Charter 750

Reading Today

The town today still provides glimpses of the Council’s previous incarnations. There are the Abbey Ruins of its long departed landlord; High Bridge restored in 1787 by a Corporation keen to see trade flourish; the expression of Victorian civic pride through the Town Hall and a legacy of public undertakings from schools to the IDR. The Gildhall is now under the Oracle, the site maintaining the link to the commerce of the merchant traders who started the town.
 

The old Borough lost its status and its independence in 1974, when like all boroughs it was abolished and replaced by a district council, sharing its responsibilities with a County Council. But the new Council was permitted to retain the arms, the title and the history of its predecessor.

Since 1998 it has been restored to its position as the sole local authority running the town, responsible for the provision of schools, social services, housing, roads and transport policy and a range of cultural services.