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for a youngish family and commuting to london etc
cheers!
There's nicer places!
don't do it, look at Pewsey or Hungerford. Readings a toilet.
Farnborough? 35 mins to Waterloo.
Rebuilt station at huge cost, new train depot, crazy traffic system on the roads.
Some parts of west Berkshire are lovely.
I lived in Aldermaston wharf.
It has a train connection to reading then on to London.
don't do it, look at Pewsey or Hungerford
Considerable longer commute to London by car or by train.
but worth it
With that attitude why not live in the Wye valley.
Used to live in Tilehurst, Calcot, Tidmarsh......... if you know the area, you will notice I was moving further away. Now in Thatcham, even further away. Mum still lives near Tilehurst station on the way to Purley, but I would rather gnaw my own genitals than live there again. As said there is 'much' nicer places to live.
Winnersh? Earley? Wokingham? Horrendous traffic for sure.
I have to work there every week, I hate trying to get around it!
The road system is screwed by the river and railway running through the town, everything is then condensed into into the thoroughfares that get over and under these obstructions.
I lived at Winnersh triangle for a few months when I moved down south, hard to imagine a duller place on the planet.
All down to the detail I'm afraid. Commuting to the city means a good train service to Paddington and then a lousy tube journey - but thousands do it.
Loads of really nice places to live in Thames Valley including parts of Reading itself, but best places very expensive.
If I was moving to the area today I would look at Maidenhead rather than Reading as CrossRail will start from there when it is eventually finished making a 45 minute journey to Liverpool St, but if you have another reason for looking at Reading its not the end of the world. 20 years ago Reading was in an appalling state, but it really has changed and mostly is not a toilet these days.
The Wye valley is particularly nice, its also where my grandfathers ashes are scattered. But I live in Devon, which is almost far enough away.
Like this
Gets a bit noisy at the end of the summer!!!!
I live here, well wokingham now, it's crap, there is absolutely nothing about it (appart from work) that makes me want to be here.
If on the other hand you may be content with shoping in the oracle and obliterating the memory afterwards with £15/shot vodca in sacura afterwards on a saturday and telling everyone you meet how close to london you are then its great!
thisisnotaspoon - given that in 2012 wokingham was voted the best place to live in britain I fear that your comments say more about you than about berkshire!
Captain Slow. Having being born in Reading and lived there up to 12 years ago, I am aware that Reading is a pit and has actually got worse as a bigger pit ever since. Road system is the worse. Shopping is mediocre, as long as you pay through the nose for public carparks. We stopped for food one night and paid £5 for 2 hrs parking. My mother has lived there for a similar amount of time and is contemplating moving away after being burgled, like the neighbours. So that's a great invite to live in Reading.
Guys, I'm not suggesting that Reading is some sort of paradise, just that there are loads of good areas if you can afford to live in them. Not sure what the OP's motivation is for thinking of living here, but if it has to be Berkshire then Reading has as much to offer as any of the towns.
The traffic is indeed a nightmare, but the main point I was trying to make is that whilst some will hate the Oracle and the trendy bars in the town centre others will think they are a positive. The same applies to the river and the railway - if you want to row or commute by train (I do neither!) you could see them as positives, but if you want to drive from one side to the other maybe you see them just as barriers.
Reading then, not as nice as Windsor, but better than Slough...
@kimbers - is your workplace convenient for Paddington / tube connection ?
It's a bit of an odd place, it's not suburbia, it's not town or village living - so betwixt and between. That being said it's a city with decent facilities, Uni, Football and Rugby teams, good shopping. Close to Heathrow and M4 (Wales 1,5-2hrs ?). If it where me I'd pick a town outside with train station or shortish drive to a commute point. Have a friend who commutes in from Thame and lives in a village near there, says it's a good compromise.
The three best things about Reading are:
[url= http://www.palmerparkvelo.com/ ]Palmer Park Velo[/url]
[url= http://www.awcycles.co.uk/ ]AW Cycles[/url]
[url= http://www.readingclimbingcentre.com/ ]Reading Climbing Centre[/url]
If you want your kids to cycle, there is no better club. We live in Windsor.
As TiRed says: Really good climbing wall, at least 1 half decent bike shop (though technically its caversham for the snobs). Theres some amazing road riding really not very far from town i.e north towards henley, stokenchurch and the chilterns. Ditto some great riding straight from town (Across the caversham bridge and head along the river towards mapledurham) or a short drive (Swinley, and the aformentioned chilterns)
A few pretty nice pubs as well plus the usual selection of foods. Theres a great takeaway indian up near the shinfield road.
For those who complain about the roads.... people love bristol and that place has roads akin to the 7th circle of hell!
It's like America, but smaller.
I live here, well wokingham now, it's crap, there is absolutely nothing about it (appart from work) that makes me want to be here.
Comments like that remind me how lucky we are live with this a few minutes stroll from our door: [URL= http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g212/ScouseMonkey/1276513_10153172583470456_1344216793_o.jp g" target="_blank">
http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g212/ScouseMonkey/1276513_10153172583470456_1344216793_o.jp g"/> [/IMG][/URL]
I grew up in Reading and before,during and after the oracle was born. I saw it change into another generic town but with the attitude of a wannabe city.
I now live in fleet,Hampshire - it's a great line to get to Waterloo station and major airports , plus good links to the south cost.
Plenty of good riding on the doorstep too 🙂
Have a look around fleet,farnborough,elvertham ,etc etc
Once again, STW shows it's Elitism and class boundaries.
Reading is a nice enough place, riverside appartments, walks down the Kennet and Avon canal, shops, bars, things to do.... It's everything you want and expect in a town in the South.
It's not, a picturesque village in the Cotswolds... no sir... it's not.
As long as a village in the Cotswolds isn't what you're after.. .Reading will be spot on.
Lived there for 12 years but have now moved out to more West Berks than that... Although I agree there is a pattern with many posters moving away, that doesn't make Reading a bad place, it just means the posters priorities changed and they moved away.
as with all towns... Good and bad bits... but, once you close the door, your house is your castle...
With Weeksy on this one - been down this area on and off for 10 years or so, currently living about 6 miles outside of Reading in some beautiful Berkshire countryside. I've got a small station about 2 miles away (Mortimer) - 10 mins to Reading then about 30 mins to Paddington if I need to be in London.
Don't think I'll live here for ever, but not a bad part of the world at all! Reading is pretty much like any other smallish city - good bits and bad. Pretty generic shopping, not the best night out in the world, but then I've grown out of that and much prefer a decent restaurant or pub these days.
in 2012 wokingham was voted the best place to live in britain
ha, haha, HA, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
voted by idiots living in Wokingham I assume?
I worked in Reading for 5 years. I lived in Reading for 18months of that then moved to Winchester and later Basingstoke. I preferred Basingstoke to Reading. At least it's cheap and has nicer countryside round about.
Lived there for several years when we didn't have children. Fine in those circumstances - nice flats, pubs and bars etc, good transport links to London.
When we had kids, we didn't want to bring them up there. The only options for housing in our budget appeared to be Winnersh and West Reading, where schools appeared to be mediocre at best (although this may have changed, obviously) - so moved to northern England.
Caversham is nicer, but much pricier. There are some better houses in the area south of Cemetery Junction, but again, pricier. Avoid West Reading like the plague.
As voted in wokingham life? Its like reading in posh minature, complete with stupid one way system and half deserted high street. And house prices are mental, 250k for a terrace!given that in 2012 wokingham was voted the best place to live in britain I fear that your comments say more about you than about berkshire!
But yes, its better than Reading!
I lived in Whitley for a while...........Once again, STW shows it's Elitism and class boundaries.
Mandela Court used to be pretty friendly
Worked in Central reading for 12 years, lived there for 4 years (right in the centre).
Now live in cholsey - just north west of reading.
In my experience
Pros
- good for shopping
- good private schools
- good biking nearby (not the lakes mind)
- good transport links
Bad points
- parts of it are a real dump
- parts of it are very rough (remember the two girls drugged, raped and shot a few years ago)
If your kids are young I'd look outside - thatcham, Wallingford, Wokingham etc
Still easy to get to London but nicer. I often have to go to London and can get to the city in less than 1.5 hrs door to door. If just paddington less than an hour.
Hope that helps!
Another reading born and bred here. If you lot think it's crap now, you should have seen it in the 70's.
Good for mainstream restaurants and shops and cinema in the oracle. Nice countryside and riverside pubs a short drive away. Good commuter lines into London. Plenty of riding in the Chilterns to the north or swinley and army lands to the east, or in Wales in 90 mins. There's far worse places, in my opinion.
To the op, if you're seriously looking, the nicer areas tend to the other side of the river, caversham, emmer green, etc., woodley / lower earley are newer but also ok. Further out parts of tilehurst can be OK, and you can pretend it's purley. Whitley's a bit of a hole, as is just about anything along the Oxford road.
(remember the two girls drugged, raped and shot a few years ago)
Hotel at the top of Connaught road... my posh rented flat overlooked it.
When I moved to Reading I had my car stolen and burnt out within a month. Forgot to mention that.
Mandela court. Class. £20 bag please 🙂 lots of lost evenings!
form a queue by the caravan 🙂
I moved down to Wokingham from Bolton 11 years ago and really like it - its a nice little town
Yes, the traffic is bad, but i'm based in a great location for:-
Go riding
Get into London
Access to Heathrow & Gatwick
Quick access to the M3, M4 or M40
Nope, its not very hilly, but there is a lot on the doorstep from the Chilterns, Swinley and lots of over good army land
Yes, Wokingham is expensive, but its voted one of the best places in the country to love for a reason - its jolly nice 🙂
Having grown up not far from Reading, and hating it (School in Henley, so obviously reading was full of rough as chavs according to us) and then moving there in my mids 20s to work in wokingham/finchampstead. I reckon for kids its got a lot to offer, mentioned the climbing wall but you have some pretty damn good swimming pool/leisure center things with slides n stuff.
Also a great little bmx track thing near the canal 5 min from the oracle.
The oxford road is pretty crap and there's are definatly some properly horrible areas but thats pretty much the same for any decent sized english town.
Oh and SWEENEY TODDS pie shop
I should mention i'm now living in Perth Australia and believe it or not there are some things i miss about reading.....
Reading, nicer than Bracknell, just about sums it up.
I've stayed in the Hilton up the road from Wokingham, had a few nice pints of London Pride in The Ship, and a nice, if slightly expensive Italian meal in the town. Overall thought the place looked a bit boring to be honest, and the traffic is, for me at least, unbearable.
But there again I happen to work from home a lot these days so have no tolerance for sitting in traffic for an hour a day.
If you lot think it's crap now, you should have seen it in the 70's.
I studied and then worked there for a while when the brewery was still in the town and The Hexagon was new. Great years but then I wasn't really concerned with shopping and the road system in those days; the nightlife was pretty good 🙂
No use to the OP sorry. Sweeney Todds was popular then too, great that it's still there.
Footnote: I now live overlooking the Wye Valley!
Yes, Wokingham is expensive, but its voted one of the best places in the country to love for a reason - its jolly nice
I'd like to see where this was voted? As a Village/Town it really has nothing going for it, it's not bad, but if I moved out tomorow and someone asked me to decribe it it would probably sound like
"Wokingham, it's.................errrrrrrrr"
There're just no distinguishing features, it's a town, it has a few good pubs and restaurants, a rough bit to avoid, it's easy to get out of and house prices are astronomical. It's not bad, but that doesn't make it good (just better than Bracknell, Reading and Slough).
To put it in perspective, I live for 18 months in a former coal mining village on the northern fringe of the Yorkshire moors, not a picture postcard one with holliday lets, sea views and nice pub. One where you can still buy a freshly decorated terraced house for £35,000! My missus (who's lived in Winnersh/Wokingham all her life) prefered it!
I moved back to Reading after living in one of the most beautiful cities in Europe because missed it and my mates. Traffic is awful but I do not drive at the weekend just bike everywhere and live on the side of the town that’s has easy access to for the motorway. There are some very dodgy areas so keep away from them. Handy for the airport, great countryside, rivers and festival and a very good night life if you know where to go.
I lived in reading for a while. It was fine. I've lived in worse places that's for sure. It is heavily over populated which makes the roads very busy but if you can commute by bike it's fine. I then moved to Wokingham which again was ok. Nice little town but very very overpopulated. Traffic was a nightmare. I worked in Crowthorne and I could walk home from work quicker than I could drive it some days which I did quite a bit until I replaced my bike and then I rode pretty much everywhere.
Eventually moved to crowthorne where we lived for a couple of years before moving back up to the midlands.
All in all I enjoyed living down there. It is pretty crowded and very expensive but if you can find ways to cope with that it's not a bad place to live I don't think.
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/349277/Town-with-good-schools-and-low-crime-is-best-for-families
If its in the Daily Express it must be right 🙂
It is heavily over populated which makes the roads very busy but if you can commute by bike it's fine.
I can't say my cycling trips through Reading have been enjoyable...
I lived in Reading for three years when I was at University there (20+ years ago). Seemed a very odd town, huge ethnic ghettos - Asian around Palmer Park, North of Cemetery junction (where we lived) and then a big Afro-caribean area where we all went to buy dope...
I lived there for ten years until recently. Its ok plus is some stunning road riding from the door step, excellent mountinbiking from the door in the summer, its got all the other shit people like about towns shops cinema etc. Bad points is the cost of housing, we couldnt afford to live in a nice area so moved when mini me was 2. Schools are ok although secondaries suffer due to the grammas in town a little. We have moved to Thatcham so I know juat travel into Reading for work.
Road riding was great, lovely scenery and hills just outside the town.
Lived on Watlington Street (pretty much in the centre) while a student.
One break-in and one attempted break-in (with me in the house both times) two people shot in adjacent street, someone beaten uo in the street outside (he had broken into to someone else's house and they had caught him), not bad for two years.
Traffic is truely horrendous. I hate going round on my own after dark (32yr old bloke!)
Go to Henley
river and rail are real traffic limiters and so (imo) are council planners, gf and I considered Caversham but decided we didn't want the walk to facilities and noise (I lived in Burghfield Common which has sweet fanny adams) however London rail is v good, note that some other stations to W etc do a there + Reading + Slough train, good biking to N/NW, however quite a few friends live in Lower Earley and they've quite happy and a bit of biking to S (I found it a bit of a suburban lookalike jungle), sort if you want a 'busybustlypushy' environment (but at least have ALL facilities even if the drive and parking can be an rse or expensive) then maybe have a look
I've always quite liked Twyford by the way
I work in Basingstoke and prefer it to Reading - defined centre, smaller, good biking to S and around,
Traffic is truely horrendous. I hate going round on my own after dark (32yr old bloke!)
man up FFS. Its no worse than any other big town.
Henly is ****ing horrible!
man up FFS. Its no worse than any other big town
It bloody well is. Population is half that of Cardiff and the traffic is way worse.
Sorry yes traffic is ****ing nightmarish. I was referring to his comments re crime and danger.
Lived in Twyford for 10 years. Quiet friendly largish village 5 miles from Reading. Reading is a bit like all the M4 corridor larger towns and a bit meh! Traffic horrendous. Not very attractive. Unless a night out or cinema I rarely go into Reading. Still there are plenty of nice places around Reading to live; Caversham, Wargrave, Twyford, Hurst, Wokingham. Don't have to live [i]in[/i] Reading itself. Personally I find Maidenhead a bit of a hole.
Twyford works for me. Work is 10mins by car or 30 mins by bike. 5 mins from station 25 min train into London. Chilterns, Swinley, Army land all great local riding. Only living here because of work really, but can think of far worse places to live.
The "wokingham" that was voted the nicest place to live was wokingham district, wich included places like Ascot, Sunningdale and other 'prosperous' areas...
Saying that I spent nigh on 10 years there (only just moved to austria) and wokie wasn't that bad. It helps if you have a good friend network there. For me the closeness of Swinley (pre trail centre), Chilterns and the north downs was great. I liked some of the pubs in the town, they really looked after their beer...
Strangely enough I only went to Reading maximum of 5 times in the whole time! 😕
I moved down to reading from Oxford about 10 years ago, first lived in the town, then moved out to Pangbourne area.
As others have said, I'd reccomend living in one of the train-linked villages/towns nearby; Pangbourne, Goring, Thatcham, Aldermaston, Mortimer, Cholsey, to name a few. If you live to the west, you have great access to the M4 for trips to South Wales trail centres in 2 hours or so, pretty quick down to the south coast, and local riding there's the Chilterns, Berkshire Downs and a short hop to Swinley/ North Downs. Not biking, but the Thames is pretty lovely too.
Reading isn't the finest night out, but for the half a dozen nights I go out there a year, the Allied Arms, Retreat on St John's street, 0 degrees and The Nag's Head on Russell street all do me fine for lots of great Ale. The annual beer festival is a good one too, in April/May. The picture house cinema in Henley is good, and the University Film Theatre is great for left field films. Otherwise, it's an hour into London for everything else.
Slightly tediously, but pretty useful is that it has a load of supersized shopping outlets like Costco, B&Q, Wickes, and an Uber-IKEA development planned for 2015. Pretty nasty, but useful when you have a young family and property to sort out.
Like a lot of places, it's what you make of it.
I'm pretty sure neither ascot or Sunningdale are Wokingham district. Pretty sure Ascot is Bracknell Forest.
Sorry yes traffic is **** nightmarish. I was referring to his comments re crime and danger.
I just don't feel safe there in the city centre on my own.
Other big cities I know quite well and am fine with include Edinburgh, Dundee, Lincoln, Oxford, Cardiff.
The places I have felt the least safe in are Reading and Birmingham. My experiences of the crime whilst living in Reading back that up, likewise a former girlfriend lived in Birmingham so I've spent a lot of time there, that's definitely somewhere to avoid!