London-based developer Thackeray has revealed new plans for a Jury’s Inn on the site of Revolucion de Cuba, formerly occupied by HMV for those with long enough memories. The hotel chain had been in line to anchor a redevelopment of the old Bristol & West Arcade opposite the town hall, but that scheme fell through and the site sold on. The online consultation event, organised by Reading Civic Society, revealed further details…
Continue reading “Jury’s Inn Plan Swaps Sites”Author: Reading-On-Thames
Bowl Central, Caversham Road
A new tenant has been announced for the former Dawson’s Music shop on Caversham Road. Subject to licensing and planning, “Bowl Central” would be the third venture for the south-coast operator and would feature “Pins & Prizes” – aka bowling and arcade games.
Continue reading “Bowl Central, Caversham Road”Blue Collar Opening Countdown… Interview
Saturday 12th March brings the long-awaiting opening for Blue Collar Corner on Hosier Street. Owner Glen Dinning kindly took a few minutes to update us on the preparations…
Continue reading “Blue Collar Opening Countdown… Interview”Cosmo Corner – Future Friar Street
New proposals have emerged for a 103-home build-to-rent scheme adjacent to the Station Hill development on Friar Street. The developer, Shaviram Group, held an online consultation and has published materials online where you can provide your feedback. Here’s what I picked up on this latest residential plan for Reading town centre.
Continue reading “Cosmo Corner – Future Friar Street”A closer look at Kings Meadow View
Another vast new residential regeneration project has been unveiled this week. This time it’s Forbury Retail Park in the spotlight. As always, I went along to the public consultation to see what’s going on. I’ll try to cover the facts, but I can’t help but express more than one central reservation about these new plans.
Continue reading “A closer look at Kings Meadow View”What’s new for 2022…
Houses, hotels, a jail, a station, an electric works… as we pass Go for another lap round the board, here’s a roundup of where we are with the main projects in Reading, and who’s winning.
Continue reading “What’s new for 2022…”City Status – Convincing the Naysayers

I’ve followed the topic of city status for a while. So long, in fact, that I remember first learning that we’d lost out to Wolverhampton in 2000 by seeing the headline on an Evening Post seller’s newsstand on Broad Street. I duly placed my 20 pence into an aged ink-stained hand and read all about it. More memorable was 2012 when BBC Berkshire announced we’d won and played Starship’s We Built This City, before having to rapidly clarify that we’d actually lost to Chelmsford in a comedic episode of local radio. If anyone has the clip do share it! I was obviously disappointed enough to remember these moments, but am I in a minority favouring the accolade? Well, that depends how you count. Every social media post I’ve seen on the topic, such as the one below, yields the same outcome – a large flurry of casual positivity in the form of likes and up votes, coupled with a handful of almost entirely negative written comments. Surveys have been favourable, with the exception of one local commentator who asked only whether the bid had “strong support” and narrowly flipped the outcome. It seems Reading overwhelmingly supports City Status to a weak extent. Most of the people minded to speak out are those minority naysayers, and they have a collection of arguments. So let’s take a look at them and see if we can convince the doubters to come onboard…
Continue reading “City Status – Convincing the Naysayers”Blue Collar Permanent Venue! …Interview
Yesterday, the council announced a deal for Blue Collar to take over the historic Hosier St market, along with plans to transform an adjacent yard into a permanent food and drink venue. An array of recent positive news gives us confidence the town centre is on the right path to reshape itself in the face of current challenges. I’m particularly excited by this one – but let’s save my further thoughts for the end. First, here’s the full lowdown from Glen Dinning, owner of Blue Collar, who has kindly talked us through the plans.
Continue reading “Blue Collar Permanent Venue! …Interview”A Green Signal for Station Hill
Last week, final approval was given to minor amendments to the Friar’s Walk residential element of the Station Hill proposals. This follows another consent a couple of months ago for an office building next to Thames Tower and a link bridge between the two. I approached the developer’s PR company and managed to get a statement confirming that, finally, construction work is imminent.
Continue reading “A Green Signal for Station Hill”Jury’s Out for ex-Arcade Hotel Plan
New plans have been lodged for a hotel to replace the former Bristol & West arcade opposite Reading town hall. This is something of a saga site, with a troubled recent history of abandoned construction and a multitude of stalled proposals that I’ve covered on these pages before. The latest plans constitute only minor amendments to the physical appearance of the most recently approved scheme. However, developers now propose a hotel rather than an office/retail hybrid.
Continue reading “Jury’s Out for ex-Arcade Hotel Plan”