Two Restaurants Survive As Oracle Transforms

Just two of the six restaurants put at risk by changes at The Oracle in Reading remain open — and their days are numbered.

Reading Borough Council last week approved plans to transform The Oracle into a place to live for the first time. The project will add 436 apartments to the centre, with the former Debenhams partly demolished and the Vue Cinema building completely demolished.

The plans were first floated in 2022 and it has taken four years to reach this stage. The Local Democracy Reporting Service originally identified six restaurants at risk on either side of the River Kennet: Franco Manca and The Real Greek at the old Debenhams (north of the river), and Miller & Carter, TGI Fridays, Browns Brasserie and Cote Brasserie in the Vue building (south).

Franco Manca and The Real Greek both suddenly closed in September 2023 shortly after plans to transform the former House of Fraser into Hollywood Bowl, TK Maxx and Zara were announced. The former Debenhams has been completely closed since then. Next Beauty and Home occupied the department store from December 2020 to September 2023.

Browns Brasserie & Bar and TGI Fridays closed in April and June 2024 respectively, leaving Miller & Carter and Cote Brasserie as the last two still trading.

Both of those restaurants will have to close to make way for 218 flats, a newly provided Vue Cinema, and a new bar and leisure unit for a new occupant. Miller & Carter opened at the Caversham Rose in October 2022.

The former Debenhams will be the first part of the project to see construction, as the building is unoccupied. Work to demolish and replace the Vue will follow.

Cllr Moore (Liberal Democrats, Tilehurst) said: “The Oracle was opened in 1999, and we had the dotcom after that, and retail has fundamentally changed since it opened. Then we had COVID, which also fundamentally changed going to shops and doing things.

“Actually, we don’t need retail units in the way we have today, the landscape has changed. The Oracle being empty doesn’t help anyone.”

The redevelopment was approved by the council’s planning applications committee on Wednesday 4 February, subject to centre owners Hammerson entering into a legal agreement with the council.

James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter