Self-guided audio tour on the AudaTours app that follows 14 stops across Reading's industrial heritage, from the biscuit factory on King's Road to the Bridge Street brewery.
Biscuit Town is a self-guided audio tour of Reading's industrial past, starting at Reading railway station and running through 14 stops across the town. It's part of the 'Everyday Histories' theme for Heritage Open Days 2026, and since it's an audio walk on your own phone, you can do it whenever suits you rather than on a fixed date.
The tour follows the everyday labour that made Reading the industrial capital of Berkshire, and it focuses on the people whose names were seldom recorded. You'll hear about the biscuit tin painters at the great biscuit factory on King's Road, the brewery draymen on Bridge Street, the night-shift seed-packet sorters at the Market Place, abbey corn millers, gaol turnkeys, canal lock-keepers and railway navvies. It brings to life the world's largest biscuit factory, the Bridge Street brewery, and the story of a navvy named Henry West, who was killed by a gust of wind on a station roof six days before the trains began to run. It also marks the spot where the last abbot of Reading Abbey was hanged at his own gatehouse for high treason.
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The walk is narrated by AudaTours, whose guides draw on verified historical sources. It runs on your own phone via the AudaTours app, so you just put your headphones in and follow the route at your own pace. It takes about two hours in total, and it doesn't include entry to any building or site, so you'll be seeing everything from the street. It starts at Reading railway station, Station Rd, Reading, RG1 1LZ, and from there it takes you through 14 stops across the town, following the industrial heritage along King's Road and the Kennet. It costs from £3.99.
