Paddington Visits Reading

Everyone's favourite marmalade loving bear has a new home in Reading...Paddington has taken a seat on a bench on Broad Street, in the heart of Reading town centre!

Reading has an extra special connection with the beloved bear as his creator, Michael Bond, grew up, went to school, and started his working life in the town. His experiences in Reading shaped his books that have inspired generations and have more recently become immortalised in film.

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As a boy during WWII, Michael Bond remembered seeing many child evacuees arriving at Reading Station with all their possessions in a little suitcase and a label round their necks with their address on, which inspired his depiction of Paddington Bear as a refugee.

He started his working life working for the BBC in Reading. He was working as a BBC Engineer’s Assistant on the roof of a building in Reading’s Town Hall Square when a German bombing raid blew up the building on 10 February 1943. The building hosted a community restaurant and sadly 41 people died, but Michael survived and got a bus home covered in dust from the explosion.  There is an information board in Town Hall Square recounting this incident in Reading’s history. Bomb damage can still be seen on a number of buildings in the Square.

After the war, he worked at the BBC Monitoring service in Caversham in North Reading. "At that time Caversham Park was staffed almost entirely by refugees: Russian and Polish people and different nationalities," he said. "My Paddington Bear books also had a character who was a Hungarian refugee - Mr Gruber.”

We're delighted to welcome our favourite bear back to his creator's hometown. You can find Paddington himself outside on a bench outside Waterstone's on Broad Street! Our new statue is part of the Paddington Visits campaign, celebrating Paddington in Peru coming to cinemas this winter. 

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