Reading area - housing etc

bob21

Anyone live in/around Reading?

I'm weighing up a job opportunity that would require relocating close to Reading (from Suffolk).

Strikes me that Reading seems to be relatively expensive (compared to the area I am in now) - are there places around the area that are cheaper? Work would be RG5, equidistant between central Reading and the M4..

It's just me, so probably looking for 1 or 2 bed - house or flat. If I had to economically, I'd go for a house share (of which there are loads) - but I'd rather have a place to myself..

Grateful for any advice - I know absolutely nothing about the area, so just don't know where to look!

PolarityMan

A friend of mine commutes to Reading from Eversley but i think still fairly pricey.

Chalky

I think you'd have to go west or southwest and accept a good hour's commute or more to stand a chance of finding something cheaper?

sev112

It's not London cost, but it is no way rural or northern rates either

however there are an astonishing number of flat shares available 

RG5 is Woodley which is a small town,where most of the accom is relatively modern housing estates with the odd remnant of a beautiful cottage stuck in between. Lots of young professionals house sharing there though So you are better basing yourself central Reading, which does have a lot going for it.

if you like rural countryside then you can head out of town on all 4 compass points and get 4 different types of countryside and geology.

The cheaper bet may well be to go to Bracknell which is a 15 min drive to Woodley through nice countryside or quicker via motorway where all forms of accom are much cheparer

ftumch

I live in woodley actually! Bracknell is a bit cheaper and not that far.

capo4th

Reading is expensive traffic is horrendous find another job 

bob21

Thanks all - good advice @sev112 ;

A cursory look seems to put 1 bed non-studio flats in the £8-900pcm area ±10miles central Reading - i'm currently paying £825 for a 3 bed semi.. (though this is shared with my sister, who wouldn't be coming - so I wouldn't want to pay this much!)

May have to accept a share - I think the nightmare of my student shared houses is putting me off!

As a further question - what's the music scene like around Reading? Jazz is the thing that's drawing my attention at the moment, but I'm not that fussy as long as there's gigs to play!

Clarky

I wouldn't live in Reading… too noisy..
but there are plenty of places just outside of Reading that are pretty nice..

LoFi

bob21 said:

As a further question - what's the music scene like around Reading? Jazz is the thing that's drawing my attention at the moment, but I'm not that fussy as long as there's gigs to play!

There's a half-decent scene with a few regular jazz gigs and some jams (assuming they're still going - I'm a couple of years out of date). There are also some *really* good pubs!

Re housing, Reading's probably one of the cheaper places to live in the area - most of the small towns outside Reading are considered "Nicer" and therefore more expensive. If you want cheaper, you're realistically looking at Slough or Bracknell which are (with all due respect to those that live there) god-awful. Basically, you're in prime commuter/tech-belt territory, with the prices that come with it - I'd hope a salary would reflect the location change.

Troy

bob21 said:

Anyone live in/around Reading?

I'm weighing up a job opportunity that would require relocating close to Reading (from Suffolk).

Strikes me that Reading seems to be relatively expensive (compared to the area I am in now) - are there places around the area that are cheaper? Work would be RG5, equidistant between central Reading and the M4..

Guess that depends where in Suffolk, as the prices in Southwold are stupidly expensive! £120k for a beach hut, hmmm no thank you!

octatonic

Reading is going to be on Crossrail, which will mean a dramatically reduced commute into London.
If you are buying, then try to get one that will benefit from this.
If renting and not commuting into London then try to find a place that will be cheaper because it isn't on Crossrail.

randella

I grew up in Reading and South Oxfordshire, but I'll stop short of offering any specific advice on the grounds that I left the year before Blair pitched up at 10 Downing Street, i.e. a while ago .

I'd be surprised if the jazz scene had completely disappeared in the meantime though, it used to have a fairly lively one if you knew where to look.

sev112

Architecturally (actually if you look up above ground level even then it's not too bad) Reading has it's flaws but it has a huge amount of positives.  It is a great location for heading north south east and west to places within easy distcnce - whether that be coast, countryside, oxford, london etc.  there is a lot of entertainment going on

Moominpapa

I live in Wokingham - rent a nice house that I could never afford to buy. As others have said, Bracknell is probably your best bet for cheaper houses - and it's just regenerated itself!  Lots of areas of student housing in Reading, so watch out for very noisy streets. Also traffic in Reading is regularly horrendous. The northern suburbs of Reading - Caversham area - has some nice quiet housing, but I believe it's also expensive. Don't even think about Wokingham unless you are ready to drop 350-400K on a small semi.

randella

Moominpapa said:

I live in Wokingham - rent a nice house that I could never afford to buy. As others have said, Bracknell is probably your best bet for cheaper houses - and it's just regenerated itself!  Lots of areas of student housing in Reading, so watch out for very noisy streets. Also traffic in Reading is regularly horrendous. The northern suburbs of Reading - Caversham area - has some nice quiet housing, but I believe it's also expensive. Don't even think about Wokingham unless you are ready to drop 350-400K on a small semi.

I lived in Caversham in the 80's, and it was nice then.  About ten years ago when I was considering a move back I had a quick look and on that side of the river things had got knicker-wettingly expensive; I don't imagine the intervening decade has seen a reversal in the trend.  Have a look though, it's a nice area if you've got the readies

d8m

Get a place down Rivermead  way and you can sell tshirt and bottles of water to festival punters every August!

Clarky

Moominpapa said:

I live in Wokingham - rent a nice house that I could never afford to buy. As others have said, Bracknell is probably your best bet for cheaper houses - and it's just regenerated itself!  Lots of areas of student housing in Reading, so watch out for very noisy streets. Also traffic in Reading is regularly horrendous. The northern suburbs of Reading - Caversham area - has some nice quiet housing, but I believe it's also expensive. Don't even think about Wokingham unless you are ready to drop 350-400K on a small semi.

I agree… I'd never want to live in Reading.. especially not west of the town centre [Oxford Rd is nasty]
also steer clear of Whitely, Cemetery Junction / Palmer Park
as a rule of thumb, I'd say that most places east of the B3350 are ok to pretty nice
I'd avoid anything west of that road
Caversham is nice, but getting to Woodley from there every morning may not be too much fun [traffic]

RG5 is Woodley..
I live in Earley, which is quite nice and not far from Woodley..
parts of Woodley are quite nice too..
Sonning is nice but very expensive

Majorscale

Another forumite in the area, I also live in Wokingham. As others have said it depends on budget. If you work in Woodley then look in Woodley first, or a little outside, i.e. Twyford, Earley or Winnersh as they are all nice areas. Wokingham is pricey, forget Sonning unless you are on a Prime Ministerial or George Clooney wage! Reading will have a lot of property choice and all the amenities that go with it, and Bracknell (which fortunately is now being massively redeveloped) will have cheaper properties.

There is a jazz club in Reading and there's another in Ascot. The music scene is pretty good. 

LoFi

Majorscale said:

There is a jazz club in Reading and there's another in Ascot. The music scene is pretty good. 

Which one (in Reading)? There's the one at the Madejski stadium, but didn't the one in town (The Arches) become a, ahem, "Gentlemen's Establishment"? In terms of jazz, I was thinking of the Global Café - regular gigs, a monthly jam and (a while back) a couple of insanely-cute barmaids. Not quite the same since they stopped doing Budvar Dark on draught, though...

Re Caversham, I lived there for a while (Heron Island, specifically - 3 friends and I got an insanely good deal on a townhouse with a waterfront garden and its own mooring) - it's a nice area, but getting across the river in the morning added 20 mins to any journey and, as others have said, it's not the cheapest part of town.

FarleyUK

LoFi said:

Majorscale said:

There is a jazz club in Reading and there's another in Ascot. The music scene is pretty good. 

Which one (in Reading)? There's the one at the Madejski stadium, but didn't the one in town (The Arches) become a, ahem, "Gentlemen's Establishment"? In terms of jazz, I was thinking of the Global Café - regular gigs, a monthly jam and (a while back) a couple of insanely-cute barmaids. Not quite the same since they stopped doing Budvar Dark on draught, though...

Re Caversham, I lived there for a while (Heron Island, specifically - 3 friends and I got an insanely good deal on a townhouse with a waterfront garden and its own mooring) - it's a nice area, but getting across the river in the morning added 20 mins to any journey and, as others have said, it's not the cheapest part of town.

Yep - I used to work in the office block opposite it. Was hilarious seeing the "new staff" for the club turn up for their "auditions".

bob21

Thanks all - Bracknell looks to shave 10-20% off the prices, so that may be a good place to start looking!