Calcot, Berkshire

Calcot, or Calcot Row, is a suburb west of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. Calcot straddles the historic A4 Bath Road and is between ex-hamlet Horncastle and Junction 12 of the M4 motorway. The suburb of Tilehurst is to the north, taking up the hills above the place; the populous village of Theale is west, across the motorway. Its named neighbourhoods include Beansheaf Farm and Fords Farm mainly of the early 21st century in its south.[1]

Calcot

Calcot Park House
Calcot
Location within Berkshire
Population9,093 
OS grid referenceSU660718
Civil parish
Unitary authority
Ceremonial county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townREADING
Postcode districtRG31
Dialling code0118
PoliceThames Valley
FireRoyal Berkshire
AmbulanceSouth Central
UK Parliament

Local government

Although unquestionably a suburb of Reading, Calcot is not within the Borough of Reading. Rather it is split between the civil parishes of Holybrook and Tilehurst Without, with that part of Calcot north of the Bath Road in Tilehurst parish and that part south in Holybrook parish. The whole of Holybrook parish and the part of Calcot within Tilehurst parish, form the Calcot electoral ward of the unitary authority of West Berkshire. Both parishes have elected parish councils and, together with the unitary authority, are responsible for different aspects of local government. Calcot is part of the Reading West parliamentary constituency.[1][2]

Statistics

The Calcot ward of West Berkshire has an area of 324 ha and a total population of 9,093 living in 3,554 dwellings.[3]

Schools

Calcot has two primary schools serving pupils aged 4 to 11. Serving the Beansheaf and Fords Farm communities to the south of the A4 Bath Road is Kennet Valley Primary School while north of the A4, both sharing the same grounds, are Calcot Junior School and Calcot Infant School, which incorporates a nursery. When children leave primary school at 11 they attend secondary schools in neighbouring villages.

Places of interest

Calcot Park is a large country house and estate, to the north east of Calcot. Over the years the estate has been the home to Sir Peter Vanlore, Frances Kendrick, and to John Blagrave (a relative of the famous mathematician John Blagrave who built the present house in 1759). Today the house has been converted into apartments and grounds have become a golf course.[4]

Calcot Mill is a former watermill on the Holy Brook traditionally bounding the south of Calcot. On the site of a mill originally owned by Reading Abbey it has been converted into apartments.

Pincent's Kiln is site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) on the western border of the area.[5]

Shopping

Calcot is home to two large shopping complexes - the SavaCentre and the Pincents Lane Retail Park and has a Porsche Centre between the two; all close to Junction 12 of the M4 motorway.

SavaCentre Hypermarket in Calcot, Reading

In September 1981, an 81,000 sq ft hypermarket called SavaCentre (a BHS-Sainsbury Joint Enterprise) opened up. At the time, it was one of the largest hypermarkets in the UK. This store featured in the SavaCentre TV adverts in 1983.[6] In 1989, Sainsbury's bought out BHS's 50% share in the partnership, and the following year the right side of the store was extended by 20,000 sq ft to over 101,000 sq ft. In August 1998, it was re-modelled to provide a greater emphasis on food, with the food to non-food ratio changing from 60:40 to 80:20. The refurbishment cost £26m. The SavaCentre was downsized and re-branded as Sainsbury's in 2005, with the extension being sold off to Next, but following a further refurbishment in 2008, a number of the products removed in the 1998 revamp were re-introduced. At the same time, the SavaCentre site was turned into the Calcot Retail Park, with branches of Sports Direct, Boots and McDonald's opening up on the left side of the site. In 2015, an Argos in-store concession opened up inside the Sainsbury's. However, the SavaCentre name is still more commonly used than either Sainsbury's or the Calcot Retail Park by the locals.[7]

On the other side of the Porsche Centre, was the Pincents Lane Retail Park. This was anchored by a branch of Homebase, but also featuring a branch of Dunelm Mill, Carpetright, Utopia Nightclub and Reading Megabowl bowling alley. In 2015, the retail park was demolished (apart from the Dunelm Mill store) and a new branch of IKEA was opened in its place in July 2016. The original plan was for a three-storey 38,000 sq m (409,029 sq ft) store, but in the end a 31,845 sq m (342, 776 sq ft) store over two floors was built because of the growth in online shopping.[8][9]

Transport

Calcot commences east of the M4 motorway.

Local bus services are provided by Reading Buses. The nearest railway stations are Theale and Reading West.

References
  1. Ordnance Survey (2006). OS Explorer Map 159 – Reading. ISBN 0-319-23730-3.
  2. "Ward Boundaries effective from May 2003" (PDF). West Berkshire Council. Retrieved 26 September 2007.
  3. "Neighbourhood Statistics home page". National Statistics. Archived from the original on 11 July 2007. Retrieved 26 September 2007.
  4. "Berkshire History : Calcot Park (Tilehurst)". Nash Ford Publishing. 2001. Retrieved 25 September 2007.
  5. "Magic Map Application". Magic.defra.gov.uk. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  6. Calcot, SavaCentre No.5 Archived 19 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine JS Journal September 1981. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 24 January 2005. Retrieved 1 May 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. Recap: IKEA Reading opens and shoppers take their first steps inside the new store getreading. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  9. First images of new Ikea store at Calcot getreading. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
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