Entertainment in Reading

Theatres and Art Centres

Night Out

In Reading you will also find a huge variety of restaurants from Turkish to Mexican as well as countless pubs and bars.

Leisure

Walking

The River Thames and the Kennet & Avon canal both run through Reading, and there are interesting walks alongside them, together with the Thameside Promenade and picnic area.

Sailing

Both the Thames and the Kennet are navigable. A variety of boats are available for hire in Reading. The restored Kennet and Avon Canal offers a route for narrow boats to the West. Larger boats can follow the Thames at least as far as Osney (Oxford) where a low bridge prevents progress to those needing more than 2.3m headroom. Smaller craft can take the Thames West to Lechlade or the Oxford canal North to the Midlands. There are also passenger boat services in summer to Mapledurham House or Henley.

Attractions

One of the main reason for people visiting Reading is the Reading Festival held every August over three days. The festival consists of a whole host of live bands from well-known names to new faces, with separate dance and comedy stages that always proves a huge success allowing the festival to grow year by year.

Just a short walk from The Oracle, its shops, restaurants and multiplex, you can find Reading's most important historic quarter. Three important landmarks border the historic heart of Reading: The Museum of Reading/ Town Hall Complex- opened in 1872-75; this complex of three buildings is now family-friendly museum and art gallery; The Town Hall conference centre and the Concert Hall. Eminent Victorian architect, and a local boy, Alfred Waterhouse in the high gothic style, designed the Town Hall building.

The Forbury Gardens and Abbey Ruins - these beautiful formal gardens were once the forecourt of Reading Abbey, and the ruins of the Abbey itself can be found between the park and the river Kennet. Henry I, the Abbey's founder and benefactor was buried in front of the high altar here in 1136. Following its consecration by Thomas Beckett in 1164, the Abbey became one of the most important religious and political centres in England. Some of the Abbey's wonderful architecture can still be enjoyed - including St Laurence's Church and the Gateway - and the ruins themselves offer a fascinating glimpse of the scale of an abbey that covered the whole of the town centre, until the time of the reformation.