EDITOR'S NOTE
Diwali comes to Broad Street on Saturday, the lantern parade rescheduled from last month's storm, with a free evening of giant illuminated puppets, music and dance. Thursday is Bonfire Night, and the nearest big displays are in Sonning on Friday and Pangbourne and Wokingham on Saturday. Weather is mostly dry and cloudy at 11-13°C, turning brighter and colder by Thursday, with rain returning on Sunday afternoon. On the planning register, two big names turn up: nine more flats proposed at Abbey Wharf on Kings Road and a revised scheme for the 38 homes at Soane Point on Market Place. On Sunday there are replacement buses between Reading and Basingstoke.
FEATURED THIS WEEK
Diwali Light It Up! on Broad Street
Saturday 7 November, free. Community stage performances in Town Hall Square from 5pm, then parade participants gather beside the M&S Foodhall at 6pm and the Grand Lantern Parade sets off at 6.15pm, reaching Halifax around 7pm. Expect puppets up to 19 feet tall, including Sita and Rama, the Green Man, an African Queen and a peacock. The event was postponed from 24 October because of Storm Austen. Forecast for Saturday: clouds and sun, dry, 11°C.
BEST FOR KIDS
Diwali Light It Up! is free and family-friendly, with lanterns, giant puppets and live music on Broad Street on Saturday evening. Midweek, Rhymetime sessions run in Reading libraries on Tuesday and Thursday, and on Friday there is Family Fun, Food & Fireworks at The Great House in Sonning from 5.30pm (£12 adults, £8 children). Sonning fireworks tickets →
NEW THIS WEEK
Reading Rising, a two-day gig weekend, runs at The Facebar on Chatham Street on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 November, with InMe, LASTELLE, Cabin Boy Jumped Ship and more. Tickets from £45 on Skiddle.
HEADS UP
On Sunday 8 November, track renewals and maintenance affect all trains for Basingstoke, with replacement road transport between Reading and Basingstoke. GWR lists no other planned works affecting Reading from Monday to Saturday. GWR planned engineering →
👨👩👧 Things To Do
Kids & Family
Diwali Light It Up!, Broad Street, Saturday 7 November, from 5pm. Free. Giant illuminated puppets, lanterns, live music and dance. Grand Lantern Parade sets off at 6.15pm.
Family Fun, Food & Fireworks, The Great House, Sonning, Friday 6 November, 5.30pm. £12 adult, £8 child. Tickets →
Pumpkin Trail with Silly Squirrel!, Reading Museum. A self-guided family trail during museum opening hours; started on 10 October, so check the museum for the end date.
Rhymetime, Reading libraries, Tuesday and Thursday. Free drop-in baby and toddler sessions: Central Library Tuesday and Thursday 10.15am and 11.15am; Palmer Park Tuesday and Thursday 10.30am; Whitley Thursday 11am; Southcote Thursday 9.45am.
Adults · Date Night
Country Roads, Hexagon, Tuesday 3 November, 7.30pm. Tickets →
Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, Hexagon, Thursday 5 November, 7.30pm. Tickets →
Sam Campbell: Kid Giblet, Hexagon, Friday 6 November, 7.30pm. Comedy. Tickets →
London Symphonic Rock Orchestra, Hexagon, Saturday 7 November, 7.30pm. Tickets →
Swiftogeddon: 20 years of Taylor special, Sub89, Saturday 7 November. Tickets →
Reading Rising, The Facebar, Chatham Street, Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 November. Two days of live bands; tickets from £45 on Skiddle.
Agatha Christie tribute exhibition, Royal Berkshire Archives, Coley Avenue, until 18 December. Just turn up.
Jelly: Making Space for Art, Reading Museum, until 20 February 2027. Free entry.
Weekend Events
Fri 6 Nov: Sam Campbell at the Hexagon, 7.30pm. Family fireworks at The Great House, Sonning, 5.30pm. Mostly sunny, 11°C.
Sat 7 Nov: Diwali Light It Up!, Broad Street, from 5pm. London Symphonic Rock Orchestra, Hexagon, 7.30pm. Swiftogeddon at Sub89. Reading Rising at The Facebar. Fireworks further out at Pangbourne (gates 5.30pm, £10 adult and child) and Wokingham's Cantley Park (gates 5.30pm, £10, under-8s £1). Clouds and sun, 11°C.
Sun 8 Nov: Reading Rising day two. Replacement road transport between Reading and Basingstoke. Cloudy with afternoon rain, 12°C.
Looking ahead: Chop Suey and Slip-NOT: Forever Nu at Sub89 on Thursday 12 November. The Reading Town Centre 2040 consultation is open now.
🏙️ What's New in Reading
A quiet week for big openings and closures. Nothing significant and verifiably recent turned up in council, retail or restaurant news this week. We would rather say so than pad it.
🚧 Useful Reading Updates
Roads - nothing flagged, but plan for Saturday evening. No significant roadworks were found for Reading this week. Broad Street will be busy from 5pm on Saturday for Diwali Light It Up!, with the lantern parade setting off at 6.15pm.
Rail - Sunday replacement buses to Basingstoke. On Sunday 8 November, track renewals and maintenance affect all trains for Basingstoke, with replacement road transport between Reading and Basingstoke; the work also hits CrossCountry and South Western Railway services. GWR lists nothing else at Reading from Monday to Saturday. GWR planned engineering →
Council - a Thames Valley mayor and new vape rules. On 28 October the government put the Thames Valley on its programme for a mayoral strategic authority, with a proposed £9.1m of growth funding while it is set up. Councils are due to approve a proposal for consultation in December, with mayoral elections possible in 2028; day-to-day services such as bins, schools and social care stay with the councils. Separately, new Trading Standards powers on vapes took effect on Thursday: buying vapes for under-18s becomes illegal, vending machine sales are banned and officers can issue fixed penalties. The Reading Town Centre 2040 consultation is still open.
Planning - two town-centre schemes to watch. Validated: a prior-approval application to convert the fourth floor of Abbey Wharf, 57-75 Kings Road, from offices into nine more flats, taking the building to 87 units with an earlier approval. Also validated: a revised layout, elevations and phasing for the 38-home conversion at Soane Point, 3-10 Market Place, plus a separate application for roof plant, amenity space and landscaping there. Decided: a six-flat conversion at Russell Hall on Oxford Road was withdrawn, and a plan to turn the rear of 50 Mount Pleasant into two flats was refused. The rest is householder extensions, conditions and tree works.
COMING UP THIS WEEK
Mon 2 Nov: New week · Pumpkin Trail continues at Reading Museum · rather cloudy, 12°C
Tue 3 Nov: Country Roads, Hexagon, 7.30pm · Rhymetime in libraries · cloudy then sunny, 13°C
Wed 4 Nov: Clouds and sun with a shower possible, 13°C
Thu 5 Nov: Bonfire Night · Jools Holland, Hexagon, 7.30pm · Rhymetime and Battle Library coffee morning · partly sunny, 12°C
Fri 6 Nov: Sam Campbell, Hexagon, 7.30pm · Family Fun, Food & Fireworks, Sonning, 5.30pm · mostly sunny, 11°C
Sat 7 Nov: Diwali Light It Up!, Broad Street, from 5pm · London Symphonic Rock Orchestra, Hexagon, 7.30pm · Swiftogeddon, Sub89 · Reading Rising, The Facebar · clouds and sun, 11°C
Sun 8 Nov: Reading Rising day two · Reading-Basingstoke replacement transport · cloudy, afternoon rain, 12°C
HIDDEN GEM OF THE WEEK
Kennet Mouth, King's Meadow
The spot where the River Kennet slips into the Thames, crossed by the curved Horseshoe Bridge that carries the Thames Path over it, with the Great Western main line bridge behind. Walk there along the towpath from Reading Bridge across King's Meadow; the Coal Woodland begins at the foot of the Horseshoe Bridge and a towpath runs between the trees and the river. Free, always open and good for a picnic spot or a half-hour on a dry Friday. King's Meadow is prone to winter flooding, so expect mud after rain.
Kennet Mouth © Rod Allday, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
WEATHER THIS WEEK
Mostly dry and cloudy, then brighter and colder. Monday and Tuesday are cloudy at 12-13°C, Wednesday could bring a shower, and Thursday to Saturday are partly to mostly sunny at 11-12°C with 4-5°C nights, so wrap up for Bonfire Night and Friday's fireworks. Saturday's Diwali parade looks dry, with clouds and sun at 11°C. Sunday turns cloudy with rain in the afternoon, and the following week starts wet.
👀 WORTH KNOWING
Reading's new Central Library has had its 100,000th visitor. Visitor numbers are up 79% since the move to the Civic Centre, with about 2,700 new members signed up.
Reading FC's FA Cup tie is live on TNT Sports. The first-round trip to Peterborough kicks off at 8pm on Saturday 7 November, and Reading midfielder Charlie Savage could face his dad Robbie, Peterborough's manager.
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