Coley Recreation Ground

Coley is an inner-town district near the centre of the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. It is often referred to as Old Coley, to distinguish it from the adjacent, and much more recent, suburb of Coley Park. The district has no formal boundaries, but the historically the name referred to the area roughly bounded by Castle Street, Castle Hill and the Bath Road to the north, Berkeley Avenue to the south and west, and the River Kennet and Bridge Street to the east. Coley is bordered to its south and west by Coley Park, to its north by West Reading, and to its east by Katesgrove and the Inner Distribution Road. The district lies entirely within the borough of Reading, within Coley, Abbey and Katesgrove wards. It is within the Reading West parliamentary constituency.Coley is split between the Church of England parishes of All Saints Church and St Giles' Church, although neither church is actually within the district.The Berkshire Record Office is located in Coley Avenue near to the junction with Bath Road. Coley formerly had a railway goods yard, the Reading Central Goods station, which was connected to the main line at Southcote Junction by the Coley branch line. Phoebe Cusden, a notable socialist, peace campaigner and Mayor of Reading, lived all her life in Coley. In 1977 she published Coley: Portrait of an Urban Village, a history of the suburb.Old Coley housed one of Reading's largest slum communities, built in the area between Wolseley St and Castle St. Centred around the Coley Steps, courts and back-to-back housing accommodated a population of about 1,500. The slums were eventually cleared in the 1930s, with residents rehoused in the new council estates of Whitley and Norcot. In 1989 the Coley Local History Group recorded the memories of its residents in two publications "Talking of Coley" (ISBN 0951593307, 1990) and "More Talking of Coley" (1991)

The Berkshire Record Office is the county record office for Berkshire, England. It is located in Reading. The Berkshire Record Office opened on 10 August 1948 in The Forbury, Reading. It moved to the new Berkshire Shire Hall, beside the M4, in 1981, and to its present home in Coley Avenue, Reading, in 2000.

Coley is an electoral ward of the Borough of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. Until the 2022 Reading Borough Council election, it was known as Minster ward and had slightly different boundaries. It lies south-west of the town centre, comprising all or parts of the suburbs of Coley, Coley Park, and West Reading, together with a large tract of undeveloped River Kennet flood-plain to the south. From the south in clockwise order it is bounded by the River Kennet, the Reading to Basingstoke railway line, Reading West railway station, the Oxford Road, Prospect Street, Tilehust Road, Castle Hill, and the A33 back to the River Kennet. The ward is bordered, in the same order, by Whitley, Southcote, Battle, Abbey and Katesgrove wards. It lies entirely within the Reading West parliamentary constituency.The principal changes to the ward boundary in 2022 were the loss of the section of the old Minster ward to the west of the railway line, bounded by Bath Road, Parkside Road and Tilehurst Road, to Southcote ward, and the loss of the strip of Minster ward to the east of the A33, as far as the River Kennet, to Katesgrove ward. Coley ward also gained the area bounded by Tilehurst Road, Reading West station, Oxford Road and Prospect Street from Battle ward.As of 2016, there were just over 10,000 people living in Minster ward, of whom 21% were aged under 16, 12.6% were aged 65 and over, and 29% were born outside the UK. The population lived in a total of just under 4,700 dwellings, of which almost 50% were in purpose-built blocks of flats, and around 20% each were terraced houses or semi-detached houses, with detached houses and flat conversions making up the rest. Of the population aged between 16 and 74, approximately 70% were in employment and 5.5% were unemployed. Of those in employment, 50% were in managerial, professional or technical occupations, with 26% in professional occupations.As with all Reading wards, the ward elects three councillors to Reading Borough Council. Elections since 2004 are generally held by thirds, with elections in three years out of four, although the 2022 elections were for all councillors due to the boundary changes. The ward councillors are currently Ellie Emberson, Paul Gittings and Liz Terry, all of whom are members of the Labour party.

Yeomanry House is a former military installation in Reading, Berkshire. It is a Grade II listed building.

Coley Park is a suburb of the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. It is largely built on the country estate of the same name, surrounding Coley House. It is primarily a residential area, although it is also home to the Berkshire Independent Hospital and has previously been the site of government offices.

Carey Baptist Church is an independent evangelical/Baptist church in Reading, England.

The British Chiropractic Association (BCA) was founded in 1925 and represents over 50% of UK chiropractors. It is the largest and longest established association for chiropractors in the United Kingdom. The BCA have implemented campaigns regarding awareness of many modern technologies and the injuries that can result from them, such as RSI from smartphone and laptop use.

Vachel Almshouses is a terrace of almshouses in the town of Reading in the English county of Berkshire.

H & G Simonds Ltd was a brewing company founded in Reading, Berkshire, England in 1785 by William Blackall Simonds. The company amalgamated with Courage & Barclay in 1960 and dropped the Simonds name after ten years. Eventually the firm became part of Scottish & Newcastle who sold the brands to Wells & Young's Brewery in 2007 and closed the Reading brewery three years later.

County Lock is a lock on the River Kennet in Reading town centre in the English county of Berkshire. It is now administered by the Canal & River Trust as part of the Kennet and Avon Canal. Downstream from the lock is Brewery Gut, a particularly fast flowing, narrow and dangerous stretch of the river.County Lock has the lowest rise of the locks on the Kennet, as boats only rise or fall about 30 cm (1 foot) in the lock. The main stream of the Kennet flows down the weir on the far side of the lock, while another arm of the Kennet disappears under the Bridge Street Roundabout.The first County Lock was built between 1718 and 1723, during the navigation works undertaken under the supervision of the engineer John Hore of Newbury in order to create the Kennet Navigation between Reading and Newbury. Initially the lock was located on the north side of the river, adjacent to Bear Wharf, but it was relocated to its current location on the south bank as part of the Reading waterworks improvement scheme of 1876.The land on both sides of the river adjacent to County Lock was formerly part of the site of Simonds Brewery. Brewery Gut takes its name from the brewery. In the days of horse haulage, this stretch of river had no towpath, and a long tow line had to be sent down-river on a specially designed float. To add to the difficulty, at its narrowest the gut is only 25 feet (7.6 m) wide, causing strong currents. Multiple vessels cannot safely pass due to the tortuous and narrow route, and there have been instances in the past of boats colliding and sinking. Today passage through the gut is controlled by traffic lights.Simonds' Brewery closed in the late 1970s, and most of the brewery buildings have been demolished. Around the lock itself they have been replaced by a mixture of apartments and offices, although the brewery's old stable building, which overlooks the lock, has been preserved and was formerly occupied by a Loch Fyne restaurant. The part of the brewery that enveloped Brewery Gut has been replaced by The Oracle shopping centre, and boats can be seen navigating through the middle of the Riverside Level of that complex, lined on both sides by restaurants and pubs.

Reading Civic Centre was a civic centre in the town of Reading, itself in the English county of Berkshire. The centre dated from the mid-1970s.

The Hexagon is a multi-purpose theatre and arts venue in Reading, Berkshire, England. Built in 1977 in the shape of an elongated hexagon, the theatre is operated by Reading Borough Council under the name "Reading Arts and Venues" along with South Street Arts Centre and Reading's concert hall.