Reading's a shining star

22nd January 2025

REDA Chief Executive, Nigel Horton-Baker, looks forward to a high-performing but challenging economic outlook for Reading in 2025. 

This time last year I was predicting ‘Boom time for boom town Reading’. Sure enough, over the last 12 months our businesses and economy haven’t let us down with Reading overtaking Manchester as the fastest-growing economy in the UK (EY) and highlighted as one of the best places to live and work in the UK (Centre for Cities). 

In 2025, we have made yet another good start with Centre for Cities Cities Monitor 2025 reporting on Reading as one of the best performing of the top 63 cities in the UK. The report shows Reading with the highest export levels for high-value products and services outside of London.

However, we face a challenging economic outlook and a new Government with agendas for devolution and economic growth, so rather than rest on our laurels, 2025 is in fact a time for Reading to shine – to demonstrate to Government and the global economy why we are an economic power house consistently outperforming other locations as well as being a positive deliverer of change.

In the film sector, Shinfield Studios is rocking and rolling and REDA will be continuing its quest to shine a light on and grow the local supply chain. We already have a database of more than 400 companies in the supply chain, are undertaking training for companies to diversify in the film market and promoting job opportunities in the film sector for local people.  

The landmark office development at Station Hill in Reading city centre will be opening its doors this spring to global businesses relocating there. The Station Hill development will be a real milestone, nearly two decades in the making, and one of the shining stars in REDA’s inward investment marketing strategy to promote Reading as a premier city-based business location. We will be promoting Reading’s competitive advantage to the UK and international growth sectors and businesses, aligning with the Government’s new Industrial Strategy. We will be launching a new online knowledge hub telling a compelling story about Reading as a leading business location and great place to live.

Reading’s town centre is in good hands with the REDA BID team working closely with the Council’s environmental and neighbourhood services team to continue the improvements delivered last year to street furniture and the public realm (new strategy being consulted on now).

We are finding new ways to attract staff back to the office with extra-curricular activities to make working in the office the norm rather than at home. We are also working hard to make the town centre a more congenial place to be by supporting those most in need and forced into begging on our streets as well as  tackling the issues with the police surrounding delivery riders and users of electric bikes to embed mutual respect between this group of cyclists and pedestrians.

This year, footfall in the town centre was higher than it has been since 2020, a testament to the extra effort and resources we put into events and the greater investment in Christmas with a bigger market, new lighting scheme and increased marketing. REDA’s target is to be running at least one major event every month to attract visitors and shoppers to the town centre.

The visitor economy in Reading supports nearly 7000 jobs and £400m of spend, including £100 million in retail and £52 million in hotels particularly around the meetings and events industry. REDA will be working with all the Berkshire local authorities this year to deliver the first Berkshire Tourism Strategy and set up a Berkshire Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP) which will ensure Berkshire destinations are part of a national network working together with Visit Britain to boost visitor number. REDA will be ensuring Reading’s visitor offer shines brightly in the USA and Europe as well as home-grown markets this year.

I believe in ‘small is beautiful’ (E.F. Schumacher, 1973) for Reading, despite our wealth of supercharged global knowledge-based companies. In the coming year, REDA will continue to shine a light on local independents and innovative high-growth companies, promoting a principle of local purchasing and a ‘circular economy’. We will be building on the 50+ fledgling self-employed enterprises we have helped to startup with business advice, training and start up grants. We will continue to work with the Abbey Rotary to make their Launch Reading programme a reality, based on a model imported from Detroit and Raleigh in the USA.   

Partnership working, particularly across the public and private sectors, is at the heart of REDA’s DNA. This is particularly relevant as the new Labour Government has laid down a huge challenge to local government and industry.

The challenge to business:-

• increase productivity by supercharging economic output through developing new technologies in key sectors and exporting, make us the leading country in the world in AI as well as knowledge-based businesses that will lead the way in reducing our carbon footprint and managing climate change as outlined in the Government’s Invest 2035 The UK’s Industrial Strategy
• rewarding the labour force to work harder and fill recruitment gaps with better terms and conditions to positively impact our quality of life.

To the public sector:-

• become more effective, efficient and more accountable, delivering value for money services and economic growth plans by working across larger special areas that make for economic success. The Government highlights Manchester Strategic Authority and Mayor Andy Burnham as the beacon to aspire to.

2025 is the year to ‘shine a light’ on public partnership working in Reading. REDA will assist Reading Borough Council to play a pivotal role in addressing the devolution agenda carefully and sensibly. It is important not to undo all the good work that has been delivered in Reading for residents and business and not remove what works, while change for the better takes place as Reading joins with neighbouring areas to form a new strategic authority as envisaged by Government to deliver more effective services locally.

We will be shining a light on the key strengths of Reading’s economy to ensure Government recognises our existing growth economy, strengths across the sectors and technologies (including AI) identified by Government - one of the largest exporting bases by value - and our highly skilled workforce. We have a high density of large multinationals with direct links to overseas markets and an internationally recognised research-led University with expertise in AI and soon to be home to the largest concentration of climate scientists in the world.

It’s a big ask of us all in the public and private sector and the timeframe is short if we assume the deadline is the next General Election.  But it’s time, I believe, for Reading to stand up and shine and show why it consistently outperforms most other areas of the country economically and how we can deliver change for the better. We will be giving Government the confidence that the ‘city’ of Reading  and the wider Greater Reading area can deliver and should be given the resources to be in control of its own destiny to deliver the Government’s growth agenda.  I fully intend to see REDA play its part in making Reading stand out as a beacon of economic excellence ready to deliver the future outlined in our Reading 2050 City Vision.   

Nigel Horton-Baker, Chief Executive, REDA