The Oracle, Reading

The Oracle shopping centre is located in the heart of Reading, Berkshire. It opened in 2000, after being developed by Hammerson Plc, and since then offers the best combination of shopping and leisure facilities around. The Oracle boasts over 90 top name retail outlets and over 22 contemporary and family orientated restaurants, bars and cafés. It also hosts a 10 screen Vue Cinema that can be found on the Oracle Riverside.

The Oracle ...
...metre promenade surrounding the River Kennet are a selection of restaurants where outdoor seating is also provided for when the weather permits.

There are two bridges spanning the river, to allow easy access for both sides of the promenade, one of which is the uniquely designed Delphi Bridge, in the shape of an ellipse. The bridge has seating all along the outer rim, of which many a shopper sits to enjoy their takeaway McDonalds or ... more

The Oracle shopping centre is located in the heart of Reading, Berkshire. It opened in 2000, after being developed by Hammerson Plc, and since then offers the best combination of shopping and leisure facilities around. The Oracle boasts over 90 top name retail outlets and over 22 contemporary and family orientated restaurants, bars and cafés. It also hosts a 10 screen Vue Cinema that can be found on the Oracle Riverside.

The Oracle Riverside is the epitome of delight, and along its 270 metre promenade surrounding the River Kennet are a selection of restaurants where outdoor seating is also provided for when the weather permits.

There are two bridges spanning the river, to allow easy access for both sides of the promenade, one of which is the uniquely designed Delphi Bridge, in the shape of an ellipse. The bridge has seating all along the outer rim, of which many a shopper sits to enjoy their takeaway McDonalds or café sandwiches whilst enjoying the view of the River Kennet stretching beneath them.

*Retail Outlets*

The retail sector of The Oracle is vast and covers such areas as Audio, Fashion & Accessories, Opticians, Books & Music and Health & Beauty. For example the following brand name shops can be found in The Oracle:

Fashion/Footwear - Morgan, Dorothy Perkins, French Connections, Debenhams, House of Fraser, Karen Millen, La Senza, Zara and Burton

Both Debenhams and House of Fraser span the ground and first floors of The Oracle, with additional second floor usage included as well. Here you can find Fashion, Electrical, Household, Perfume and Sports Equipment. House of Fraser also has its own café, the Albert Roux Café, a Riverside Restaurant, beauty rooms where you can indulge in a spot of pampering, or you can hire a personal shopper to cater for your needs.

With respect to Books & Music, there is a large Waterstones and HMV in the Oracle, of which within the Waterstones there is a medium sized cafeteria with comfy chairs to sit and peruse your recent purchases.

Other shops include, Boots, Mama's and Papa's, Game, Disney Store, Thornton's, The Bear Factory (Where you can create your own unique bear), Dixon's, Carphone Warehouse, Vodafone, Clinton Cards, The Pier and Whittards. Obviously this is just a small example of the numerous shops in The Oracle.

The majority of the retail outlets are well laid out, and spacious, and appear to be well staffed. The changing rooms obviously get busy when the sales are on, or during peak season, but if your in Debenhams just nip to the men's area as the changing rooms are all single cubicles and their always really quiet.

I generally find that the Disney store is one of the busiest outlets, especially in the school holidays and at Christmas, but hey it's so much fun browsing through all the kids stuff that you forgive the fact its so busy.

*Events*

The Riverside, at The Oracle is often used to host local events and celebrations. There is always fantastic light and firework displays on firework day, Santa and his elves can generally be found wandering around the store or in Santa's Grotto in the House of Fraser at Christmas, or other local events will take centre stage.

For example, as part of the Heritage Open Days Weekend, the Riverside is the starting location for Jonathan the Jesters annual Pied Piper Trail Walk on the 10th and 11th September 2005.

*Leisure Facilities*

Along the Riverside promenade and within the Oracle lower floor are over 22 restaurants, bars and café, and cover a variety of food styles including Chinese, Mexican, Fast Food, Pizza, etc.

Examples of these restaurants include:

Café Giardino, Café Italia, Caffe Nero, Costa Coffee,
Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Nandos
Prêt a Manger, Slug and Lettuce, Wagamama, Yellow River

Others include:

Chilli's - American style restaurant serving great burgers and fajitas
Old Orleans - Table clothes that you can decorate and write silly phrases on, and serves the best cocktails in town
Haagen Dazs Café - worth it just for the ice cream

There are several well-known bars alongside the Riverside including Brannigans, which often hosts student nights on Mondays and is a regular customer of 210FM, the Berkshire and Hampshire radio station. Personally I find the drinks over priced in Branningans and you would expect to pay around £3 a bottle or over £2.50 a pint during a normal evening. You are also not allowed to wear jeans during the evening on a Friday and Saturday.

Other bars alongside the Riverside include:

Santa Fe - a charming bar and restaurant (Keep and eye out for the cute bar staff!), of which only the bar area is smoking. Prices tend to be £2.60 for a bottle/pint but they also serve cocktails at around £4.50 of which there are some really deadly ones!
Slug and Lettuce - Recently refurbished and now contains smoking and non-smoking areas. The bar area is surprisingly quiet on the weekends, but in the evenings is also very busy.
Bar38 - A more modern and chrome feel to this bar, and being located next to Brannigans generally attracts the younger crowd.
Bar Med - As its title suggests this bar has a Mediterranean feel to it, along with the bright orange walls and lively music. I went here for my 21st birthday and had a great time.

*How to get here*

Generally I walk to the Oracle, as my friend lives 10 minutes walk behind the Vue Cinema, but for others who don't live in Reading there are a variety of ways to get to The Oracle:

1. Train - Reading train station is one of the biggest in Berkshire and has connections throughout the UK. The station is a mere 5 minutes away from The Oracle entrance on Broad Street (The main high street).

2. Car - Access to The Oracle can either be from Junctions 10, 11 or 12 of theM4. If you are coming from the West I would recommend using J11, as the Oracle is clearly signposted all the way, and you will encounter less of Reading town traffic.

3. Bus - Reading operates several park and ride schemes, to prevent the build up of traffic into the town centre. As an example of this service you can park at Madejski Stadium and use the park and ride into town.

*Car Parking Facilities*

The Riverside car park has 2,300 spaces which includes disabled parking, an additional 20 motorbike spaces, cycle bays and lockers on each level of the car park for shoppers personal use. There are two car parks, both of which are open 7 days a week. The Holybrook car park opens and closes 30 minutes before shop opening times, but the Riverside car park is open 24 hours for Riverside use.

Upon entry to the car park a ticket is issued, and this is then used in the pay machines once you have finished in the Oracle. The price is standard, around £1 an hour, but on a Sunday, and after 6pm it's normally a standard charge of £2 regardless of the duration.

The car park is often extremely busy, and during the busy Christmas Period, for example, the Oracle can become full. This generally occurs during a Saturday, but there are 5 other main car parks in Reading that are only a few minutes walk from The Oracle. In this instance I would recommend the car park on Queens Road.

*Other Facilities and Shop-mobility*

There are several other facilities within The Oracle, all designed to assist the shopper. These include:

Supervised Crèche for children between 3 months and 5 years
Baby changing and breast-feeding facilities
Toilets
Cash Machines (covers Barclays, Abbey National, Lloyds, Nat West and Link)

The Oracle offers a Shopmobility service for those who have mobility problems, which includes the use of scooters and wheelchairs. You do have to register for this service, but this is quick and easy, and when we took my granddad along all he needed was 2 forms of identification. The process of registering him only took about 10 minutes, and then we were able to borrow one of the wheelchairs for use within the Oracle.

*Opening Times/contact details*

The Oracle is open 7 days a week, and covers the hours detailed below, although these are extended during Christmas.

Monday - Friday: 9.30am-8.00pm
Saturday: 9.00am - 7:00pm
Sunday: 11.00am - 5.00pm
Bank Holidays: 10.00am-6.00pm

Oracle Shopping Centre Limited
Management Suite
Reading RG1 2AG

0118 9 659000

*So what do I think?*

Well, The Oracle has been awarded several awards since it opened in 2000. These include the Police safer parking accreditation "The Park Mark Award", BCSC & ICSC Awards for Best New Shopping Centre 2001, and they have even won and award for "Winner of the Loo of the Year" 2001 and 2002.

It stands to reason then that this is a pretty decent shopping centre.

The entire mall, as well as the Riverside, is always spotless, with waste bins in several convenient locations, of which are seen to be emptied regularly. The Oracle is also a complete non-smoking zone, although areas within The Riverside and its bars and restaurants do have smoking areas.

The choice of restaurants, bars and retail outlets far surpasses anything in the nearby towns, although Basingstoke's "Festival Place" is certainly fighting in the blue corner.

Shop-mobility is ideal for those who find they have mobility problems, and the crèche is an ideal place to drop the kids whilst you do a spot of shopping.

Me? Well I tend to use The Oracle on a frequent basis. I'm nearly always to be found in either Santa Fe or The Slug and Lettuce on a weekend afternoon enjoying a nice chilled bottle of Budweiser, although on occasion (and dependent on the evening ahead) I'll nip to Old Orleans for a nice "Woo Woo" a lovely refreshing Archers and Cranberry cocktail. I love shopping in the Oracle, and the vast array of shops means I'll nearly always find the outfit I'm looking for…if not, and it's a present then I'll just pick a name out of a hat and buy vouchers, seeing as nearly all the shops here sell them. The Oracle does have a tendency to be busy, especially the Riverside when the weather is hot, and crowding can be a slight problem, but the way it was designed means there are a series of "Steps" like stairs surrounding the canal, which provide great seating areas. Hey I love The Oracle.

The Oracle Shopping Centre and Riverside is as the adverts describe - "Shopping & Leisure together".

5 stars from me.
 

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