Any question answered...

There are no nice bits in Reading.

Apart from snotters mum.

Does anyone here live in Reading or know the area quite well?

My girlfriend works in Marlborough & I work in London, I've tried commuting from Marlborough but it just takes too long so we're looking to move house and share the commuting distance - in my mind this leaves us with Reading as the best option.

Which are the nice and which are the shit areas?

I need to be able to get to the station & my girlfriend will be driving West to Marlborough for work if that helps with location...

Hmm spent a year in Reading last year, there aren't many nice bits really! and getting in and around the city centre (even on a bike) is a nightmare at rush hour.

If your trains go from there I would say to live in one of the suburb\villagey bits like Theale (where I lived) or Tilehurst, or if you want to burn money Pangbourne...

Theale also gives access straight to the M4, so easy car commuting. I got the train into London and it took about 40 minutes each way.

One negative\positive is that they are due to build the biggest Ikea in Calcot (across the road from Theale) soon...

PM if you want any more info...

Oh and avoid Oxford road.

Does anyone here live in Reading or know the area quite well?

I think Adroit lives/works in Reading.

Anywhere that isn't Whitley will be fine. East is nicer West IMO.

sending from manchester to clapham,

tempted to just send it by a £8 service but I'm screwed if all goes wrong

It so happens that Mrs Ludd is driving from Manchester (just off Dickenson Road, so sort of Rusholme/Longsight) to Forest Hill on Sunday. Would you like me to find out if she would have any objection to bringing a box of bike parts back?

Thanks for the Reading advice. So Snotters mums place is no.1 choice, then a sliding scale away from there.

The internet suggests Oxford road is bad too but all the posts I found were old & you never know what those people are comparing it to (ie is it actually any worse than London?)..

^^

That would be amazing, as I live inbetween rusholme and longsight anyway, and would be happy to pay for any costs incurred getting it to Matt at talbot in London!

OK, I'll run it past Mrs Ludd this evening. In fact I'll send an email home to reduce the (rather high) risk of me forgetting about it.

OK, I'll run it past Mrs Ludd this evening. In fact I'll send an email home to reduce the (rather high) risk of me forgetting about it.

Bump to remind Ludd to send an e-mail home.

I mean, it's been five minutes.

Thanks for the Reading advice. So Snotters mums place is no.1 choice, then a sliding scale away from there.

The internet suggests Oxford road is bad too but all the posts I found were old & you never know what those people are comparing it to (ie is it actually any worse than London?)..

Oxford Road: Depends if you like prostitutes (allegedly)

I've just remembered to send it. Now must check whether I have actually sent it. So easy to forget these things. Thanks Mr Schick.

Update: yes, I sent an email home at 16.11.

"Ich kenne meine Pappenheimer."

My sister lives there too. I grew up in Theale, make of that what you will. Whitley and Oxford road are shitty. If you want somewhere nice then there are lots of little villages around Reading that are nice but Tory, my mum lives in Riseley which is nice and she grew up around Shinfield and Arborfield, also nice but a bit further to commute as transport links are pretty poor.

Ludd, do you reckon she could bring a coffee machine back up? Beer would be bought.

Oxford Road: Depends if you like prostitutes (allegedly)

My mum's gotta makea living.

^repped

My sister lives there too. I grew up in Theale, make of that what you will. Whitley and Oxford road are shitty. If you want somewhere nice then there are lots of little villages around Reading that are nice but Tory, my mum lives in Riseley which is nice and she grew up around Shinfield and Arborfield, also nice but a bit further to commute as transport links are pretty poor.

Thanks - I think the nicer villagy areas are a bit too far out for me; I want my daily commute into London to be manageable & a 30 minute train journey with maybe 20 mins either side would be ideal.

Whilst the villages/Theale/Aldermaston are nice looking it's just the trains that are the problem. The reason I like the look of Reading is that I can live a similar life to what I did when living in London (ie stay out late in central drinking or seeing friends or rehearsing) & not worry about getting home afterwards (the last train to where I live now is at 10.20 & then a 7 mile drive)...

Reading is a bit shit. I worked in Wokingham (lived in) and Reading for most of the 80s. Wokingham was/is nice, generally, as are Twyford and Pangbourne and Theale. Some bits of Reading are very expensive and quite nice. Lower Earley has got the more affordable and newer housing and isn't too bad. In my current work I see lots of bits of Reading and have to say that the shit is fairly well spread across the whole town (still trying to be a city). Areas previously stated - Whitley smells as shit as it looks due to the sewage works, Oxford Road is wall to wall ne'er do wells. Obviously there are some lovely people living in these areas but also an awful lot of dross too. For your needs I would say Theale, Shinfield, Lower Earley, Woodley, Twyford and Wokingham. All either near a rail station or A329M/M4 or both.

Hmmm The thing I would be careful with is your other halfs drive out of Reading, as it can get massively jammed up for drivers - on a bad day can take an hour to get from the centre to the M4, which would normally take less than 10 minutes.

Calcot and places like Burghfield are on the west of Reading and within 20 minutes cycle of the station, but have zero character or community to speak of (basically bug housing estates), bits of Tilehurst are OK, and commutable both way.

As the Constable says, there really are pockets of shitness all over Reading, literally a case of going and looking. Just avoid Oxford Road, Whitley and having to drive a long way up Bath Road.

and for what its worth I just spent a year commuting from Reading to Malmesbury, so know the drive your other half is going to do well, aim for her to be getting on the M4 at Junction 12 not Junction 11, as you will miss the worst of any jams then.

Theale is not the nice little place it was in the eighties, it got expanded into from Reading/Calcot about 15 years ago and is full of cunts now, went downhill after they filmed the borrowers. I'll be back at the weekend so can double check. It is close to a train station though, same line that goes through Aldermaston so is commutable.

Everyone drives everywhere so rush hours are awful.