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Christmas on Broad Street

Weekends in December

Christmas has arrived in Reading town centre! From family-friendly things to do to festive nibbles and merry markets, you don't have to travel far in Reading to get your Christmas fix. Here's what you can expect in the heart Reading town centre this festive season:

Stilt walkers

Candy Cane stilt walkers

Sunday 1 and Sunday 8 December, Broad St
Visit Reading town centre during the first couple of December weekends and you'll find our Candy Cane Stilt-walkers in Broad Street, spreading festive cheer! Make sure you're in town at 12pm, 1:30pm or 3pm to catch our friendly festive giants - the perfect way to kick start the holiday season and free entertainment for the little ones while you get some Christmas shopping sorted!

children reading a book

Magical Christmas Storytime

Sunday 15 December, Reading Biscuit Factory
Experience the magic of the season on Sunday 15 December, with a free festive storytime from Reading Children’s Book Group. Drop into Reading Biscuit Factory between 1-3pm for stories from Christmas-themed picture books and classic festive tales – no booking required! (All welcome, but this event is best suited to children aged 7 and under.)

a lady dressed as Elsa from Frozen with a long silver-blue dress and wig

Festive character visits

Saturday 21 December, Broad St
Head to Reading's Broad Street on Saturday 21 December to meet some of our best-loved characters. Children can meet the Huggable Snowman and Snow Queen who’ll be sprinkling some festive magic to Reading town centre ahead of the big day. Pop into town between 11am-4pm to meet our festive characters and embrace the holiday magic!

Man in a Father Christmas outfit. Or possibly the real one. Let's not lose the magic, eh?

Father Christmas visits Reading

Sunday 22 December, Broad St
Who’s on Santa’s ‘nice’ list this year? Head to Broad Street on Sunday 22 December to find out, as Father Christmas himself pays Reading town centre a visit! If you want to catch him, make sure you head to Broad Street between 11am-1pm where you'll find him greeting shoppers and saying hello to little ones before he flies back to the North Pole. (Rumour has it Santa will be stopping off at some other Reading locations during the festive season - so no excuse to miss him!).