Should A33 Be Renamed After Sir John?

Reading Borough Council is considering renaming the A33 to John Madejski Way to honour Sir John Madejski. Locals largely know and support him, but are a bit ambivalent about changing the road name.

Maureen Prior said: "Why him? There are other people out there. I don't mind. I've met him anyway."

Maureen added: "I've met him a couple of times and had coffee with him one time. He was sitting outside and I went there with one of my friends, and we chatted to him. He was a friendly enough man, so ok, they can go for it!"

Brett Hand said: "I think it's good. I'd say he deserves the credit he did. He built Reading up from the ground. We got to the Premier League because of him. And then when he had to sell it and we tried going to the Premier League, it was unsuccessful. And then that was when Dai Yongge took over in that period. And then obviously we tried to bring more money and more players in, and we just went downhill from there. So we had our best seasons when he was there, so he deserves some kind of credit."

Reading were in the Premier League in 2006/07 and 2012/13 but were relegated after one season. They reached the playoffs in 2016/17 but lost to Huddersfield, and were relegated to League One in 2022/23.

Cheryl Brown said: "I'm happy with that, he's done a lot for Reading, so I'm very happy if it gets changed to John Madejski Way."

In recent years his name has been removed from the stadium and the school. The stadium name change was part of a 10-year deal with Select Car Leasing, one of the club's biggest sponsors. The John Madejski Academy was renamed Hartland High after the Greenshaw Learning Trust took over following an 'Inadequate' Ofsted rating in October 2023.

A woman sitting in Broad Street said: "I don't have a particularly strong opinion, but he did do a lot for charity and everything else, he's a businessman and a millionaire, and did well for his money as well. But it's still called the A33 and that's what people will refer to it as."

A decision on the name change is due at the council's planning applications committee on Wednesday 7 October.

James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter