Crappy areas in Reading

apreading

drewfromrisca wrote:

Dragging up an old post, but I'm still looking.

Viewing a place on Saturday right by Palmer Park Velodrome. It's Amity Road.

Anyone know what the area is like around there?

The whole area around there is full of rented accommodation so expect lots of university students and unemployed on benefits. It is also one of the main areas that the asian community live - not saying that is good or bad but you make your own decisions.

I would personally avoid (having lived there for 5 years up until the mid 90s and parents in law still living there). My brother actually rented on amity Road when doing his PHD - he didnt have any real problems but wouldnt buy a house there to live long term.

Woodley, much of Earley, Calcot, much of Tilehurst would be the best bets in Reading without high housing prices. Much of Caversham is good too but the prices will be higher.

balthazar

drewfromrisca wrote:

We've found a few places online for Maidenhead also. any opinions on this place?

When I'm working in London (a few months a year) I stay near Taplow, a little village between Maidenhead and Slough. The countryside and villages around there are fine, but Maidenhead is bleak, at least as far as I've seen it. Also, Slough's council have been trying to shake off Betjeman's poem for years– and then along came "The Office" to deliver the killing blow..

drewfromrisca

It's all bad news then :shock:

markwalker

drewfromrisca wrote:

It's all bad news then :shock:

terrible.

Go to Hungerford.

drewfromrisca

cheers mark, unfortuantely i cant get into work for 7am if i lived out there!

I had looked after your earlier suggestion but thanks anyway

softlad

drewfromrisca wrote:

It's all bad news then :shock:

not really - the vast majority of people who live in Reading don't get assaulted, robbed or murdered.....in that sense it's no different to any other large town or city and probably a lot safer than London....

drewfromrisca

softlad wrote:

drewfromrisca wrote:

It's all bad news then :shock:

not really - the vast majority of people who live in Reading don't get assaulted, robbed or murdered.....in that sense it's no different to any other large town or city and probably a lot safer than London....

Thank god for that! I thought i was going to be camping in the park!

Ironman595

Last year myself and a few guys set up G.S Henley (www.gshenley.com)
We've around 60 members- houst a tt up stonor valley, most rides around the chilterns, watlington, benson, goring..

tt's from wycombe, maidenhead and reading are very good- as are the reliablilty rides. Hilllingdon takes 40min in the car- train connections are good.

Henley isnt as expensive as people think now either... just need to know where to look..

drewfromrisca

Ironman595 - any tips? Henley would be perfect. Missus and me like it a lot.

drewfromrisca

Scrap that idea - trains won't get me into work in time!!! :x

felgen

Yep, earliest direct Henley-London train gets in at 7.45 or something.... you could always drive or cycle to Twyford and get a mainline train to London earlier.

As Tom (Ironman595) says - Henley is lovely place. I agree as an ex-resident and current landlord that it was probably the nicest place I have lived in a while - I just wish I was into bikes when I lived there.

DaSy

I have lived in Reading all my life in various areas in or around.

Amity Road is definitely best avoided, I grew up in Cemetery Junction, and has gone steadily downhill over the last 30 years. I moved back about 6 years ago for a year and managed to get burgled in that time.

I now live in Purley on Thames which is a great little village between Pangbourne and Tilehurst. It's a ten to fifteen minute walk to Tilehurst Station which has good links to London.

It's riverside, so can suffer from flooding, but it is pretty easy to pick a place out of the flood plain. It is the nicest area I've lived in and has really blossomed from the old days of being shanty town, when it was all little wooden shacks that were holiday retreats for Londoners in the fifties upto the seventies.

The Chingford Skinhead

Like any large town or city, Reading has its share of problems. But seeing this thread you'd think the place was awful.

It's a reasonably big town. If you avoid rough areas, you'll avoid rough experiences. My brothers live in west Reading - a couple of them just off the oxford road and they've never had any problem.

The communities in Reading tend to be grouped together. Lots of Asians (and students) around the East of town (Cemetery Junction etc) and lots of Irish and West Indian around West Reading. A lot of Poles have recently moved in as well.

As a town there is a big town centre, two closed shopping centres - the Butts (now called Broad Street Mall) is the original but now poor relation of the massive Oracle development, which has a variety of very good high street brands plus the more run of the mill sports direct type store.

There are three rivers in the town so plenty of nice walking and cycling opportuniteis.

It isn't a bad place at all. Good Luck

dag_on_a_bike

Why Reading specifically?

You mentioned Windsor.

Presumably intending to commute to London, in which case Basingstoke & surrounding area gives, in my opinion, a more relaxed environment and easy commute into Waterloo.

From Reading and east towards Maidenhead/Slough/Windsor it just seems to merge into a large urban sprawling mass. Basingstoke & north Hampshire still has pleasant rural lanes and plenty of open space.

drewfromrisca

DAG on a bike wrote:

Why Reading specifically?

You mentioned Windsor.

Presumably intending to commute to London, in which case Basingstoke & surrounding area gives, in my opinion, a more relaxed environment and easy commute into Waterloo.

From Reading and east towards Maidenhead/Slough/Windsor it just seems to merge into a large urban sprawling mass. Basingstoke & north Hampshire still has pleasant rural lanes and plenty of open space.

All to do with train times.

MattC59

Reading's not too bad, i think it gets a lot of bad press. I'm sure that pretty much every large town in the UK has the same negative points.

I lived in Caversham for 8 years, which is on the North side of the river. It's got it's own little town centre, pubs etc, it's 10mins walk over the bridge to Reading Station and 15mins walk to the centre of Reading.

Avoid Newtown (Cemetry Junction), Whitley, Tilehurst (parts of), the Oxford Road, Woodley. I know it's not Reading, but I'd avoid Basingstoke as well, it's a hole !!!

Reading as a town has everything you need, it's just not got any of the charm a smaller town would give you.

I now live in Thatcham, which is about 11miles west of Reading. It's a bit functional, but nice enough and you get a lot for your money there. 2minutes of cycling puts you into some beautiful countryside. Trains from Thatcham run direct to Paddington.