Media centre

Friday 15 Nov 2013

New retail choices for passengers at Reading station

Region & Route:

| Wales & Western: Western

| Wales & Western

| Southern

Passengers in Reading are set to benefit as six new retailers set-up shop on the station's new passenger bridge in April 2014.

Hotel Chocolat, Boots, The Cornish Pasty Co, Upper Crust, Cards Galore and Oliver Bonas are all primed to start work on units in the newly constructed part of the station. The new retailers will join Starbucks, which is currently the only business operating on the passenger bridge.

Hamish Kiernan, Network Rail’s interim commercial director, said: "Reading station is bigger and better than ever, but we know passengers want more retail choices in the new part of the station. We are pleased to be able to announce that the new stores will be ready to welcome customers from April 2014.

“The new retail offering will improve the environment in the new station and is just another part of Network Rail's £895 million investment to improve journeys for the 14 million passengers who travel through Reading every year; a number set to grow by 30% by 2030.”

Network Rail’s retail and commercial activities generate vital funds that are reinvested directly back into the railway, limiting costs to taxpayers.

Sales from retail in Network Rail stations have bucked national trends, with figures released in September revealing a 6.4 per cent growth in like-for-like sales from April to June 2013, with high street sales for the same period struggling at 0.4 per cent.

The final phase of station improvements in Reading are on their way in summer 2014 and in 2015 the completion of a new 2km viaduct will unblock the bottleneck on the railway to the west of the station, cutting delays on the Great Western Main Line and increasing capacity.