Edible Reading started in 2013 for two simple reasons. One was that I wanted to know where was good to eat out in Reading and I realised that in the absence of any blogs, reliable online reviews or a credible local paper I’d have to do it myself. The other was that I got frustrated with people dismissing Reading as a little more than a town of chain restaurants, when I knew that there was more to it than that.

Well, like they said in Field Of Dreams, if you build it they will come. Fortunately I did build it, and over a decade later enough of you come to justify me still visiting restaurants, reviewing them and writing about it here using my not-at-all-scientific patented ER rating system. The local paper has closed, its website too, and other review sites have come, gone, announced comebacks and been mothballed. But after all this time, I’m still here.

Restaurants came too: over the last eleven years Reading has become home to a bevy of excellent independent restaurants, some of which have now featured in the national press. And not only have Reading’s restaurants cropped up in the national papers, but I’m proud to say that the blog has too, with mentions in The Sunday Times and The Mail On Sunday.

It’s not just restaurants we can be proud of, though. Reading has a terrific craft beer scene that punches far above its weight, a coffee culture that puts many nearby towns and cities to shame, an incredible permanent street food site and plenty of imaginative local producers and retailers.

It’s not all amazing – we still have more Caffe Neros than you can shake a stick at, and for every Bakery House that opens there seems to be an equal and opposite Comptoir Libanais. Some high profile independent closures demonstrate that there’s still some way to go, as do the American chains which still pop up in Reading like a bad smell. But for eleven years everything has moved broadly in the right direction, and in conjunction with a developing food culture we have a brilliant cultural scene, excellent independent theatre companies and productions and a class-leading arts centre.

Although Edible Reading has been running since 2013, the principles are the same. I spend my own money, and I don’t accept freebies (for more detail on the ER policy on comped meals, check here). I visit restaurants anonymously – because it’s about the food and the experience, not getting special treatment. And my venues are often suggested, requested or recommended by my readers: click on this page if you want to find out more about that. And if you’re looking for somewhere to eat my list shows all the open restaurants I’ve reviewed in the past.

I’m proud to say that my blog celebrated its 10th birthday in 2023 so I kicked off a month of coverage looking back at a decade of change in Reading’s food scene. Click here to read more about that, or you can also click through to read about the most significant new restaurants of the last 10 years, or the saddest closures of the decade. I also counted down Reading’s 50 best dishes, culminating in this top 10. For more features about Reading’s food scene, just click here.

And last but not least, I’ve also written a handful of European city guides, to places as varied as Lisbon, Malaga, Bordeaux and Bruges. Click here if you want to check those out.

In January 2025 I announced a major change on the blog, inviting readers to subscribe if they wanted to support my writing and help me to continue producing regular, high-quality independent coverage of restaurants in Reading and beyond. Click here if you want to read more about that.

Subscriptions are currently £3 a month – less than the price of a coffee – or a discounted £30 a year, and in the fullness of time I’m hoping this will lead to extra content. The first subscriber-exclusive restaurant review has already gone up on the blog, to say thank you to the people who have so generously supported the blog, and thanks to that support Edible Reading is now, and will always be, completely ad-free. Click below if you are interested in coming on board as a subscriber.

Right, that’s all for now. If you want to get involved you can email me or follow me on Threads, Facebook or Instagram. And if you want to know a little more about me, you can read this interview from 2017 or this one from 2020. I hope you enjoy reading (and, for that matter, Reading).