Reading Hotels

Stay at a Reading hotel, where main streets of shopping centres, trendy bars and brasseries criss-cross medieval lanes of one-off boutiques and market arcades. The city rocks in August with music and mud at the Reading Festival.

Reading neighbourhoods

Reading’s store-dotted central streets Minster Street and Broad Street run through the heart of Reading city centre. Just south of the everyday bustle, the Riverside’s chic bars and restaurants thrive on the face-lifted Kennet canal banks. Cut past medieval timber-fronts on narrow city shortcuts, like pedestrian Cross Street and Union Street, nicknamed Smelly Alley where fish and meat stalls once ruled. Just east of the city centre in Newtown, terraced workers’ houses have refused to crumble since the days of Huntley & Palmers’ biscuit factory. Choose a hotel in Reading for easy access to the M4, south of the city.

Shopping in Reading

Wander from your Reading hotel past outdoor cafés and coloured boutique canopies on Union Street. Continental stalls and the “green” Christmas market selling hippie hemp bags and organic clothes pitch on Butter Market. Wind along the Walk and Harris Arcade for independent sellers or head to family-run Jacksons of Reading for an old-fashioned “suits you, sir” service. High-street brands trade under one roof at Friars Walk mall, while the glass façade of the waterside Oracle shopping centre goes upmarket with Hobbs and Reiss.

Eating and drinking in Reading

Foodies munch à la carte at rejuvenated Kennet riverfront restaurants like London Street Brasserie, an ex-toll house, and Loch Fyne’s period wharf. Interior-designed bars Po Na Na and Ivory Lounge are places to pose in for nightcaps. For “ooh la la” French dining try Forburys Restaurant and Malmaison Brasserie. Platters sizzle at Wagamama, Nando’s and Zizzi, town-centre family favourites. Nearby country pubs serve gastro grub. Stay in a hotel in Reading to choose specials from the daily blackboard at the New Inn in Kidmore End.

Culture and nightlife in Reading

Reading-born Ricky Gervais would chuckle at the comedy line-up at the Hexagon venue. Players follow the lead of locals Kate Winslet and Elizabeth Taylor on the stage at the Millat Sonning theatre on the Thames. Reading lets her hair down to the DJs in raucous haunts like Q Club and Revolution vodka bar. It’s standing room only when raw live bands play at the Fez Club on Gun Street. Indie kids head to Richfield Avenue every August Bank Holiday for the Reading Festival.

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