Nothing like a bit of retail therapy, especially when you have someone on hand to carry your bags. Makes you feel like you have bought nothing because you are not the one being weighed down by 2 pairs of shoes, a pair of jeans, two tops, underwear etc.
Well, after exhausting Guildford I headed out to Readings relatively new shopping centre The Oracle. Reading is just of Junction 11 of the M4, and The Oracle has sign posts from all directions. My only grumble regarding the car park is that it is £1.00 per hour from Monday to Saturday and £1.00 for all day Sunday, and the ticket price can soon mount up if you have lunch at one of the many places to eat.
The Oracle is situated next to the canal which has been beautified dramatically with Cinemas, Restaurants, creche for the little darlings and Bars! On entering the Oracle you are confronted with cafes and like most shopping centres the large department stores are situated at either end.
The large department stores for this centre are House of Fraser and Debenhams, lots of clothes shops from The Vestry, Mango,Morgan, Gap, French Connection, H&M, Topshop, La Senza and the usual high street fashion houses.
They have some good shops that you can just have a poke around and be nosey, such as Masai Mara, Wax Lyrical, Disney Store, Warner Bros, Natural World and the best of all The Bear Factory, which you can pick a bear carcass and have stuffed how you like.
I will not list all the stores but in total there are between 40-50 shops to keep you entertained, if like me you want more variety you can walk outside to the old shopping centre The Broad Street Mall where you will find more shops and big department stores like John Lewis, Marks & Spencers and a large Primark, Virgin Megastore and TK Maxx.
If you want to do some shopping in peace you can either leave the children at home with a responsible adult! or book them into the creche as long as they are between the the ages of 3 months - 5 years.
Lilliput Creche is open the same time as the shops, prices are not bad for 1 hour it is £2.99 maximum of 2 hours, prices are also available if you want to shop for longer. Mornings £19, Afternoons £17, Full day £32, and 5 days £155 which would beneficial if you worked in the surrounding area.
Places to eat are not hard to find, if you just fancied a snack and a cup of cappucino there are Cafes by the truck load, Cafe Italia, Caffe Nero, Haagen Dazs Cafe (My Fav) Cafe Giardino (excellent Chicken Tikka Ciabata), Pret-a-Manger.
If you want big food why not try Pizza Hut, Old Oreleans, The Slug and Lettuce, Santa Fe, Riverside Restaurant and The London Brasserie. Or one of the many bars for a drink by the water.
More information can be found on the info site at www.oracle-shopping.com
Car parking is ticket entry and pay on departure at pay machines situated on all levels next to the lifts, they now take debit and credit cards so be prepared for an expensive day out and that is only the car park.
Its hard not to find something for everyone in Reading, clean well signposted and 90% pedestrianized so no cars.
Cheers
Zoe30 x
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