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A Brief History

Reading is a town, unitary authority (the Borough of Reading) and urban area in the English county of Berkshire. It is located at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, midway between London and Swindon off the M4 motorway. The name Reading is pronounced to rhyme with bedding.

Reading was an important centre in the medieval period, as the site of an important monastery with strong royal connections, but suffered serious economic damage during the 17th century from which it took a long time to recover. Today it is again an important commercial centre in Southern England and is often referred to as the capital of the Thames Valley, with the headquarters of some major British companies and the UK offices of a number of major foreign multinationals, especially in the IT industry, including Microsoft, Oracle, Sage, Xansa and Yell.com. Several of these are located at the Thames Valley Business Park.

Reading is a major shopping centre. The principal shopping area is around Broad Street, which was pedestrianised in 1995. Broad Street is anchored at its east and west ends respectively by The Oracle and Broad Street Mall enclosed shopping centres.

There are three major department stores in Reading: John Lewis Reading (formerly known as Heelas), Debenhams and House of Fraser. There are also branches of the chains Marks and Spencers and British Home Stores.

The booksellers Waterstone's have several branches in Reading. Their Broad Street branch is of particular interest, as it is a remarkable conversion of a nonconformist chapel dating from 1707.

Besides the two major shopping malls, Reading possesses three smaller shopping arcades, the Bristol & West Arcade, Harris Arcade and The Walk, which contain smaller specialist stores.