tilehurst.
Crosfields is opening a sixth form. The independent school on Shinfield Road will take pupils to 18 from September 2027, in a reworked building on its campus - its biggest change in nearly 70 years.
🚧 Useful Reading Updates
Roads - Bennet Road, still. The Bennet Road junction with the A33 has been closed for nearly a year while Thames Water repairs a major sewer collapse. The latest notice runs the closure to Saturday 10 October - the third extension since the summer. The exit onto the A33 southbound remains open. Looking ahead, the Earley station footbridge over the A329(M) closes from mid-October to April for refurbishment, with Earley station car park closed as a site compound.
Rail - a clear week locally. No major planned engineering on Reading's own lines this week. Sunday 4 October is busy on Broad Street for the bus anniversary, so expect crowds in the town centre. The next big rail disruption is from Saturday 10 October: Gatwick trains via Guildford terminate at Ash that weekend, and West Country trains divert from 10 to 16 October. GWR planned engineering →
Council - money, boundaries and older residents. The council is forecasting a £5.3m overspend for the year after just three months, driven by home-to-school transport, children's care and homelessness costs. A pause in the government's local government reorganisation has put the idea of a 'Greater Reading' - bringing Tilehurst and Calcot inside the borough - back in play. And Older Persons' Day is on Thursday 1 October in Broad Street Mall, 9.30am–2pm: advice, services, entertainment and classes, free for everyone.
Planning - a quiet week. Decided: the Reading Cold Store rebuild on Deacon Way approved; a retrospective childcare nursery in a Whitley Wood Road garden refused; dormer changes to the new homes on the old Pell Street salvage yard refused. Validated: the Rose Kiln Lane filling station and EV hub; an office infill under Abbey Gardens on Abbey Street; a two-bed bungalow at 8 Water Road; and two HMOs (Hamilton Road and Wantage Road) returning to family homes or flats. The rest is householder extensions and tree works.
COMING UP THIS WEEK
Mon 28 Sep: Racing the Southern Ocean, Reading u3a talk · cloudy, 19°C
Tue 29 Sep: London's Last Wilderness screenings at the Biscuit Factory (to Sun) · breezy and warm, 25°C, a passing shower
Wed 30 Sep: Jonathan Pie, Hexagon, 7.30pm · showers, 23°C
Thu 1 Oct: Older Persons' Day, Broad Street Mall, 9.30am–2pm · Coley & Katesgrove History Walk, 10.30am · Nigel Havers, Hexagon, 7.30pm · Mark Steel, South Street (sold out) · Dark Beer Weekend begins · bright spells, 21°C
Fri 2 Oct: Al Murray, Hexagon, 7.30pm · mostly cloudy, 21°C
Sat 3 Oct: Fun Palace, all libraries · Black British ballet talk, Central Library, 11am · Mark Watson, Concert Hall, 7.30pm · morning shower, 20°C
Sun 4 Oct: Reading Buses 125th, Broad Street, 10am–4pm · NT Live: The Misanthrope, Hexagon, 7pm · afternoon rain, 20°C
HIDDEN GEM OF THE WEEK
The Simeon Monument, Market Place
The tall stone obelisk at the top of Market Place that thousands walk past every day - and it's by Sir John Soane, the architect of the Bank of England, who went to school in Reading. In 1804 Edward Simeon, a Reading-born City merchant and Bank of England director, offered to pay for something to light the square and ease its traffic; Soane gave him a three-sided, fluted Portland stone obelisk about 25 feet high, topped with a pineapple, and originally carrying the lamps. The plaque says it was "erected and lighted for ever" as a mark of affection to his native town. It's Grade II* listed, free, always open, and takes two minutes - stand back by the Market Place corner and look up at the carving. Pair it with a peek into St Laurence's next door.
The Simeon Monument © Andrew Smith, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Geograph / Wikimedia Commons
WEATHER THIS WEEK
Changeable. Monday is cloudy and 19°C, then a breezy, unseasonably warm 25°C on Tuesday with a passing shower, and a showery Wednesday at 23°C. Thursday and Friday are drier and brighter at 21°C, with nights dropping to 8°C. The weekend brings a morning shower on Saturday and some afternoon rain on Sunday - go early for the bus anniversary on Broad Street.
👀 WORTH KNOWING
Norman the elephant is 175. The Asian elephant whose skeleton anchors the university's Cole Museum of Zoology toured Britain with a travelling menagerie in the 1850s and 1860s - local papers said he could run races and play the piano - and staff marked his 175th birthday on Tuesday.
The Old Cemetery could go on the 'at risk' list. Councillors were told Historic England is considering adding Reading Old Cemetery, resting place of the Suttons, Simonds and Reading's first woman mayor, to its heritage-at-risk register over the state of its listed buildings and monuments.
Demon shrimp have reached the Holy Brook. Volunteer water testers from Action for the River Kennet found the invasive species - bigger and more aggressive than native shrimp, with a stripey back - near Berkeley Avenue in Coley. The charity is asking anyone who spots one to report it.
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