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Post by Delighted Of Tunbridge Wells on Nov 25, 2020 23:31:37 GMT
I will post my contribution for Reading East here in a minute. It is a little long winded, so will have to be modified, but the history of Reading is very important to the seat.
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Post by Delighted Of Tunbridge Wells on Nov 25, 2020 23:37:15 GMT
The “3 B’s”? What do they mean and why are they so important in the history of the county town of Berkshire? We’ll explore that later, but, first, a little background to why a Roman trading outpost for the city of Calleva Atrebatum (now Silchester in Hampshire) on the River Thames came to be such a large and prosperous town
Reading is an ancient town, thought to be founded as a permanent settlement by the Anglo – Saxon tribal leader Reada in 870, before being occupied by Danish forces under Bagsecg and Halfdan Ragnarsson for the best part of 871, while King Ethelred and Alfred the Great failed to breach their defences in the first Battle of Reading.
Fast forward to the rule of William the Conqueror and the Domesday book, there were 6 mills in the area, 4 on land owned by William himself and 2 on land granted to Battle Abbey, now in Sussex – this shows of us of the importance of Reading’s position on the confluence of the River Thames and Kennet ( now the Kennet and Avon Canal).
Due to Reading’s strategic transport advantages, another skirmish was bound to happen nearby. In the English Civil war, the town was surrounded by 19,000 Parliamentarians under the command of Robert Devereux,3rd Earl of Essex for 11 days. When the surrender was signed, this was a major defeat for the Royalists as their forces were pushed back to their main base of Oxford, losing a frontier garrison on the edge of their territory as well as a major crossing point of the Thames.
The Industrial Revolution is, however, what made Reading the regional capital it is today. Firstly, in 1723, the Kennet Navigation was opened, making the former river navigable as far as Newbury. The aforementioned Kennet and Avon Canal opened in 1810, allowing boats to reach the Bristol Channel from the Thames. The Great Western Railway arrived in 1841, followed swiftly by the South Eastern in 1849 and the London and South West in 1856.
Now is the time to come back to the 3 B’s, these are the industries that enabled Reading to flourish.
The first B, Beer, is about the famous brewery run by the Simmonds family, which was located by the Kennet on the edge of the town centre on Bridge St. It once supplied the British Army at Aldershot and later grew using the infrastructure of the adjacent canal and railway sidings branching off the Berks and Hants railway (now the lines to Basingstoke and the West Country via Newbury respectively). They left the site for the business park now known as Shinfield Park to the south of town in 1978 and sadly shut down for good in 2010. Eagle Brewery in Bedford now owns the rights and produces the traditional Courage beer, which is highly recommended if you come across it. Breweries are still a feature of the town and its surrounds, the Siren Brewery at Arborfield is well worth a visit as is the Double Barrelled in Portman Road and the Loddon Brewery in Dunsden Green.
The 2nd B, biscuits, reminds us of the Huntley and Palmers factory situated on Kings Road, which also benefitted from direct railway connection, which enabled Huntley and Palmers to ship its distinctive tins worldwide. One of your author’s great-grandfathers was a foreman there and the legacy of the firm is very important across the town, Palmer Park was a bequest to the locals by the company, a statue of George Palmer was later built there by George Blackall Simmonds of the Simmonds family of Brewers. Joseph Palmer was a one-time mayor of Reading and Liberal member for the parliamentary constituency. Unfortunately, that business no longer exists in its original form, having moved to a factory in Huyton near Liverpool in 1976 and shutting shop soon after in 1983. Happily, it has been reestablished in 2006, operating from Sudbury in Suffolk. The company’s factory in Reading has mostly been demolished for retail parks, light industry and small council estate, but the facade remains as a major office base for Prudential Insurance.
The 3rd B, bulbs, was the lone survivor – the mail order plant bulbs company Suttons Seeds was founded by John Sutton in 1806, it was based in the Butter Market (known as the Market Place to Reading residents) and grew rapidly until moving to a site 1 mile out of town on the A4 eastbound towards London, which is now Suttons Seeds Business Park as the company have moved on to Paignton, where they still operate today.
The political geography of Reading has always been complex – the parliamentary borough was created in 1265 and it was a hotly contested Liberal-Conservative marginal from about the 1750s to the 1920s when the Labour Party gained strength in the town – prominent figures from this period include Joseph Palmer MP, Sir Francis Goldsmid (who is commemorated on Goldsmid Road, where the synagogue is located) and Rufus Isaacs, the last Liberal to be Foreign Secretary. From 1920 onwards, Somerville Hastings, a local surgeon, was a prominent Labour MP along with Ian Mikardo, a left-wing member of the Fabians and ardent Zionist.
From 1950, it was split into Reading North and Reading South, then to be recombined in 1955 until 1974, when it was split again. (!) Reading North was a seat containing your contributor’s hometown of Caversham (annexed to Reading in 1911 from Oxfordshire), the town centre and the suburbs to the west including the Oxford Road area, the Norcot estate and Tilehurst. It was a closely contested Labour-Conservative marginal, with the Tories winning in the latter period of existence with Tony Durant who went on to represent, but with a decent Liberal third place in these times.
Reading South will be mentioned in the Reading West profile.
Reading East and West were created in the 1983 redrawing and the new incumbent MP was Tory Gerald Vaughan, who represented Reading South until its abolition. He was the representative till 1997, when Jane Griffiths was the first Labour MP for the seat to be elected as part of the Blair landslide. She was a well-liked local MP, but huge rifts in the local Reading and District Labour Party led to her demise, with controversial local Cllr Anthony Page selected at the last minute. This led, among other factors like the Iraq War affecting Labour in heavily Muslim parts of the seat like Newtown, to the seat’s narrow loss to Thames ward Cllr Rob Wilson, a Conservative. Rob Wilson was then the MP for 12 years and fitted most of the seat quite well with his moderate brand of Conservatism and opposition to Brexit in the latter years. It was Brexit which led to mostly led to Conservative fortunes declining in this seat, with the current MP Matt Rodda gaining in 2017, a majority of approx. 3,000.
The seat contains Caversham and the town centre like Reading North but swapped the western suburbs for the eastern suburbs including Woodley, parts of Earley and Newtown. Caversham is a largely very prosperous and affluent community – providing a decent vote even in 2019, but there are large area of solid Labour voters in the Amersham Road council estate and the Grove Hill estate in Emmer Green – Caversham ward, which contains Caversham proper and Lower Caversham, has now got 3 Labour councillors at local level, Thames, Mapledurham and Peppard wards are much more solidly Conservative – Peppard electing Liberal Democrat councillors pre-2010,this ward covers the Emmer Green and Caversham Park Village areas. Thames and Mapledurham wards have usually voted Conservative, both covering Caversham Heights, which is home to many millionaires and the mansions which house them, but Labour made progress during the Corbyn years.
South of the Thames, the town centre covered by Abbey and Katesgrove wards is a consistent Labour stronghold, but this might change with the rapid development of a glut of luxury flats for commuters into London who cannot afford property in the capital. The other inner-city suburbs in Church, Park and Redlands wards (like Newtown for example) mainly consist of owner-occupied terraces, which provide a decent Labour vote, but the large student population from Reading University and South Asian community in Newtown provide large votes for third parties – Park is currently represented by 3 Green councillors and Redlands represented by 2 Labour and 1 Green councillors.
The eastern part of the seat in Wokingham borough covers the towns of Woodley and Earley, which were originally large villages outside the urban area of Reading until large scale urban development post war. Woodley Aerodrome was established in 1932 and housed the Miles Aircraft factory, which contributed heavily to Britain aviation history and the WW2 effort with its Miles Master trainer. Earley has similar origins to Woodley.
As with a lot of upmarket modern housing estate areas, Woodley is heavily Conservative with some Liberal Democrat challengers and former PM Theresa May lives nearby in Sonning ward in Maidenhead constituency, except for the Bulmershe and Whitegates ward, which generally votes Labour except in good Conservative years.
2019 Results
Party Candidate Vote Swing +/-
Labour Matt Rodda 27,102 48.5 -0.5
Conservative Craig Morley 21,178 37.9 -4.4
LD Imogen Shepherd-Du Bey 5,035 9.0 +2.9 Green David McElroy 1,549 2.8 +0.8
Brexit Party Mitchell Feierstein 852 1.5 N/A
CPA Yemi Awolola 202 0.4 N/A
Majority: 5,925 (10.6%, + 3.9)
Turnout: 56,055(72.6%, -0.5)
Labour hold - Swing: + 1.9%
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Post by arnieg on Nov 26, 2020 9:40:21 GMT
My first job, a holiday job as a student, was at the New Courage Beer factory in 1978.
Redlands (where my mother lived for 35 years) has had councillors of all four parties over the last 40 years. I remember one by-election (circa 1981) where the third place candidate got 33% of the vote.
Whitley being in West not East is a bit odd, not to mention the whole Woodley/Earley/Lower Earley partition.
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Post by Delighted Of Tunbridge Wells on Nov 26, 2020 14:43:35 GMT
My first job, a holiday job as a student, was at the New Courage Beer factory in 1978. Redlands (where my mother lived for 35 years) has had councillors of all four parties over the last 40 years. I remember one by-election (circa 1981) where the third place candidate got 33% of the vote. Whitley being in West not East is a bit odd, not to mention the whole Woodley/Earley/Lower Earley partition. It's nice to see another Redingensian on here - strictly I should be a Brakspear'a man, my mother grew up in Henley and I quite like Gravity, but Courage is a much easier drink. Redlands had come to be Labour for a bit because students don't really vote that much in local elections and the LibDems had collapsed, until last year when a combination of factors including a dispute with residents of Northcourt Avenue in the ward (poshest part of Whitley in existence) and the Labour candidate having allegations of theft of 3 grand from a local charity levelled against her, the Greens took a seat. I make no comment on those allegations here for the sake of the forum.... The problem with the Whitley and Reading in Woky Borough partitions is that Reading as a place, not the really stupid borough boundaries (bounded by Sulham,Theale and Pangbourne parishes to the west, the M4 to the South ,the edges of Woodley and Lower Earley settlements to the east and the Oxon-Berks border or the Thames to the North.) has the entitlement to about 2.5 seats with the current population,until recently where population growth has picked up pace due to new house building. Therefore, we can now have 3 seats under the Reading West, Reading Central and Reading East plan someone suggested. The Reading Central plan includes the town centre and all of Caversham plus Whitley in one seat, which is a coherent arrangement. Yes, Reading West would have to take in a bit more of rural West Berks under this arrangement, but it's been trending to the Tories for ages now and this would make no overall difference to its political bent, in fact Newbury would be a much more practically drawn seat.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2020 17:12:58 GMT
I'm far from convinced that the student population helps third parties. If anything they probably cement Labour's dominance
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Post by arnieg on Nov 29, 2020 20:54:08 GMT
I'm far from convinced that the student population helps third parties. If anything they probably cement Labour's dominance But that can be a transient phenomenon. Students certainly didn't help Labour in wards like Redlands in 2005/6
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2020 22:04:28 GMT
I'm far from convinced that the student population helps third parties. If anything they probably cement Labour's dominance But that can be a transient phenomenon. Students certainly didn't help Labour in wards like Redlands in 2005/6 Although student turnout for local elections will be abysmal. Percentage wise I imagine it's almost in single figures outside GE years
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Post by bjornhattan on Nov 29, 2020 22:33:05 GMT
But that can be a transient phenomenon. Students certainly didn't help Labour in wards like Redlands in 2005/6 Although student turnout for local elections will be abysmal. Percentage wise I imagine it's almost in single figures outside GE years I wouldn't be certain of that - I know that in Oxford, student turnout in local elections is higher than you might think. In one of the city wards students make up about 92% of the population, and that ward tends to have turnouts of 30-40% in local elections.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2020 22:35:54 GMT
Although student turnout for local elections will be abysmal. Percentage wise I imagine it's almost in single figures outside GE years I wouldn't be certain of that - I know that in Oxford, student turnout in local elections is higher than you might think. In one of the city wards students make up about 92% of the population, and that ward tends to have turnouts of 30-40% in local elections. Are the political parties particularly active with Oxford students? I know they aren't at all in Reading
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Post by bjornhattan on Nov 29, 2020 22:45:01 GMT
I wouldn't be certain of that - I know that in Oxford, student turnout in local elections is higher than you might think. In one of the city wards students make up about 92% of the population, and that ward tends to have turnouts of 30-40% in local elections. Are the political parties particularly active with Oxford students? I know they aren't at all in Reading Yes, the political parties are generally active, which will raise turnout. The student wards also tend to be very competitive, with significant votes for Labour, the Lib Dems, and often the Greens too. These factors might mean student turnout in Reading local elections is a bit lower, but I'd be surprised if it was dramatically lower (under 20%, say).
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Post by jamie on Nov 29, 2020 23:32:35 GMT
Students are generically more likely to vote Labour and Green so if the latter doesn’t campaign then I would expect students to be at least as Green voting as other residents. However, given the fact that the Greens usually rely on year(s) long targeting to actually win council wards, in the event the Greens win a ward Labour will very likely still win the student population even as the Greens win longer term residents.
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Post by Delighted Of Tunbridge Wells on Nov 30, 2020 20:13:26 GMT
Are the political parties particularly active with Oxford students? I know they aren't at all in Reading Yes, the political parties are generally active, which will raise turnout. The student wards also tend to be very competitive, with significant votes for Labour, the Lib Dems, and often the Greens too. These factors might mean student turnout in Reading local elections is a bit lower, but I'd be surprised if it was dramatically lower (under 20%, say). A lot of the halls are in Wokingham borough and parliamentary constituency and I'd expect the older students to be a bit more involved with local politics,given they've been in Reading for longer by then.
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Post by Delighted Of Tunbridge Wells on Nov 30, 2020 20:21:15 GMT
I'm far from convinced that the student population helps third parties. If anything they probably cement Labour's dominance Labour are far from domination in wards bordering Wokingham Borough. Church was Tory until as recently as 2008. Redlands as Arnie mentioned, had Lib Dems quite recently. Katesgrove was the same - I believe Warren Swaine (former Lib Dem leader here) represented that ward. Park has been a Green bastion for many years now. The further you get from the university in the borough, the more Conservative it gets.
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Post by loderingo on Nov 30, 2020 22:21:07 GMT
Small correction: "former PM Theresa May lives here in Coronation ward in Maidenhead constituency"
May lives in Sonning ward which is in the Maidenhead seat
This is one of those seats where the Brexit vote has had a major impact.
In 2015 both Reading seats were equally safe for the Cons and since then they have sharply diverged. Reading East was estimated to be 61% Remain and Reading West 51% Leave
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Post by Delighted Of Tunbridge Wells on Dec 1, 2020 2:55:01 GMT
Small correction: "former PM Theresa May lives here in Coronation ward in Maidenhead constituency" May lives in Sonning ward which is in the Maidenhead seat This is one of those seats where the Brexit vote has had a major impact. In 2015 both Reading seats were equally safe for the Cons and since then they have sharply diverged. Reading East was estimated to be 61% Remain and Reading West 51% Leave Yeah, I grew up in a road in Caversham that was estimated 80 percent Remain and Berkshire for Europe heavily backed and campaigned for Matt Rodda, so that's where part of that big increase in Labour vote comes from. Ahh crap, I didn't realise that the boundary between Coronation ward and Sonning was the rail line - I will amend accordingly, but she lives about 150ft from the boundary on Mustard Lane. Even though it's Sonning ward,everyone else regards it as Woodley, because it's south of the A4 unlike Sonning village which is north of the A4,stretching the way up to the River Thames (about a mile and a half I think). If Reading and district is allocated 3 constituencies, it could well be that the proposed Reading West, Reading Central and Reading East arrangement incorporates both Coronation and Sonning wards into the new Reading East, which would be a great way to troll Mrs Strong and Stable.
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Post by Delighted Of Tunbridge Wells on Jan 20, 2021 18:26:27 GMT
Stats update : Owner occupied - 59.0%, 492/650 Private rented - 26.6%, 58/650 White - 75.6%, 549/650 Black - 4.8%, 107/650 Asian - 15.1%, 71/650 Managerial & professional - 38.8% Routine and semi-routine - 17.5% Degree level - 38.4%, 63/650 No qualifications - 14.2%, 619/650 Students - 15.9%, 57/650 Age 65+ - 11.7%, 575/650
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Post by batman on Dec 5, 2021 15:50:53 GMT
The resident rabbi of the synagogue was my cousin Zvi Solomons. He was made redundant by the United Synagogue and there are as I understand it only occasional services held there.
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Post by batman on Dec 5, 2021 17:26:26 GMT
......I gather that the synagogue is in the West constituency, not this one.
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Post by Delighted Of Tunbridge Wells on Dec 12, 2021 20:01:27 GMT
......I gather that the synagogue is in the West constituency, not this one. Yep, it's in Battle ward off the Oxford Road in what is today a very heavily Muslim area. It's due to be moved into Reading (Central) in the upcoming boundary changes I think, the rump of Reading West is going to be moved into Earley and Woodley (Reading South East ffs) and combined with some Reading exurbs like Pangbourne at the eastern end of West Berkshire (apparently "Mid Berks", should be called Reading West at a stretch or Reading West and Downs, all the other areas in the constituency look towards Reading anyway.)
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Post by Robert Waller on Nov 30, 2022 21:54:29 GMT
2021 Census
Owner occupied 56.1% 447/573 Private rented 31.9% 52/573 Social rented 12.0% 424/573 White 68.4% Black 5.4% Asian 19.0% Managerial & professional 39.3% 114/573 Routine & Semi-routine 18.2% 465/573 Degree level 43.9% 70/573 No qualifications 13.2% 507/573
2011 reminder Owner occupied - 59.0%, 492/650 Private rented - 26.6%, 58/650 Social rented - 11.9%, 496/650 White - 75.6%, 549/650 Black - 4.8%, 107/650 Asian - 15.1%, 71/650 Managerial & professional - 38.8% Routine and semi-routine - 17.5% Degree level - 38.4%, 63/650 No qualifications - 14.2%, 619/650
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