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New cultural quarter for Reading

An independent cinema, music and events centre is due to open in Reading’s Broad Street Mall this summer.

New cultural quarter for Reading
New cultural quarter for Reading

Really Local Group has signed a deal with Moorgarth, owner of Broad Street Mall, to transform a 14,000sq ft space in the centre to provide a platform for Reading’s established creative communities in art, film and music.

Really Local Group will repurpose the ground and first-floor unit of the former Argos store to provide a four-screen cinema. In addition, the new space will include food kiosks, outdoor terrace seating area and a café bar run by Compound Coffee, their first venture outside London.

The design, by Lyttelton. Yates, uses a bold colour scheme to create a sense of uniformity and symmetry throughout the venue. Both the floorings and walls of the food kiosks, terrace seating area, private hire room and the cinema lobby will be a sage green in tribute to Reading’s colour palate and to unify the neighbouring spaces. The entrance, café and the outdoor seating area on the upper level will be in a vibrant yellow to draw footfall to its warm and welcoming aesthetic, while the carpets, walls and seats in the cinema screening rooms will be a saturated blue.

All of the film and events programming will be carried out in house by a venue team based in Reading and will be a mix of art house, event cinema, locally produced material alongside more mainstream films.

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