Best place to park?

[rfctabs]

Not sure if this is the right place but I'll ask anyway.

I left Reading in 1999 and haven't been able to get to any games since then for various reasons.

However....

I'm coming to the 'Boro game tomorrow (hooray) with my daughter, but have absolutely no idea what the best thing is to do for parking. I'm travelling down from Birmingham so can either come through Tilehurst on the A329, or jusr do M40/A404/M4 to J11. Any suggestions about time to allow for traffic in and around the town?

I've seen the stories about congestion around the ground and lack of decent close parking, so wondered about just parking at the railway station and getting the bus, or maybe even parking in Tilehurst near where I used to live and getting the bus from there. What about parking at Foster-Wheeler - is that any good?

Like everyone else I don't want to be stuck in too much traffic getting out of town (fat chance, I know).

Any advice gratefully received.

[Deathy]

If you don't mind a 20 minute walk, park your car in Greenfields Road. It's a small alley way through to the Basingstoke Road, between the park and Holiday Inn hotel. The road is quiet and safe.

[Sun Tzu]

Parking at the Station is probably more expensive than parking at the ground. You also possibly wouldn;t save too much in time.

The HP car park once you com eoff the M4 is easy to get a space in and costs £8. Not sure what getting out post game is like.

It's not hard to get a park close to the ground, there are several places around Bennett Rd that so parking - just have a drive around and don't leave it until 2.45 to find somewhere !!!

[Murts-is-Lej]

If you're coming off at J11 then the old HP car park is the easiest to get into and out of. It does cost £8 but so far I've parked in all sorts of other free places and been broken into once and fined once - total cost of "free" parking = £110! Can't imagine why the traffic wardens and car thieves of Reading (are they the same people?) target 3-5pm on a Saturday for most of their activities. I was one of a whole line of cars in the Acre Industrial Estate that had our windows smashed - shan't be parking there again. The HP car park is quicker to get out of than almost any other one around and you're straight on the M4 once you're out, so I'll be there on Saturday (BTW, don't park at the very back of the multi-storey bit - it saves you 1 minute's walk but costs an extra 10 minutes in the car).

[rfctabs]

Great advice guys - thanks a lot.

On balance it looks like HP is my best bet. If I want to be parked up by, say 1:45pm, how long should I allow to get off the M4? I can imagine taking 1:45 to get from the NEC to J10 on the M4, then another hour to get to HP. Is that what it's like?

Cheers,

Peter

[Sun Tzu]

I'd had thought at 1.45 you shouldn't be too caught up in traffic on the motorway unless thereis an accident but regular users will probably give you better insight. I usually park up near there around 2.15 and the traffic for most games seems to have been flowing quite well on the bypass.

[Barry the bird boggler]

The road outside the Gillette building alongside the old Basingstoke Road is fairly handy, still about a miles walk though..

[Murts-is-Lej]

With 16-18,000 attendance it only takes 10 mins to get off the M4 and into HP especially if you're coming in from the west. You could always do M40/A34/M4 to J11 and come in that way. When the Mad Stad was full it could take 1/2 hour just to get in and out of HP but the Prem days are behind us (for now).

[handbags_harris]

I don't think you can go far wrong with Foster Wheeler. Parking free and bus £3.50. You'll be back at your car by 5.30 absolute latest and it's less than half the price of HP.

[rfctabs]

Is the Foster-Wheeler bus £3.50 return? That's not bad (although there are two of us. My daughter's 16 and isn't really that keen on football but has decided that she's my "football buddy" so I don't have to go to games on my own Her first game was Walsall v. Gillingham at the Bescot a few weeks ago. The game was all you might expect from League One - 0-0 and the most boring game I've ever seen (except for Wigan in the Branfoot days...)).

Are there a few buses on a shuttle service or is there just one - miss it and you walk?

[Sun Tzu]

I don't think you can go far wrong with Foster Wheeler. Parking free and bus £3.50. You'll be back at your car by 5.30 absolute latest and it's less than half the price of HP.

It's £3.50 per person though isn't it ? Whereas FW is per car. I can be home by 5.30 from my parking spot right next to HP...

[rfctabs]

Thanks all. Parked at FW in the end, mostly cos I didn't recognise any of the A33 and couldn't even FIND HP

Anyway, turned out well. £5.50 for me and daughter return on the bus, and back to Brum for 19:00.

The only bad thing was the game. And the other fans - all I heard all through the match was moan, moan, moan. Not a word of support or encouragement - just constant carping. Is it always like that now? It seems much worse than I remember.

[Rev Algenon Stickleback H]

Thanks all. Parked at FW in the end, mostly cos I didn't recognise any of the A33 and couldn't even FIND HP

Anyway, turned out well. £5.50 for me and daughter return on the bus, and back to Brum for 19:00.

The only bad thing was the game. And the other fans - all I heard all through the match was moan, moan, moan. Not a word of support or encouragement - just constant carping. Is it always like that now? It seems much worse than I remember.

Come the next home match, it'll be a whole nine months since our last home win. It'll be our 16th attempt at winning in that time, and we've seen the team fail to score in 11 of the 15 previous matches.

It tends to sap the positivity somewhat when you go to games think that not only is a win unlikely, but even seeing a goal would be a surprise.

P15 W0 D6 L9 F5 A18.

One goal every four and a half hours.

[Ian Royal]

Use Rodgers' space. It might prevent that clown oxf*rd the team over with idiotic substitutes and stupid formations.

[Dirk Gently]

Thanks all. Parked at FW in the end, mostly cos I didn't recognise any of the A33 and couldn't even FIND HP

Anyway, turned out well. £5.50 for me and daughter return on the bus, and back to Brum for 19:00.

The only bad thing was the game. And the other fans - all I heard all through the match was moan, moan, moan. Not a word of support or encouragement - just constant carping. Is it always like that now? It seems much worse than I remember.

Why do you think we've not won at home since January?

[Gordons Cumming]

A few company car parks in Green Park are worth a try.

[rfctabs]

Thanks Gordon. I'm happy enough with FW for now. At least I know where I am there...

[bobbybottler]

Round the back of Verizon there's a disused nursery with its own car park, rarely full (especially these days).

[Schards#2]

at 2.59pm, many, many miles away from the ground

[Gordons Cumming]

at 2.59pm, many, many miles away from the ground

Soundings of a bitter man.