New Shops Coming To The Town Centre

[mikejee]

Or better still in the middle of the Madjeski stadium

[sarahbentley]

We have skate and BMX parks but we need proper coaches and training sessions for the kids

[ChipbuttyG]

After the Olympics success surely time for a skateboard park in Friar Street?

And a 50m swimming pool in the town. But oh no.....

[OLDMAN]

Just another swimming pool would have been nice inset of closing them all and only opening a 'pop-up' one - although the Palmer Park one has been started at last, not bad after discussing it for over 20yrs!

[ChipbuttyG]

Just another swimming pool would have been nice inset of closing them all and only opening a 'pop-up' one - although the Palmer Park one has been started at last, not bad after discussing it for over 20yrs!

Astonishing that the council closed Arthur Hill in 2016 and the replacement won't be ready until the back end of 2022 or some time in 2023.

The council has since deleted it on their website but it said work was supposed to start in 2018 with completion by 2020.

A 6 to 7 year wait for a replacement pool is, to put it bluntly, total incompetence.

[piwacket]

A 6 to 7 year wait for a replacement pool is, to put it bluntly, total incompetence.

Ah but I expect they’ve had other things to spend their money on, like resurfacing or mending potholes - so it’s not a priority!

[ChipbuttyG]

A 6 to 7 year wait for a replacement pool is, to put it bluntly, total incompetence.

Ah but I expect they’ve had other things to spend their money on, like resurfacing or mending potholes - so it’s not a priority!

Or 2 x failed bids for the Gaol or a failed bid for the police station....and maybe another failed bid for city status....

[OLDMAN]

Not sure where your looking but this is RBC’s link – opening 2022!
https://www.reading.gov.uk/planning/pla ... framework/

More info can be found on – opening end 2022!
https://www.reading.co.uk/palmer-park-s ... next-week/

My main gripe against the council is this was first discussed about 20yrs ago with the ‘new’ pool being planned to go behind the track / far corner of the park with an entrance / exit from Palmer Park Ave
The idea has been changed / bounced about in discussions since then but annoyingly they closed Central and worse for us in E/Reading Arthur Hills before doing anything at PP
They have used Covid / lockdown as an excuse to delay it for an extra 2yrs but have now started it!

Not before time..................

[ChipbuttyG]

The article I saw was deleted on the council website after I raised it with them. Which I found rather crafty. I thought it would remain as evidence they were running well behind (as the article was dated too to stop any confusion).

It did say work was supposed to start in 2018 with completion by 2020. So Palmer Park pool and Rivermead should have been completed or nearly been completed by the time Covid came along. So that excuse is a very poor one indeed.

And even more bemusing, a council newsletter from Council leader Jason Brock in March this year said "the new leisure facilities remain firmly on track". Complete lies from our council leader.

Wokingham Borough Council, although with some minor delays managed to get Bulmershe done in a timely fashion.

[OLDMAN]

TBF if you look at it correctly
Bulmershe was pre-planned in 2016, demolished in in 2018 and opened near the end of 2020 but then stay shut for eth second lockdown – so 5yrs from planning and 2yrs to build – and they used some of the existing groundworks e.g. water feed existed / the pool had already been dug!

Palmer Park has been on the books for many years but the planning only began in 2018 and went through in 2019, during lockdown so then held up – the new dates are as shown now, build has started and its planned to open end of 2022 even though starting from scratch and adding lots of extra drainage and water feed - so similar timing to WBC
Without lockdown we would have had it a year earlier................

But as I’ve said I am more annoyed at the fact it had been discussed for so many years, and by varying parties when in power at the council!

[Fed-up]

The pool at Bulmershe was not pre-dug. They moved it from one side of the building to the other. It was on the side nearest Addington and is now on the opposite side of the building.

[ChipbuttyG]

Yes - planning for Palmer Park only began in 2018. 2018 was the year the council was supposed to start work on it and have it completed by 2020, they said that, not me. So it's down to the council's incompetence, not Covid. We should now be in a scenario where the new pool is ready. It isn't.

Either way - closing Arthur Pool in 2016 and not having the replacement ready for some 6/7 years is a shambles.

[Fed-up]

I did a quick search on "Palmer Park swimming pool" and found the following (https://www.readinglibdems.org.uk/palmer_park):

• A new swimming pool was promised by RBC to East Reading as long ago as 2003 to replace the 100 year old Arthur Hill pool.

• In 2005, 14 years ago now, consultation on a Palmer Park redevelopment, including a new swimming pool was conducted. A swimming pool was not built.

• RBC committed to keep open the Arthur Hill pool until a replacement was built. They broke that promise.

I know there is some political point scoring there but the dates should be accurate.

[OLDMAN]

The pool at Bulmershe was not pre-dug. They moved it from one side of the building to the other. It was on the side nearest Addington and is now on the opposite side of the building.

Ah I will have to have a word with a mate who was caretaker up there, he told me they used the original hole!

[Fed-up]

You can see the floor plans on the planning application (https://planning.wokingham.gov.uk/FastW ... ber=180828).

This is the original floor plan - http://publicaccess.wokingham.gov.uk/No ... 409023.pdf
This is the new floor plan - http://publicaccess.wokingham.gov.uk/No ... 409049.pdf

[OLDMAN]

I did a quick search on "Palmer Park swimming pool" and found the following (https://www.readinglibdems.org.uk/palmer_park):

• A new swimming pool was promised by RBC to East Reading as long ago as 2003 to replace the 100 year old Arthur Hill pool.

• In 2005, 14 years ago now, consultation on a Palmer Park redevelopment, including a new swimming pool was conducted. A swimming pool was not built.

• RBC committed to keep open the Arthur Hill pool until a replacement was built. They broke that promise.

I know there is some political point scoring there but the dates should be accurate.

Interesting reading but a bit out if you know the history of it all - RBC never promised a pool by 2003 as that about the time it was ‘first’ discussed (as I keep saying about 20yrs ago)
Questionnaires for consultation where only sent out back then, mainly around East Reading – I had one / filled it in and returned it
At the time the proposal was the pool would be in the rear / far corner with access via Palmer Park Ave, and that was most residents biggest concern as would impact traffic due to the one way system so questions were asked
More consultations happened in 2005 with more questionnaires etc, but still no decision made
It never went any further apart from being brought up at various meeting over time discussing where it would go / access etc – I know as went to some of them
About 2012/13 money was spent on Arthur Hills to keep it going but it wasn’t enough and was closed in 2016as unsafe for use – The campaign group had been harrying the council before that and started asking more questions about it all as now no pool in the area.................................................p.s. – I am in that group.................

The PP pool was still being discussed and eventually agreed in 2018, – planning permission began being raised in late 2019 but was held back due to Covid and eventually went in under Application Number 201735 on.......................4th December 2020 - its easy to look up – and since been granted hence work has now started!
http://planning.reading.gov.uk/fastweb_ ... &Postcode=

[ChipbuttyG]

I did a quick search on "Palmer Park swimming pool" and found the following (https://www.readinglibdems.org.uk/palmer_park):

• A new swimming pool was promised by RBC to East Reading as long ago as 2003 to replace the 100 year old Arthur Hill pool.

• In 2005, 14 years ago now, consultation on a Palmer Park redevelopment, including a new swimming pool was conducted. A swimming pool was not built.

• RBC committed to keep open the Arthur Hill pool until a replacement was built. They broke that promise.

I know there is some political point scoring there but the dates should be accurate.

There's a lot of information a dates on the Facebook page 'Save Arthur Hill Pool'. Whilst I'm not sure the exact dates, replacing Arthur Hill has been in the pipeline for years.

To take the decision to closed it without a replacement ready to go is terrible. Not even a 'pop-up pool' was provided for the people of east Reading.

[ChipbuttyG]

Has anyone tried Gordon Ramsey's new burger place at The Oracle yet?

[Mayfield]

Not the town centre but an old print works :

Market Yard

Launching November 2021. A long forgotten printworks is now your new destination. Market Yard will be transforming the venue into a truly unique venue where you can socialise, eat, drink and dance.
1200 Capacity, three rooms and an outdoor terrace. All hosting events, street food & thirst quenching drinks. As the day changes, so do we, moving from a bustling food market into an electrifying events space.
Visiting with friends, family or in charge of the office Christmas Party? ⬇
No group is too big or small for us, whether it’s booking a table for drinks or privately hiring our space, make sure to email [email protected]

[piwacket]

Not the town centre but an old print works :

Market Yard

Where’s Market Yard

Edit - It appear to be in Hills Meadow? When was there a market there?

[Voiceoftreason?]

Here, Pi. https://www.marketyard.co.uk/

Could well be the old Reading Chronicle offices in Tessa Road

[Mayfield]

Yes, the address given is 2 -12 Tessa Road

[piwacket]

Here, Pi. https://www.marketyard.co.uk/

Could well be the old Reading Chronicle offices in Tessa Road

With parking jn Hills Meadows ….
Why not the Riverside car park?

[Mayfield]

Or Rivermead …maybe there’s work going on their - I haven’t been that way for a bit…

I wouldn’t want to walk from Hills Menu after dark unless I was with a group

[piwacket]

Or Rivermead …maybe there’s work going on their - I haven’t been that way for a bit…

I wouldn’t want to walk from Hills Menu after dark unless I was with a group

… a group of large chaps at that!

[Mayfield]

Absolutely

I can just imagine someone deciding on the shorter riverside walk and falling in , apart from anything else ….

[ChipbuttyG]

It's another industrial estate hipster place, like Phantom or Double-Barrelled with the emphasis more on food.

[lizwing]

Isn’t Tessa Road where the Evening Post was ?

[Voiceoftreason?]

Yes Liz. Not sure if I meant Chronic or Evening Post now. It was one or the other!

[lizwing]

Evening Post then. There was a lot of parking round the building when I was there but obviously it’s changed now.

[Voiceoftreason?]

Maybe as they built on Cox and Wymans former site and it’s now residential, that they could only get permission to convert if they had off site parking Liz? I can’t say I’ve seen anything about the potential development, it just seems to have appeared. Mind you, it’s quite warehouse like by the look of the website, and not much internal work - unless I’ve seen that wrong.

Not like the forumites to miss sniffing out a new venue!

[ChipbuttyG]

They'll rake it in come festival weekend next year.

It'll certainly attract the older crowd with a bit more money in their pocket any way. The kids will still get their cheap supermarket booze though.

[Mayfield]

There is the smallish car park by the side of the Crown Plaza, free at night I believe….but I wouldn’t want to be there alone at night either …

[BOY RACER]

You all talk of the TOWN CENTRE. Do we actually have one any more. I have a bigger gripe with RBC. Reading is on the River Thames. Everywhere on the river you go every village or town that fronts the river has tried to make the most of this beautiful natural wonder. What has Reading done. NOTHIING. Absolutely nothing to enhance this natural feature. The river Thames through Reading is a disgrace. At Caversham bridge is a car park for what. Standing and looking at the River. Nowhere to sit to enjoy the view. Wait for the yearly Pop Festival and all what the great unwashed bring then nothing but a walk on a narrow footpath till it meets the Kennet. On the north side is Hills Meadow And Kings Meadow and today that is exactly what they are MEADOWS.

You would have thought that even a Labour Council who prides itself on the needy could have utilised these areas for the unfortunates that keep them in power, like a small marina, (bearing in mind Readings position close to real beauty spots I am sure a number of more fortunate people would have a small motor launch): Areas of flowers would be nice. Perhaps even a bandstand. A proper paddling pool for young children. A cafeteria or two for coffee etc to sit beside the Thames watching the world go by.

I suppose I am an old F**t. Past his prime and living in the past. I just feel we are missing something

[Mayfield]

We do have a paddling pool - not often open when you want it, but it’s there. Apart from that I agree, more could be made of the riverside.