Moving to Reading, Berkshire

[DontTellOscar]

I'm moving to Reading in Berkshire and need some advice. Which areas do I want to avoid? I've heard Caversham is nice, but expensive and parking can be a nightmare. I've heard that I ought to avoid West Reading, but Bath Road is okay? East Reading is meant to be full of students and south Reading has and area called Katesgrove which I'm also told to avoid! I'm stuck, does anyone have any suggestions? I'm a single mum and my child is in primary school.

Caversham is nice, West Reading is fine towards tilehurst road and bath road, avoid the Oxford road area, up by the university and hospital is also good.

Katesgrove has a big primary school, I've never heard to avoid it.

It's the university area that's full of students not the whole of East Reading. Even the university area also has a lot of families living there too though.

I would say East Reading is the best area for state schools. Try to get into the catchment for Maiden Erlegh school if possible. East Reading also has good state primary schools such as Aldryngton. North Woodley is also a good area with decent schools.

Katesgrove has come up a bit, I would say. There's a mega "moving to Reading" post on Reddit that covers most of the issues, as the same Q gets asked there on a weekly basis.

East Reading is good. I’d walk around on foot and you get a much better feel
than in the car. RG1 postcodes rather than RG2. Lower Cavershan has med flood risk so keep an eye on that too for increased insurance and potential resale.

What's your budget? That might affect which bits of Reading you can afford.

Do you have a job there? I worked by the A33/M4 junction, and it could be quicker for me to drive from Basingstoke than others crossing from Caversham, so commutes can be very variable, depending on which route you need.

Lots of colleagues live in Lower Earley.

Avoid the immediate Oxford Road area. Caversham is nice but the commute to south Reading - if that's where you need to go - by car would be a nightmare. The area around the Royal Berks Hospital is nice and I prefer it to East Reading myself.