1. Foreign Direct Investment 

Reading was also ranked 8^th in the same category for ‘Economic Potential’ and was ranked 2^nd only to Milton Keynes for ‘Business Friendliness’.

Data was collected for cities with an immediate population between 100,000 and 350,000, under five categories:

1.      Economic Poten­tial

2.      Human Capital and Lifestyle

3.      Cost Effectiveness

4.      Connectivity

5.      Business Friendliness

Reading’s overall ranking is quite remarkable given that it doesn’t currently even meet the official criteria to be termed a ‘City’. 

Reading does have excellent rail and public transportation services (only 22 minutes by rail into London), plus designated cycle routes. It is also very accessible from Heathrow and for this reason attracts many multinational companies.

Reading station was named the country’s best major station after picking up a National Rail Award in 2019. The station had a series of passenger improvements helping it on its way to become crowned the best major station and pre-pandemic, it saw more than 25 million people passing through each year.

The M4 has recently completed the first phase of a major upgrade to a smart motorway, with junctions 8/9 to 12 now complete. 

Nigel Horton-Baker, Executive Director of Reading UK, confirmed last year: “Over 300,000 sq ft of co-working space has been developed in Reading in the last three years and Reading now boasts the largest amount of start-up space in the Southeast, outside of London.”

Reading enjoys a number of business parks including:

• The Thames Valley Science Park - home to over 70 companies and supported by the University of Reading who run the Enterprise Centre there.
• Green Park - home to many multinational organisations including PepsiCo, Huawei, Bayer, Thames Water, Virgin Media o2, Veritas and was also previously home to Stanton House. Pre-Covid, around 7,000 people worked from the business park which has great amenities including: a new housing development, a hotel, childcare, dry cleaning, the Circle Hospital, Nuffield Gym and some great places to eat. The business park is even in the process of building a new train station with great links to London and Southampton.
• Reading International Business Park - Recently purchased by foreign investors for £120 million and home to Verizon, has started a major refurbishment which will include a ‘rain garden’, a large gym, secure storage for 174 bikes a yoga and pilates studio.

That’s all without mentioning the presence of leading accounting firms like Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG.

While Reading provides a significant home to sectors like Education, Finance and Retail, perhaps most prominently the place defines itself as a digital hotspot with over *20% of vacancies being those in digital tech and providing some of the highest salaries for Software Developers and Data Scientists in the UK.

What’s more Reading was recognised as the second-best ‘City’ in Europe for tech start-ups, according to the FDI Intelligence, European Tech Cities of the Future 2021 report. Reading was ranked behind only London in the ‘Tech Start-Up Environment’ ranking and 17^th overall in Europe as a ‘European Tech City of the Future’. The ‘Tech Start-Up Environment’ ranking indexed venture capital availability, high-tech employment, university-industry collaboration in R&D and start-up prevalence in a number of tech sub-sectors.

More than 8,000 technology-led companies call Reading and the Thames Valley home. Notable presences include Microsoft and Oracle’s UK headquarters, as well as the likes of Verizon, Fujitsu, Nvidia, Cisco, Ericsson and Huawei Technology.

The University of Reading is an established university ranked 27^th in the UK and 202^nd Globally.  It attracts over 5,000 International students. 

As a university town, Reading is not short on bars, clubs, pubs and shops including the Oracle Shopping Centre. The town is also synonymous with its infamous music festival held every year on the August bank holiday. 

Studies suggest that a successful bid will bring further investment and even better employment prospects – so there really is lots to gain. The criteria this year, requires applicants to address heritage, innovation, identity, sound governance and associations with royalty.

As well as the economic reasons above, Reading has an incredibly rich heritage and (although not a pre-requisite to gaining City status) is the UK’s largest town with a population of over 345,000.
What’s more, Berkshire is home to the Royal Family and doesn’t yet have a City within its boundaries – so surely this has to be Reading’s year to win?

The final decision will be made by the Queen, on ministerial advice, prior to the Platinum Jubilee.