A decision is due on a project that will transform the premium shopping centre and dining destination in Reading for good.
A decision is due on a project that would permanently transform The Oracle shopping centre and dining destination in Reading.
Opened in 1999 and owned by Hammerson, The Oracle attracts more than 12 million visits a year and houses high street shops, a bowling and arcade centre and a cinema.
Three years ago plans were revealed to add more than 400 apartments, turning parts of The Oracle into a place to live for the first time. The scheme would replace the Vue cinema and the former Debenhams site with new towers either side of the River Kennet, with each side containing 218 flats. The Vue building could be levelled and replaced with three towers.
Of the four restaurants in the Vue building, Browns Brasseries closed in April 2024 and TGI Fridays closed in June 2024. Cote Brasserie and Miller & Carter remain open; Miller & Carter opened a second restaurant at the Caversham Rose in October 2022. A cinema and a single new restaurant would be provided on the ground floor.
The former Debenhams building has been closed since 2023. Next Beauty & Home closed in August 2023, and Franco Manca and The Real Greek closed in September 2023. The partly demolished site would make way for two new towers, plus a 'leisure unit', a restaurant and co‑working shared office space.
All flats would be 'build to rent' with no ownership opportunities; homes would be managed by Packaged Living, which is also named as the residential provider for the planned Waterfront Square development of 254 flats.
Reading Borough Council's planning applications committee will make the decision, after a recommendation for approval from the council's principal planning officer, Matt Burns.
Mr Burns' report says the scheme diverges from several council policies, including restrictions on tall buildings and an "overdominance" of one‑bed flats totalling 207 units. On affordable housing, 10 per cent of both parts of the site would be designated affordable, amounting to a total of 44 apartments at reduced rent levels.
He judged the project would be beneficial overall. He wrote: “There are considered to be significant public benefits including the substantial enhancements to public realm areas both on and off site, street-level activation and creating visual interest via new shopfronts to existing poor quality parts of the Central Area, provision of 436 dwellings towards meeting the council’s housing needs whist providing a high standard of accommodation for future occupiers as well as the range of benefits evidenced by the applicant in terms of securing diversification of The Oracle to facilitate it to secure its existing and future important role in the overall vitality and viability of the Central Area and Reading's role as a key regional centre within the Thames Valley.”
Councillors will make the decision on Wednesday, 3 December. The project was submitted under two linked planning applications: PL/22/1916 (former Debenhams site) and PL/22/1917 (Vue cinema building).
James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter
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