EDITOR'S NOTE
The heat peaks one last time on Monday before the weather finally breaks — and with Berkshire now officially in drought, the rain will be welcome. The week builds to a big Saturday: Reading's first Goan outdoor festival takes over Kings Meadow, and Flight Club throws a festival brunch. First, though — this weekend (1–2 August) is Reading Mela's 10th anniversary at Palmer Park, free entry, both days from noon.
FEATURED THIS WEEK
Goan Food & Cultural Festival — Saturday 8 August from 12pm, Kings Meadow
Reading's first Goan outdoor festival: four live bands (godgodo headline), DJs, authentic Goan food stalls, a traditional Kunbi dance performance and a kids' zone with fairground rides and inflatables. £15, children 10 and under free. Book at whatsonreading.com →
BEST FOR KIDS
Summer Holidays at The MERL — the Museum of English Rural Life's holiday programme runs to 1 September on Redlands Road. Free, brilliantly run family activities; closed Mondays. Pairs nicely with a Dino Trail detour on the way home.
NEW THIS WEEK
Haute Dolci is coming to The Oracle. The luxury dessert restaurant brand — marble interiors, indulgent sundaes and its viral Matilda cake — is taking a unit at The Riverside. No opening date yet, but another big name signing for the waterfront.
HEADS UP
Berkshire is officially in drought. The Environment Agency made the declaration on Wednesday after three heatwaves and months of low rainfall. Thames Water's hosepipe ban stays in force with no end date — watering cans are fine, hoses and sprinklers are not.
👨👩👧 Things To Do
Kids & Family
Summer Holidays at The MERL — free drop-in family activities at the Museum of English Rural Life, Redlands Road, running to 1 September. See Best for Kids above.
Reading Dino Trail continues — the 19 brick dinosaurs are in their final few weeks, free, running to 23 August. Trail maps from The Oracle, Broad Street Mall and Central Library.
Summer Crafts at Reading Libraries — free drop-in craft sessions at branches across the borough, running to 2 September. Check your local branch for days and times.
Summer of Play, Basildon Park — free family games and activities in the National Trust grounds, seven days a week to 30 August (normal admission applies).
Adults · Date Night
Flight Club Festival Brunch — Saturday 8 & Sunday 9 August, one weekend only. Two hours of social darts, unlimited pizza, a bottle of prosecco or four beers each, and a live DJ playing festival sets. Book at flightclubdarts.com →
Shear Madness, Mill at Sonning — the interactive comedy whodunnit is into its final fortnight, closing 15 August. Dinner and show at the riverside theatre. Book at millatsonning.com →
Weekend Events
Sat 8 Aug: Goan Food & Cultural Festival, Kings Meadow, from 12pm — see Featured above.
Sat 8 – Sun 9 Aug: Flight Club Festival Brunch, both days, 12pm & 2:30pm sittings.
Sun 9 Aug: Pick of the week for weather — dry, sunny and 26°C. One for the river: boat trips run from Caversham Promenade all weekend.
Looking ahead: Reading FC kick off the new League One season at home to Luton on Saturday 15 August, 12:30pm — live on Sky. The Dino Trail wraps up on 23 August.
🏙️ What's New in Reading
Haute Dolci is taking a unit at The Riverside, The Oracle. The high-end dessert chain — founded as the luxury evolution of Heavenly Desserts — confirmed a Reading opening this week. Expect late-night waffles, sundaes and the Instagram crowd. No date yet.
Serviced apartments approved for 154 Friar Street. The upper floors of the listed town-centre building will be converted to short-stay serviced accommodation, signed off this week — another empty-upper-floors building coming back into use. Nearby, consent also came through to turn the offices behind 55 Baker Street into two homes.
Artwork is coming to the old Central Library. With books and services moved to the new Civic Centre library, the council has approved hoardings around the empty building to keep intruders out — and they'll carry public artwork rather than bare boards while its future is decided.
🚧 Useful Reading Updates
Rail — the diversion is back for one weekend. The Swindon–Bristol Parkway engineering work that ended on 2 August returns for the weekend of 8–9 August, so London–South Wales trains divert the long way round again — expect around 25 minutes extra and busier platforms at Reading. Normal service resumes Monday 10 August. Check gwr.com before travelling →
Buses — the Pink 22 has been saved. A follow-up to the network changes: Reading Borough Council has stepped in with a one-off grant to buy a new electric bus, keeping the Caversham Heights–town centre route running after all. Both the council and Reading Buses are blunt about the condition: use it or lose it — passenger numbers are down 50% since the pandemic.
Caversham Court Gardens is getting a restoration. Repair and conservation works to the Grade II-listed gazebo, causeway, stable block wall and gates were approved this week, part of a wider improvement programme for the riverside gardens.
Planning — a quiet, householder week. Seventy-three applications moved last week, but almost all were extensions, lofts and tree works. The notables: the 154 Friar Street serviced-apartment conversion and 55 Baker Street office-to-homes scheme (above), a takeaway change of use approved at 8A High Street, and — newly validated — a bid to replace a disused salvage yard at 85 Pell Street with five homes, plus a house-to-care-home conversion proposed at 7 Eastern Avenue.
COMING UP THIS WEEK
Mon 3 Aug: Hottest day of the week, around 29°C — and normal rail routing resumes after the four-week diversion
Tue 4 Aug: The weather breaks — rain arriving through the afternoon
Fri 7 Aug: Wettest day — rain and a possible thunderstorm
Sat 8 Aug: Goan Food & Cultural Festival, Kings Meadow, 12pm · Flight Club Festival Brunch · rail diversion returns for the weekend
Sun 9 Aug: Best day of the week — sunny, 26°C
HIDDEN GEM OF THE WEEK
View Island, Caversham Lock
A small wooded island at the tail of Caversham Weir, reached over the Horseshoe Bridge behind Reading Bridge — one of the quietest places within ten minutes' walk of the station. Once a boatyard, it was restored as a nature reserve with carved wooden sculptures, wild play areas and riverside clearings that feel a world away from town. Free, always open, and at its best on a warm evening.
Caversham Lock, Weir and View Island © thamesvalleyguide.co.uk
WEATHER THIS WEEK
One last very warm day on Monday — around 29°C with high UV — before rain moves in Tuesday afternoon and the humidity finally drops. Midweek is cooler and cloudier at 23–24°C, with the wettest spell on Friday including a possible thunderstorm. The weekend improves just in time: Saturday is a mix of sun and cloud for the Goan Festival, and Sunday is the pick of the week — sunny and 26°C.
👀 WORTH KNOWING
Check the kids' squishy toys. Reading Trading Standards seized more than 320 potentially unsafe "squishy" sensory toys from town shops this month — imitation products with strong chemical odours and no UKCA/CE safety markings. If there's no UK importer or safety mark on the packaging, don't buy it.
Your branch library just got an upgrade. Nearly £500,000 of Arts Council England funding has gone into Reading's libraries — all six branch libraries now have new computers, laptops, tablets and faster wi-fi, on top of the new Central Library that opened in June.
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Published by Getbrief, a trading name of RJP Group Ltd