EDITOR’S NOTE
A busy week at The Hexagon carries the diary: soul royalty, stand-up and a full symphony orchestra inside four days. Outside the venue it’s quieter — a thin week for new openings and a planning register full of loft conversions — so we’ve kept this one short. Read it in three minutes, plan your weekend, get on with your day.
⭐ This Week in Reading
FEATURED THIS WEEK
Beverley Knight at The Hexagon, Wed 10 June
Three decades of British soul, live in the round. One of the bigger names to play the venue this year, with Gabriella Cilmi supporting.
BEST FOR KIDS
Free drop-in Rhymetimes run all week across Reading’s libraries — Central, Tilehurst, Southcote, Palmer Park and Whitley. No booking, just turn up.
NEW THIS WEEK
Slim pickings on openings — the headline change is the long-empty former Nationwide on the Friar Street/Station Road corner, now cleared to become a restaurant (no operator or date confirmed yet).
HEADS UP
Overnight engineering on the Reading–Newbury line means amended late-night trains towards Bedwyn, Mon 8–Thu 11 June. If you travel late, check before you leave.
👨👩👧 Things To Do
Kids & Family
Reading Museum runs its regular family workshops on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons (2.30–3.30pm) and Saturday (2–3pm) — and the Pulsometer 125 exhibition, marking 125 years of Reading engineering, is on now. The full-size 1886 Bayeux Tapestry replica is always worth the trip. Library Rhymetimes cover the under-fives all week, free.
Adults / Date Night
Two strong nights out at The Hexagon. Gary Delaney brings his rapid-fire one-liners on Thu 11 June, and on Sat 13 June the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra plays under Ben Glassberg with violinist Clara-Jumi Kang — a proper concert-hall date. Prefer a pint and a singalong? Noasis, the Oasis tribute, lands Fri 12 June, 7.30pm.
Weekend Events
The student-run Two Pence Blue art show is free and open 13–14 June at the University of Reading. Fallen: The Clewer House of Mercy continues at the Royal Berkshire Archives (Tue–Fri, free, to 26 June). For green space, Caversham Court Gardens and the Thames towpath are at their best in June.
Looking ahead: Reading Water Fest returns to Forbury Gardens on Sat 27 June (free), and the Pixies headline Wasing Estate the same evening.
🏙️ What's New in Reading
A genuinely quiet week for retail and hospitality news — we’d rather say so than invent it.
The one to watch: the former Nationwide branch on the corner of Friar Street and Station Road, empty since 2018, has council approval to be converted into a restaurant. No operator, brand or opening date announced yet — file it under “coming, eventually.”
No significant closures or relocations confirmed this week.
🚧 Useful Reading Updates
Trains. Overnight track and drainage work on the Reading–Newbury corridor: late-night services between Newbury and Bedwyn are amended or replaced by bus Monday 8 – Thursday 11 June. Daytime services unaffected, but check if travelling after ~10pm. GWR planned engineering →
Roads & buses. The Bridgewater Close bus stops on Portman Road are suspended Tuesday 9 June for telecoms work. Ringmead (Vandyke/Viking) stops remain out of use to 24 June, and Dark Lane stops to 31 July. The A33 Relief Road continues to see occasional overnight closures for resurfacing.
Council & planning. A quiet, householder-heavy week on the planning register. The most notable item — a public-realm and highway-improvement scheme around Acacia Road and the Museum of English Rural Life entrance — was withdrawn. Conservation roof works at the Town Hall were also withdrawn.
COMING UP THIS WEEK
Mon 8 Jun — Late-night Reading–Newbury rail works begin (to Thu 11)
Tue 9 Jun — Portman Road (Bridgewater Close) bus stops suspended
Wed 10 Jun — Beverley Knight, The Hexagon
Thu 11 Jun — Gary Delaney, The Hexagon
Fri 12 Jun — Noasis (Oasis tribute), 7.30pm
Sat 13 Jun — Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Hexagon; Two Pence Blue opens
Sun 14 Jun — Two Pence Blue art show, final day
HIDDEN GEM OF THE WEEK
The Museum of English Rural Life (MERL), Redlands Road. Free, brilliantly curated and far more charming than its name suggests — wagons, a giant taxidermy bull and one of the country’s best museum gift shops. A perfect rainy-Sunday hour. Closed Mondays.
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Published by Getbrief, a trading name of RJP Group Ltd