Is Reading a nice place to live?

[ZsaZsahurrah]

If you live in Reading or know the area, would you recommend it as a place to live for a young couple who would eventually be looking to start a family in the more distant future?

I don't agree it lacks culture. There's the Hexagon theatre, the main museum (which includes a Victorian reproductionof the Bayeux tapestry and has had some great temporary exhibitions, as well as a lot of history about Reading, the Abbey, Silchester Roman town, Huntley & Palmers biscuits,) Blake's Lock museum, the Museum of English rural life, the University, plus you can be at Paddington in 25 minutes, so it's quite feasible to go into London for an evening out. (In normal times, anyway.) Lots of other places not far away, either.

There are some good schools, but they can be very competitive to get into. There are good areas, and also dodgier areas. Think about where you want to go - if you will be commuting into London daily, you probably don't want a very long journey to the station, and traffic can be a challenge on some routes, including crossing the river as there are limited alternatives routes for that. There are various business parks around and if you work at one of those, you might not want to work right across the other side of town.

I agree at other posters. Look just outside Reading at the little villages surrounding, there are some great areas. We are in a little village between Tadley and Theale and its great. We are in equal distance to Basingstoke, Reading and Newbury so 3 towns. There are lots of lovely places to visit, including lots of historical places.
Admittedly Knife crime has increased in the central Reading area but I honestly think a lot of this is due to the lockdown. I have grown up in Reading and would never describe it as dangerous. Saying that I would not like to bring a child up in central Reading but I wouldn't have an issues with 90% of the surrounding areas. Reading Town center is having a lot of refurbishment at the moment, so the areas that did look unpleasant are being improved and the plans look really nice.
There will always be nice and not so nice parts of any town and there will always be drugs in any area you go to.
Good luck

Some signs of life

https://ediblereading.com

@FinallyHere

Some signs of life

[[https://ediblereading.com]]

This is when Mr ER gets very confused again at the influx of people to his blog from Mumsnet

I've lived in Reading for 18 years - there is a huge amount going on if you bother to look for it (the links above are excellent) - so much more than in other sleepier generic Berkshire towns. Reading's history goes back to the 12th Century and it is becoming much better in celebrating it. I think its good for families as (pre-Covid obvs) there are lots of places to go. Knife crime (apart from the incident last summer) is very much contained within certain circles and doesn't impact normal families tbh. There's a bunch of homegrown festivals, and arts stuff happening. Where you choose to live is mostly dependent on your need to commute to London or elsewhere, and your budget of course. You can get to green spaces (parks and countryside) and waterways from most residential areas - you've got the Thames and Kennet which run right through Reading and are lovely to walk by. You just need to get out of the town centre to appreciate the lovely spaces - you won't see them from the IDR or the Oracle. @ZsaZsahurrah feel free to DM me to get more precise info on anywhere in particular.

There was a teenage stabbing in caversham recently though and I remember when the disabled toilets in the library were shut as heroin addicts were leaving needles there. Also the pollution is terrible so avoid if your children are asthmatic. I do actually think there was a lot going on there though with many activities for children. It is very multicultural which I found a bonus. I wouldn’t go back there now though. I could never afford to live in the posh parts though.

There are lots of nice villages outside Reading.
In Reading, Caversham is quite family friendly. Traffic's not great though.

The Edible Reading blog is making me hungry! Glad to see that there are some independent places to eat! Also really great to read about the museum and accessibility to open spaces so thank you!

www.explorerdg.com/

Is another one. It really is a nice place to live.

I was born in Reading and grew up in Woodley. Now still live in Wokingham borough.

Have one 4 year old, it's a great place to have children. Plenty to do (covid permitting) as well as good transport links to London, airports, M4, M3 close and Wokingham on the whole has good schools.

There's a lot of new houses going up so feels busier than it used to.

I love Reading! I was born here and have never lived anywhere else.

We lived there for 7 years and moved out 2 years ago. Caversham, which is where we lived, is nice but if you need to commute south of the river by car (as DH did) traffic has become unworkable. It was why we moved out

I did enjoy living there though, I could walk to the station and be in Central London in about the same time it took me to get to Central London when I lived in a South London area. The shopping was good and there were a variety of restaurants. I don't know how much of that is true post covid though.

I would give a slight word of warning about knife crime and car break ins. I had my car broken into and according to fb group still seems to still be a problem, and there have been two well publicised knife attacks in the last 12 months including a young lad who died recently. I honestly don't know how this compares to other large urban areas though.

I've lived happily off the Oxford Rd and am now near the University.

We live within waking distance of the town centre so rarely have to battle the traffic (horrible, avoid at all costs). It's an OK centre, generic as many have said but with little bits of independence (cafés in the main).

Look carefully into the area you move to, the levels of inequality are quite shocking unfortunately.

For me, the positives of Reading are its racial diversity, schools (we border Wokingham and have access to some of their schools too), green spaces and transport links.

I moved away.....and then came back, b

*opps!

Because it’s a great place to bring up kids. It’s got the amenities of a city, but it’s smaller. I live in one of the villages on the outskirts and we have fields behind our house, yet it takes us 45 minutes to get into Paddington. Schools are good (much, much better options than most of London).

It’s always what you make of it. Personally, I always found there was a lot of culture- but you’re also close to London anyway. I was brought up in Earley, near the university, and it was a great environment.

Reading is a town not a city.

OP it depends on what you want and if you're thinking of living in the town or outskirts or the surrounding area. I live in amazing countryside with very easy access into Reading. It's where I work and we head in for dinner and theatre/concerts in normal times.

For me there are plenty of opportunities for work (depends what you want to do) and great connections to London for work or culture if you want.

Like anywhere there are nice and rough areas in and around Reading. Quite easy to identify those based on the house prices

There are some areas that are less safe than others, just avoid Whitley and some of the areas immediately around the town centre. Tilehurst, woodley, earley, lower Earley and caversham are all nice and so are the villages a bit further out although these can be expensive eg pangbourne. Lots to do, good rail links, good shopping, lots of stuff for kids.

We live in one of the outskirts bits, and I very rarely ever go into Reading town centre to be honest. In normal times if we’re going out for dinner we’ll go to Henley because it’s nicer, and I’ll go to Westfields to do proper shopping. Transport links are great but traffic in the town centre is hideous.

@Rockettrain

There are some areas that are less safe than others, just avoid Whitley and some of the areas immediately around the town centre. Tilehurst, woodley, earley, lower Earley and caversham are all nice and so are the villages a bit further out although these can be expensive eg pangbourne. Lots to do, good rail links, good shopping, lots of stuff for kids.

Agreed, avoid Whitley and Cemetery junction was the advice we were given when we moved here 😆

I've lived in Tilehurst,Cemetery Junction and just off the Oxford Rd,which would seen to be rough areas,but i always felt safe. I love Reading!

Actually,I don't think Tilehurst would be seen as rough, maybe Lyndhurst Rd would though.

Should have said I also lived in cemetery junction and it was ok as a postgrad student but I wouldn’t choose to live there now with a family. Several friends do and they seem happy enough but I personally would prefer areas that feel safer.

I grew up in Caversham, did a brief stint in Tilehurst and then moved to Cemetery Junction 17 years ago. This is by far my favourite area! I feel much safer here than I did in Caversham!

I was born there and have lived in the area most of my life.

There are good bits and bad bits like anywhere else. Good things include the Thames, quick connection to Paddington & Heathrow. Surrounded by great countryside & lovely villages. Within a few miles, there are wildlife parks, Michelin starred restaurants, theatres, museums. It's in UKs Silicon Valley so plenty of work, a good university, Good state & independent schools, Reasonable shopping and for anything you can't find, London is 30 mins away.
Traffic is a pain and house prices are on the high side.

I have a deep fondness for Reading.

My English boyfriend (originally from Greater Manchester) lived there back in the 90's due to work and I moved there from Texas to marry him.

I totally loved the town (we also lived in Woosehill, Wokingham). I liked attending concerts at the Hexagon, shopping at Heelas (John Lewis) and having a pedestrianized area and a shopping mall (Broad Street) at one end. I enjoyed learning about the history of the city and seeing the replica of the Bayeaux Tapestry and the ruins. One of my favorite memories was working for the Reading Evening Post and having my lunches near the Thames and the Forbury Gardens and seeing so many people from all over during the Reading Festival and seeing the acts perform. I have so many lovely memories of boat rides on the Thames and visiting Mapledurham and Beale Park with my two sons (one was born in Reading). Of course, I loved how well located it was to London, Oxford and pretty much everywhere.

We left the area in 1999 and moved to be closer to my husband's family in Greater Manchester. It was nice to be near family and a bigger, cheaper house but I never quite enjoyed my time there. We left for the USA in 2004.

My husband and I have made a few trips back to England since 2004 and whenever we visit the Reading area (despite not having any real reason to since the family lives in the north), we are amazed at how much it's changed and grown. We lived there before the Oracle! It's so different now and I like how there's a proper Museum of Reading, there's been investment in the Abbey Ruins and is a proper site, The recent improvements to the train station and the Elizabeth line, food festivals, restaurants, etc...

We are planning to return to the area soon for our retirement.

I'm sure there are far more interesting places (Bath and Bristol come to mind) but you can make it work!