Georgian

Turnpikes through Reading

The Bath Turnpike

Horse Trams

Electric Trams

Trolleybuses

Buses

Road improvements

Motorways

Coaching Inns

With the growth of the fashionable town of Bath, an easy to use means of transport was needed for people to travel to the town from London. Stage coaches were the only choice at the time, and the coaches needed a change of horses every few miles. Towns on the route, such as Reading, Twyford, Theale, Woolhampton and Newbury all grew from this traffic. The inns, where the horses were changed and where coaches were boarded became the motorway service stations of their day. In Reading, the coaching inns included The Crown in Crown Street and the Bear in Bridge Street, both of which were on the route of the Bath Road through Reading. Other inns also prospered, including the Broad Face and the Saracen, which stood in Market Place, The Angel in Broad Street, The George, which still exists just off Broad Street, The Ship, in Duke Street and The Sun.