Oracle

The Oracle is a modern indoor shopping center with a movie theater and a vast array of stores and restaurants. The impressive complex contains some of England’s best-known brands and department stores as well as a range of activities for the whole family. Traverse the halls and corridors of this immense shopping center to pass a cold or rainy day.

Make your way through the mall and browse in the shops. Try on clothes at the fashion and shoe shops, inspect the gems of the jewelry stores and play with the latest gadgets of the technology areas. Sports shops and toy stores also stand beside health and beauty sections and home décor places.

Watch one of the latest releases at the multiplex cinema, which has 11 screens with deluxe seating. Look for the cheap family tickets on Saturday mornings. Let your kids loose on the baby grand piano in the Upper Mall section, where you can play or listen to the music of others. The children will also love the educational and informative games in the free and interactive Play 9 kids’ complex.

Stay into the evening and enjoy dinner at one of the many establishments, which include British, Italian, French and Japanese restaurants. Put on a kids’ birthday party at a pizza place that lets them make their own pizzas.

Note that the mall opens daily from morning until late evening, with shorter hours on Sundays. The complex has currency exchange and bank services as well as a travel agency and an optician.

The Oracle is on the River Kennet, as it runs through the central commercial district of Reading. Arrive at the Reading railway station and walk south for 5 minutes to reach the mall. You can also drive and leave your car in the complex’s pay-and-display parking lot. See other nearby sights, such as the Reading Abbey Ruins, Forbury Gardens and The Hexagon theater.