Location

How to find us

Berkshire Record Office is situated on the western edge of Reading town centre, on the corner of Coley Avenue and Castle Hill/Bath Road (A4).

Map of Reading The Record Office is in the large red circle bottom left, the path to the office is in pink.

Detail of the Record Office, off Castle Hill

Coming by train and bus

Reading’s main railway station has frequent, fast services to and from London (30 minutes), and serves all parts north, west and south. We are 20 minutes walk from the station via the shopping centre. From the south, the stopping train from Basingstoke to Reading West station leaves a 15 minutes' walk.
To catch a bus from the main station, go to stop SW, on the other side of the roundabout outside the station. Take buses 25 or 26 to Castle Hill (about every 10 minutes during the daytime), and ask for Russell Street.
To return to the town centre and station, take any of a dozen buses which stop every 2 or 3 minutes during the daytime on the opposite side of Castle Hill from the Record Office. Services are less frequent on Thursday evenings.

Walking from Reading Station/town centre

The most pleasant route is along Station Road, the pedestrianised Queen Victoria Street, Broad Street and Chain Street, across St Mary’s churchyard to Gun Street and Castle Street, over the IDR (inner distribution road) then straight on up Castle Hill (about 20 minutes). This route is shown as a dotted line on the map.

Coming by car

The easiest routes are from the M4 motorway.
Either: from Junction 11, follow Reading A33, Town Centre A33, then Newbury (A4) signs, then turn left into Berkeley Avenue, and right at the brow of the hill (pelican crossing) into Coley Avenue. Just before the traffic lights at the far end of Coley Avenue turn right into the Record Office (3½ miles).
Or: leave at Junction 12, and follow Reading A4 (Bath Road) towards the town. After about 3 miles, when a bus lane forces you into the centre lane, look out for Dunedin Hospital (both sides of road), shortly after which you reach the Russell Street/Castle Hill/Coley Avenue lights. Turn half right into the Record Office (4 miles).

Parking

A number of free spaces are provided for researchers using the Record Office, but we cannot reserve them for individual visitors. If all are taken, and your visit is intended to be short, there is some parking up to 2 hours in Coley Hill. Street parking otherwise is mostly restricted to residents with permits.
The nearest multi-storey car parks are Chatham Street and Broad Street Mall (10 minutes' walk) or Oracle Holy Brook (15 minutes). Price structures vary but average about £1 per hour.

Park and Ride

Buses run every 7-8 minutes to the town centre from Madejski stadium (A33 south) and Loddon Bridge (A329(M) east), leaving a 10 minute walk from St Mary's Butts via Castle Street. Parking is free all day, and the return fare is £2 each, or from 9.30 am. 2 adults and up to 3 children can travel on a family ticket for £2.50. Please note last buses leave St Mary’s Butts about 6.30 pm.