Tolong bantu menterjemahkan sebahagian rencana ini. Rencana ini memerlukan kemaskini dalam Bahasa Melayu piawai Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. Sila membantu, bahan-bahan boleh didapati di Reading, Berkshire (Inggeris). Jika anda ingin menilai rencana ini, anda mungkin mahu menyemak di terjemahan Google. Walau bagaimanapun, jangan menambah terjemahan automatik kepada rencana, kerana ini biasanya mempunyai kualiti yang sangat teruk. Sumber-sumber bantuan: Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu.

Reading adalah sebuah pusat komersial penting di England Selatan dan sering dirujukkan sebagai ibu negeri komersial Lembah Thames. Bandar ini menuanrumahkan ibu pejabat para syarikat British dan para pejabat UK pelbagai kebangsaan asing, dan juga menjadi sebuah pusat runcit utama.[39]

Industri

Pusat pentadbiran PrudentialKampus Oracle Corporation

Reading mempunyai suatu kelibatan bersejarah yang penting dalam industri teknologi maklumat, secara besar oleh kerana kehadiran awal di bandar tapak-tapak International Computers Limited dan Digital. Sementara kedua-dua syarikat ini telah ditelan oleh kumpulan lain, keturunan tertentu mereka di Fujitsu dan Hewlett-Packard kedua-duanya masih mempunyai operasi tempatan. Microsoft dan Oracle yang lebih kini telah menubuhkan kampus pelbagai bangunan di bandar. Syarikat teknologi lain dengan suatu kehadiran penting bandar termasuk Agilent Technologies, Audio & Design (Recording) Ltd, Bang & Olufsen, Cisco, Comptel, Harris Corporation, Intel, Nvidia, Sage, Sagem Orga, SGI, Symantec, Symbol Technologies, Verizon Business, Virgin Media, Websense, Xansa (kini Steria), dan Xerox.

Syarikat kewangan ING Direct telah mempunyai ibu pejabatnya di Reading, dan jua syarikat panduan Yell Group dan gas asli utama BG Group. Syarikat insurans Prudential mempunyai pusat pentadbiran di bandar, sementara PepsiCo dan Holiday Inn mempunyai pejabat. Seperti dengan kebanyakan bandar utama lain, Reading juga mempunyai pejabat big 4 firma perakaunan Deloitte, KPMG, Ernst and Young, dan PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Syarikat-syatikat ini diedarkan di sekitar Reading, termasuk di taman bisnes hanya di dalam atau di luar sempadan kawasan pilihan raya bandaran. Prudential and Yell, bersama dengan kebanyakan syarikat perakaunan, mempunyai pejabat mereka di Reading tengah. Taman Bisnes Lembah Thames adalah rumah pada kampus Microsoft dan Oracle, dan juga BG Group dan ING Direct. GreenPark Business Park adalah rumah pada Symantec dan Cisco, sementara Reading International Business Park berhampiran adalah rumah pada Verizon Business. Winnersh Triangle Business Park adalah rumah pada syarikat teknologi, sementara Arlington Business Park adalah rumah pada KPMG, Nvidia dan PepsiCo.

Runcit

Broad StreetTingkat Riverside di The OracleUnion Street dikenali oleh orang tempatan sebagai Smelly Alley

Pusat bandar Reading adalah sebuah pusat beli-belah utama. Kawasan tadahan asas untuk pusat bandar (kawasan untuk mana pusat menarik aliran satu terbesar perbelanjaan) untuk barangan perbandingan tidak sangat besar memanjang sebanyak Goring-on-Thames, Henley-on-Thames, Pangbourne dan Wokingham. Kawasan tadahan tidak begitu penting (kawasan di mana pusat menarik 10% atau lebih perbelanjaan dijanakan) juga termasuk Ascot, Bracknell, Camberley, Didcot, Farnborough, Fleet, High Wycombe, Maidenhead, Newbury, Slough, Tadley, Thatcham, Wallingford and Windsor. Pada 2007 sebuah tinjauan pendapat berdikari meletakkan Reading sebagai salah satu dari destinasi runcit di UK.[40][41]

Kawasan beli-belah pusat bandar utama adalah di sekitar Broad Street, yang dipejalankakikan pada 1995.[42] Broad Street is anchored at its east and west ends respectively by The Oracle and Broad Street Mall enclosed shopping centres. The Oracle shopping centre regularly attracts over 250,000[petikan diperlukan] people passing through on a Saturday alone.

There are three major department stores in Reading: John Lewis Reading (formerly known as Heelas[43]), Debenhams and House of Fraser. There are also branches of chain stores, including Bhs, Boots, fcuk, H&M, Marks and Spencers, Thorntons, Next, Primark and W H Smith. The booksellers Waterstone's have two branches in Reading. Their Broad Street branch is of interest, as it is a conversion of a nonconformist chapel dating from 1707.[44]

Selain dua mal beli-belah utama, Reading mempunyai tiga arked beli-belah lebih kecil, The Bristol and West Arcade, Harris Arcade and The Walk, yang mengandungi gedung-gedung pakar lebih kecil. An older form of retail facility is represented by Union Street, popularly known as Smelly Alley,[45][46] due to the former presence of many open-fronted fishmongers and butchers. The occupancy has shifted towards major retail chains, although a few of independent shops, including a fishmonger and butcher remain.[47]

Unlike many English cities, Reading has no indoor market hall. There is a street market at Hosier Street in the town centre, open from Wednesday to Saturday, with 60 stalls selling a mixture of food, flowers and plants, cultural goods, and household goods. A farmers' market operates on two Saturdays a month at the cattle market.[48][49]

Other than the markets, Marks and Spencers, a few small supermarket branches, and a few speciality shops, food retail has largely deserted the town centre. Large branches of Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda, Morrisons, Iceland and Waitrose supermarket chains can be found in suburban and edge of town locations.

Kebergunaan

The wind turbine at GreenPark produces enough green electricity for around 1000 homes

Mains water and sewerage services are supplied by Thames Water Utilities Limited, a private sector water supply company. Water abstraction and disposal is regulated by the Environment Agency. Reading's water supply is largely derived from underground aquifers, and as a consequence the water is hard.[50][51][52]

The commercial energy supplier for electricity and gas is at the consumer's choice. Southern Electric runs the local electricity distribution network, while Scotia Gas Networks runs the gas distribution network. One notable part of the local energy infrastructure is the presence of a 2 megawatt (peak) Enercon wind turbine at GreenPark, which is wired to the local sub-grid. It was constructed in November 2005 just outside the borders of the borough in the civil parish of Shinfield and is owned by Ecotricity. This turbine can be seen from a large part of Reading, as well as from junction 11 of the M4. The turbine has the potential to produce 3.5 million units of electricity a year, enough to power over a thousand homes.[53]

BT provides fixed-line telephone coverage throughout the town, and ADSL broadband internet connection to most areas. Parts of Reading are cabled by Virgin Media, supplying cable television, telephone and broadband internet connections. The dialling code for fixed-line telephones is 0118.

Mobile phone service is available throughout the town, from all the UK licensed network operators and using the GSM and UMTS standards.