The time available for me to explore the Town of Reading was limited, as my worktrip was quite packed with formal meetings at the University of Reading and visit to hospital and community establishments. Reading is located on the west of Heathrow Airport for about 26 miles and Greater London for about 42 miles.
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| The Town Hall of Reading with grey and red bricks |
Lets go to the main landmarks of Reading. The first one is Reading Town Hall. The building was built between1786 and 1897. Currently, the town hall is used as Reading Museum and a large concert hall. Actually, the frontage was newly built with grey and red bricks, and terracota ornaments. The new facelift included the clock tower. Sadly however, the building suffered severe air raid in 1943. The latest refurbishement was completed in the year of 2000. On the southside of the town hall, you can see a dominant tower like structure that is the St Laurence’s Church.
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| The Reading Town Hall, a view from Friar Street |
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| The Town Hall Square, with the Town Hall building and St Laurence Church at background |
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| The Reading Town Hall square |
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| St Laurence Church beside Reading Town Hall |
The Town of Reading is a medium sized city which can be easily explored by foots. The heart of the city located at the Broad Street or also know as the street mall. This mall stretched about 0.2 miles with many popular stores such John Lewis, the Broad Street Mall, Boots and Waterstones. One of the newer and modern shopping mall in Reading is the Oracle where two of the entrances are also located at Broad Street. Other than the shops, the achitecture of the buildings should also be explored and admired.
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| The Queen Victoria Street towards the Station Street, decorated with red brick buildings |
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A junction between King Street and Broad Street, the street mall of Reading
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| On the way to the Oracle Shopping Mall, the St Mary church stands on the left of the road |
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| At the Bridge Street, just behind the modern shopping mall, the Oracle |
Forbury Gardens is a public park located closed to the Reading Abbey ruin. In the gardens you can find the Forbury hill, rose garden, a refreshment kiosk, a bandstand and the Miawand Lion. The locals and visitors to the city will not missed to visit the gardens for relaxation, exercise or break for lunch.
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| The Victoria Gate of Forbury Gardens |
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| The Miawand Lion at Forbury Gardens |
The Miawand Lion statue was erected in 1886 to commemorate the loss of 280 plus soldiers in an Afganistan war between 1978 and 1880. The Victoria Gates commemorate Queen Victoria’s Diamond jubilee in 1987.
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| War memorial statue at Abbot's Walk, located from Southern Gate (Victoria Gates) to Reading Abbey ruin. |
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| Reading Abbey ruins at the back of Forbury gardens |
If you enjoy nature similar to myself, why not take a walk beside the Thames River. The river is not that far from Forbury and just follow the path signage.
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| The Reading Bridge, and the signage of walking and cycling path of the Thames river |
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| The Thames river, water gates |
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| The Thames river, the Reading bridge and the Thames path |
The best way to travel to other city from Reading is by train. The train is fast and frequent but can be quite expensive if compared to other parts of the world. It was easy to notice the direction to the Reading train station from Broad Street, look for Queen Victoria Street that is parallel to Broad Street and marked with two rows of red brick buildings. The train station is located about 500 meters for this point.
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| Bicycle stands in front go the Reading train station |
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| The new extension of Reading Train station |
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| Balgrave street, in front of the Reading Station square |
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| The Three Guineas, pub and dining, the main landmark of Reading Train station |
Other than train, bus is also a best and cheaper way to travel and explore. Near the train station square, many bus stands to other cities such as Wallingford and Oxford are located. If you wish to visit Oxford, take the X39 or X40 buses for a 1 hour and 30 minutes travelling time. In my next post, we will explore the City of Oxford.
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