| West Reading | |
|---|---|
 | |
  West Reading Location within Berkshire | |
| OS grid reference | SU698732 |
| Unitary authority | |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Police | Thames Valley |
| Fire | Royal Berkshire |
| Ambulance | South Central |
| UK Parliament | |
West Reading is a suburb of the town of Reading in the county of Berkshire, England. The area is served by Reading West railway station and has been served by it since 1906.
The locality has no formal boundaries, but the name is generally used to refer to the area to the west of Reading's commercial centre, merging into or to the north of the suburbs of Coley and Southcote, to the east of the suburb of Tilehurst and to the south of the Reading to Bristol railway line. As such it includes the relatively densely populated area along and surrounding the Oxford Road as far as the foot of Norcot Hill, which is a typical example of the British town's rows of terraced houses, as well as the more affluent area between this road and the Bath Road and alongside Tilehurst Road as far as Prospect Park and its slopes.
West Reading is in the borough of Reading, comprising Battle ward together with parts of Abbey, Minster, Norcot and Southcote wards.
Whereas most of this area is in the Reading West parliamentary constituency, the Abbey ward portion (between the Inner Distribution Road and Prospect Street / George Street) is in the Reading East parliamentary constituency. [1]
The area has a 21st-century supermarket and residential estate on the site of Battle Hospital, once Reading's largest general hospital in site area, adjoining Oxford Road.
The Elm Park stadium in West Reading was home to Reading Football Club from 1896 to 1998 and was redeveloped as a housing estate between 1998 and 2000.
The Bath Road Reservoir, a minor water storage reservoir and ornate brick-built pumping station is an elevated landmark along the Bath Road, built in the late Victorian era. The early 21st-century years saw residents' opposition defeat an attempt by Thames Water to demolish the pumping station, level the reservoir and redevelop the site for housing. [2]
West Reading is served by Reading West railway station on the local lines between Reading/Basingstoke and Reading/Newbury. Reading Buses operates frequent services along the Oxford Road, Bath Road and Tilehurst Road corridors.
The district contains the Church of England parish churches of All Saints, Holy Trinity, St. Mark and Tylehurst St George, together with English Martyrs Church in the Catholic church.
The Reading Half Marathon runs through the streets of West Reading every year and into the town centre.
Reading is a town and borough in Berkshire, England. Located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the rivers Thames and Kennet. Reading is 40 miles (64 km) east of Swindon, 24 miles (39 km) south of Oxford, 40 miles (64 km) west of London and 16 miles (26 km) north of Basingstoke.
Tilehurst is a suburb of the town of Reading in the county of Berkshire, England. It lies to the west of the centre of Reading, and extends from the River Thames in the north to the A4 road in the south.
Reading West is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Alok Sharma, a Conservative.
Theale is a village and civil parish in the West Berkshire unitary area of the county of Berkshire, England. It is 5 miles (8 km) southwest of Reading and 10 miles (16 km) east of Thatcham. The compact parish is bounded to the south and south-east by the Kennet & Avon Canal, to the north by a golf course, to the east by the M4 motorway and to the west by the A340 road.
Calcot, or Calcot Row, is a village in the West Berkshire unitary area of the county of Berkshire, England. Calcot straddles the historic A4 Bath Road and is between the hamlet of Horncastle, and Junction 12 of the M4 motorway.
Whitley is a suburb of the town of Reading, in the county of Berkshire, England. It is also an electoral ward of the Borough of Reading.
Southcote is a suburb of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. Located to the south-west of Reading town centre, Southcote has a population of about 8,500. The settlement lies primarily between the London-to-Bath road and the River Kennet.
Coley is an inner-town district near the centre of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. It is often referred to as Old Coley, to distinguish it from the adjacent, and much more recent, suburb of Coley Park.
Reading West railway station serves West Reading, Berkshire, about 1 mile (1.6 km) west from the town's main retail and commercial areas. The station is served by local services operated by Great Western Railway. It is 36 miles 75 chains down the line the zero point at London Paddington.
Reading North was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. The constituency covered an area in and around the town of Reading in the county of Berkshire.
Reading Borough Council is the local authority for the Borough of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. Berkshire is purely a ceremonial county, with no administrative responsibilities.
Norcot is an area of Reading, in the county of Berkshire, England. It is also an electoral ward of the Borough of Reading and is contiguous with Tilehurst.
Bath Road Reservoir is an underground reservoir complex in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. Located to the North-West of the Bath Road in West Reading, the complex covers 5.38 acres (2.18 ha). It comprises two underground reservoirs, covered entirely by vegetation, together with a water tower that is listed as a grade II listed building.
Occupation at the site of Reading may date back to the Roman period, possibly as either a trading port on the River Thames, or as an intersection on the Roman road connecting London with Calleva Atrebatum near Silchester.
Elections to Reading Borough Council took place on 3 May 2012, with 16 council seats up for election. The Labour Party gained Church, Katesgrove, Redlands, Kentwood and Caversham wards, giving them a working majority and control of the council. The Conservative Party lost three seats but gained Peppard ward from an independent. The Liberal Democrats lost two seats but held Tilehurst ward, a seat they had lost the previous year to the Conservative Party. The Green Party gained Park ward from Labour but failed to make gains elsewhere seeing their percentage of the borough-wide vote fall slightly.
Coley is an electoral ward of the Borough of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. Until the 2022 Reading Borough Council election, it was known as Minster ward and had slightly different boundaries.
Tilehurst is an electoral ward of the Borough of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. It forms part of the larger Reading suburb of Tilehurst, which also includes parts of the borough's Kentwood and Norcot wards, together with the civil parish of Tilehurst Without that is outside the borough boundary in the district of West Berkshire. The ward is bordered, in clockwise order, by Norcot ward, Tilehurst Without civil parish and Kentwood ward. It lies entirely within the Reading West parliamentary constituency.
Elections to Reading Borough Council took place on 22 May 2014, with 15 council seats up for election. The Labour Party repeated their wins of 2012 gaining Church, Katesgrove, Redlands, Kentwood and Caversham wards, giving them a total of 31 Councillors. The Conservative Party lost three seats but gained Peppard ward from an independent. The Liberal Democrats lost two seats but held Tilehurst ward. The Green Party held Park ward including a by-election caused by the resignation of one of their Councillors. UKIP stood a record number of candidates at the election but failed to gain any council seats.
The following is a timeline of the history of Reading, the county town of Berkshire in England.
