What do you know about Reading?

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Moonlight

New Member
I don't mean the activity but the town in the UK :biggrin:

I recently got offered my first post-uni job in Winnersh (just outside of Reading) and really want to find out more about the town. I'm hoping the infinite source of knowledge of CycleChat might be able to help me out again!

Is it a good place to cycle?

Could you recommend a local Cycle Club?

Where is a good place to make new friends?

Which area is good to live in?

I know a fair bit already, and I've heard it's packed full of young professionals, but a cyclist always given an honest account.

Thank you!
Tom
 

slowmotion

Quite dreadful
Location
lost somewhere
Avoid.
 
On the contrary, good cyle club with groups for all abilities, plus a track with weekly training sessions.

The roads around are however a bit full of cars, but there's lots of good off roading.
 

slowmotion

Quite dreadful
Location
lost somewhere
I apologise. My jaundiced view was coloured by daily visits ten years ago for a nightmare contract. I'm not going back in a hurry. That stupid wind turbine on the M4 says it all...
 
The town itself isn't much, if I recall the city center gets over run by lager louts looking for a fight on the weekend.
Lived there for about 3 years, found the place handy for connections to London,Oxford, Wales and the southwest.
The Hobgoblin used to serve some great beers, though we used to spend a lot of time in the Retreat a small back street bar.
Riding wise not bad at all, some great road rides north of the Thames heading into Oxfordshire and some real gems of pubs to be found out in the county. Also some half decent mountain biking to be found out towards Pangbourne.
 

Mr Haematocrit

msg me on kik for android
Can't say its a place which I have fond memorys off, I never felt comfortable in the town centre late evenings expecially at weekends when it becomes a violent drunken warzone.
All the decent ride routes, I would have thought would head out of reading rather than in the local area itself.
 

accountantpete

Brexiteer
I worked in Reading for a year about 15 years ago - living outside the town was preferable but the drive in was a nightmare.

Recommend living outside near a station to optimise your experience.
 

Norm

Guest
Winnersh is not really Reading, it's a way out of town and the beyond the University, it's a pleasant if slightly manufactured area, not the traditional Berkshire market town but it does borders on some glorious riding in every direction except north west, such as the rural areas around Hurst, Twyford, Binfield and Arborfield and having more in common, IMO, with Wokingham and Woodley than Reading.

Winnersh does also have the huge benefit of the fabulous transport links that Reading can offer too. Reading Station is a hub on FGW routes from Paddington to Bristol, South Wales and the West Country, Virgin trains run through Reading from Southampton and Bournemouth to Birmingham and SWT trains run from Reading through Winnersh to Bracknell, Staines and Waterloo. The M4, only about 1000m from Winnersh's main business park along the A329(M), is another obvious and useful link.

Reading itself has it's dodgy areas, but what county town doesn't? The redeveloped area down by the canal is a very pleasant place to spend a sunny afternoon, the Kennet & Avon will take a cyclist off-road all the way to Bath and Bristol, there is a lot of activity in town with several significant shopping areas in the town centre as well as the retail parks further out.

Reading suffers a little from all the excellent transport links, though, there isn't the impetus for a huge music or cultural scene in a town which is only 20 minutes from Paddington but the Reading Festival is something which most will know about.

However, Reading is at the centre of the UK's silicon valley, with a significant presence of IT-linked businesses (Microsoft is the most obvious but Oracle, Cisco and Verizon are also based there) as well as the smaller companies which support them on Green Park, Sutton Park etc.

A great place, overall, I'd recommend it to anyone and being based in Winnersh gives you the option of living within a short cycle commute in Wokingham, Woodley, Earley or Shinfield or living along the rail lines in Bracknell, Ascot, Egham or Staines.
 
Reading's ok - no better or worse than any other 'major' provincial town. Having said that, I grew up there in the 70s/80s and it's now a very different place.

Cycle clubs - Reading CC is the obvious choice - a big club which seems to cater for all tastes. Other local clubs are GS Henley, Maidenhead & Dist CC, Thames Velo - lots to choose from depending on which side of Reading you end up.
 

Norm

Guest
Ooo... I forgot to mention Reading FC and London Irish for lovers of ball games, and hopefully Reading Racers will have a new home shortly and Ikea has got approval for a Reading store. Which is a good thing as it's right across the other side of town from you in Tilehurst. :laugh:

Also, Tom, you ask about good places to live. Whereabouts do you live at the moment and are you looking to move somewhere similar or somewhere completely different?
 

Yellow Fang

Legendary Member
Location
Reading
I've lived in Reading for about eighteen years now (blimey!). It's not too bad cycling around. The biggest problem is the one way system, so I find it tricky getting west to east fast (legally). There's Winnersh and Winnersh Triangle. Winnersh Triangle is a high tech industrial estate, while Winnersh is part of the built up area the other side of the M4 along the Wokingham Road. All that part of town in controlled by Wokingham Borough Council. The countryside around Reading is pretty. There are the Chilterns to the north, quite hilly and very pretty. The countryside to the west is real pretty too. It's not quite so pretty to the south, but it's flatter. Reading Cycling Club is the main cycling club, but there is also the Reading branch of CTC. I used to be a member of Thames Valley Triathletes who used to hold training rides on Saturday mornings. For mountain biking, there is Berks on Bikes or it might be Blokes on Bikes. I think there's a mountain bike club based in Checkendon, which is a village about ten miles out. I used to go mountain biking with my workmates around Brams Hill quite a bit. I don't know the prices, but I suspect somewhere around Winnersh or Woodley would be the cheapest place to live. Lower Earley is a huge suburb built in the 60s, mainly family houses. When you get closer to the town centre, there are a lot of older terraced buildings, and also a lot of old town houses converted into flats. Whitley has a reputation for being rough, and parts of Tilehurst are supposed to be a bit rough too. It does get a bit rowdy in the town centre on Friday and Saturday night, but it didn't bother me. Most the heavy drinking occurs along bars along one or two streets near the central railway station.
 

007fair

Senior Member
Location
Glasgow Brr ..
I lived in Caversham for 5 years, which is north of the Thames and used to be part of oxfordshire. Very pleasant countryside for walking and cycling and a great place to live if you can afford/find somewhere off the main roads. And this is Readings biggest issue - traffic. Unbelievably busy at times. I used to work at the silicon park for Oracle and it was a nightmare 4 mile/(45 minutes sometimes) drive - much better to cycle along the canal.

We used to go for a drink every Friday night and never saw trouble except when football was involved. I really enjoyed those nights out (distinct memories of lots or girls wearing little! ) and if you are young then I imagine you could too ... Some nice quieter pubs outside the town centre. Good place to shop too and excellent links into London. I think it is a good place and has opportunities if you can handle the busy-ness and traffic.
 
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