A market that has been a staple for foodies in Reading town centre is here to stay for several more years to come.
Blue Collar Corner, which is located in Hosier Street near Broad Street Mall and St Mary’s Butts, has been granted permission to stay there for five years.
That is one of the biggest planning updates in Reading recently.
Elsewhere in the town centre, a convenience store company has applied to occupy a former nightclub, and a hotel near the Reading Festival site has won permission to cut back trees.
You can view each application by typing the reference in brackets into the council’s planning portal.
Blue Collar Corner permission to stay extended (PL/26/057)
Permission for the Blue Collar food market to stay at its current location in Hosier Street has been extended for five years.
Blue Collar Corner opened in 2022 as a dedicated place for street food traders with a bar and screens to watch sports such as the football World Cup.
It was initially granted temporary permission to stay until this year, ending in December.
The Blue Collar group has won permission to stay until 2031, with the council’s planning department being satisfied with the operation of the food market.
Conversion of nightclub into convenience store (PL/26/1125)
The business Prablin Stores Ltd has applied to convert the Neighbourhood bar & kitchen in Friar Street into a convenience store.
The unit was previously called Matchbox, and briefly opened as Neighbourhood in 2020 but closed shortly afterwards and reopened.
Restaurants, cafes and convenience stores all fall within planning ‘Class E’ use, which was introduced in September 2020 to ease the new uses of buildings.
A design and access statement clarifies alcohol will be sold off the premises, with the conversion ‘maintaining a customer-facing commercial activity appropriate to the established function of Friar Street’.
Hotel near Festival site wins permission to work on protected trees (PL/26/0979)
The Premier Inn hotel near the Reading Festival site in Richfield Avenue has won permission to conduct work to protected trees.
The hotel is located on the same road as the festival, next to the Toby Carvery at Caversham Bridge.
The company has won permission to reduce and remove branches of a willow tree, and prune the branches of a mix of trees that are overhanging the fire escape path.
These works were considered acceptable by the council’s tree officer.
Greenlight Reading building finished off (PL/26/1106)
The Greenlight new industrial building in Bennet Road has effectively been completed.
Work has been taking place for around a year to demolish the old Bennet Court office buildings and replace them with Greenlight.
The latest is that a BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) Interim Certificate has been issued.
Bennet Court was previously earmarked for conversion into 49 flats, but that plan was shelved in favour of the Greenlight building, which was approved in September 2023.
