Broad Street

Reading's main shopping street, Broad Street was laid out shortly after the foundation of Reading Abbey in 1120. It appeared as 'Brode Stret' on John Speed's map of 1611 and hosted the Glorious Revolution's only battle in 1688. Until 1862, its eastern end comprised two narrow, parallel streets - Butcher Row & Fisher Row.

The western part of Broad Street was pedestrianised in 1992. Re-paving with red brick to more clearly delineate pedestrian areas was completed in 1994. This also fixed the problem of increasingly uneven paving on the former pedestrian pavement, which would have needed replacement anyway.

Reading

Reading is a town in the English county of Berkshire. It is regarded as the county town although, since the county council was abolished in 1998, that is a distinction of traditional rather than practical significance. It is the UK's largest town, having been denied official city status no less than four times - in 2000, 2002, 2012 and 2022. As such, it remains a borough, and has held that status since at least the time of the Domesday Book in 1068. A royal charter, granting independence from control by Reading Abbey, was issued in 1253. A second charter was issued in 1542, reflecting the abbey's dissolution in 1538. Since 1998, the borough has been a unitary authority.

Go to left end of street
This will take you to the scene containing the leftmost building on the side of the street that you are facing.

Go to middle of street
This will take you to a scene that is approximately halfway along the side of the street that you are facing.

Go to right end of street
This will take you to the scene containing the rightmost building on the side of the street that you are facing.

Open street map
This will take you to a page displaying a clickable street map from which you may navigate to any scene in this street.

Go to next left
This will shift you leftwards down the street by one scene.

Go forward
This would let you move forward into an adjoining street. However, there is not yet another street available for you to do that.

Face other side of street
This will turn you about 180° so that you are facing a scene on the opposite side of the street.

Go to next right
This will shift you righttwards down the street by one scene.

Open year selector
This will take you to a page displaying all the years that are currently available for the scene that you are looking at, any one of which may be clicked to navigate to that year.

Go to earliest year available
This will take you to the first year available for the scene that you are currently looking at.

Go to previous year
This will take the scene that you are currently looking at back one year in time. (This may or may not look any different depending on whether anything changed between those two years).

Go to next year
This will take the scene that you are currently looking at forward one year in time. (This may or may not look any different depending on whether anything changed between those two years).

Go to latest year available
This will take you to the most recent year available for the scene that you are currently looking at.

Building:
St Mary's House (refaced)

St. Mary's House was built in 1970 on the site of the former Baylis supermarket. In 2015, it was clad in brick and zinc, refreshing and modernising its appearance. And then again in 2023, because the 2015 cladding started to fall off in 2019, just four years after installation.

 

Nos. 77-78
Cancer Research UK (charity shop)

Cancer Research UK is a charity that funds research into cancer treatment and/or prevention and s the world's largest independent cancer research organisation. Its chain of charity shops sell new and donated second-hand items to raise funds to support the research.

 

Nos. 75-76
Caffè Nero (coffeehouse)

Caffè Nero is the largest independent coffeehouse group in Europe. It was founded in London in 1997 by American businessman Gerry Ford and remains headquartered in that city. Its name means 'black coffee' in Italian.

 

Upper Floors
Reed (recruitment agency)

Reed is a recruitment agency, founded in London in 1960 by Sir Alec Reed. It has since become the world’s largest family-run recruitment business.

2020 - The upper storeys of St. Mary's House remained enveloped in safety netting to stop any falling cladding tiles from injuring anyone below. The random shedding of cladding tiles also continued, safely constrained by the netting.

Junction:
Target Junction (south side)

This crossroads was pedestrianised in 1996. Since then, it has been popularly nicknamed 'Target Junction' due to the pattern of concentric circles at its centre, which allude to the targets on the archery butts that gave the adjoining St Mary's Butts its name.

 

South to
St. Mary's Butts

St. Mary's Butts was part of the original north-south route through Anglo-Saxon Reading. On John Speed's map of 1611, it was considered part of Old Street, which also included West Street. Its current name references the archery butts that were sited next to St. Mary's Church between 1477 and 1631.

 

West to
Broad Street / Oxford Road

The part of Oxford Road between Target Junction and Thorn Street was officially renamed as an extension of Broad Street in 1996 but almost no one ever calls it that, not even the council.