Reading Old Town Hall

I've been in Reading THREE times since Friday! I can go months without visiting as I'm not a big shopper but this time the January sales lured me! I hope that's the end of necessary shopping for awhile!

Reading may be good for shopping but sadly it's not known for its beautiful architecture. As I mentioned before a lot of the historic buildings were demolished. This was almost one of them - the old Town Hall. To be fair, it's not actually that old by British standards and due to structural weakness, the previous Town Hall building was demolished to make room for this one.

This version was built in stages between 1786 and1897, housing the civic offices, the library, museum and a concert hall. It was still functioning as such when our family moved to Reading in 1972. The civic offices were moved to an ugly modern complex in another part of the town in 1976 and the library was also moved to a new location in 1985. The building risked demolition after that but thankfully it was saved and renovated between 1986 and 2000. The building now houses Reading Museum, art galleries, a cafe and the concert hall. It is also used as a wedding venue.