Newbury and Thatcham

Newbury and Thatcham are adjoining towns in the county of Berkshire, in the South East of England.

Newbury is the principal town in the west of the county, and is a historic market town. Thatcham is a dormitory town some three miles to the east, with little obvious boundary between the two towns.

Understand
Newbury has a population of about 42,000 (2018) and is something of a booming company town as it houses the world headquarters of Vodafone, a major mobile phone operator with operations in many countries.

Newbury also attracted a lot of national and international coverage in the 1980s when it was the scene of the Greenham Common Peace camp in protest at the stationing of nuclear armed cruise missiles at a nearby air base, and in the 1990s when it hosted perhaps the most famous road protest against the Newbury bypass. The vast majority of the population probably did not appreciate either campaign.

Thatcham is best known as England's fastest growing town, with large housing areas being built to house a population which largely commutes to work in Newbury, Reading or London.

Visitors may hear both the terms 'Newbury District' and 'West Berkshire' in use; these are effectively synonymous and refer to the town of Newbury and its surrounding rural area. They are also the old and new names for the local government which runs the area that includes Newbury and Thatcham.

Newbury is the birthplace of Michael Bond, the author who was best known for creating the beloved children's character Paddington Bear.

By train
Newbury and Thatcham have rail stations on the main line from London to Exeter, Plymouth and Penzance. Some through trains between those cities stop at Newbury Station, but these are relatively infrequent. Local trains stop at both stations and run from Reading approximately every half hour taking some 20 to 30 minutes for the journey; some local trains start their journeys in London. From London, travel from London Paddington Station and, if necessary, change at Reading. Train times (from any station) can be found on the National Rail Planner or by calling 0845-748-4950 from anywhere in the UK.

By car
Newbury is 17 miles west of Reading on the A4, 18 miles north-west of Basingstoke on the A339, 26 miles south of Oxford on the A34, 27 miles east of Swindon on the M4 and 25 miles north of Winchester on the A34. Thatcham is 3 miles east of Newbury on the A4.

The M4 motorway also runs just to the north of Newbury, for which the junction is number 13.

By plane
If arriving by plane, see the 'Get In By Plane' section of the Reading article, and then travel on from Reading as described above.

By bicycle

 * The towns are on National Cycle Route 4 running London and Fishguard.
 * National Cycle Route 246 starts 8 miles W of Newbury (in Kintbury) running to Timsbury (Hants) via Andover.

By boat
The towns are on the Kennet & Avon Canal (running 87 miles from Bristol & Bath to Reading).

By foot
The central area of Newbury is easily walkable.

By bus
There are several town routes within Newbury and Thatcham, with hourly (or better) services during the day, and infrequent service in the evenings and on Sundays. Beyond that distance, bus routes are much less frequent, with often only a handful of buses per day and no evening or Sunday service.
 * Traveline,, provide an impartial online travel planner and telephone query service for local bus services.

By car
Newbury's roads can be congested at peak periods, but in general are less congested than London or even Reading. A car is one (possibly along with cycling) of the only really practical ways of seeing a lot of the local countryside and villages.

By map
If you are planning to do any visiting or exploring beyond central Newbury, you will probably want to obtain a decent map of the area. You should ensure that any map you buy clearly shows the national grid reference lines, and explains how to use them, as grid references are frequently used to indicate out of town locations. The best maps for this purpose are those published by the Ordnance Survey (Britain's national mapping agency) and both the following maps cover all the locations mentioned below: These maps can be found in any good bookshop, or can be bought online from the Ordnance Survey's web site.
 * Ordnance Survey Explorer 158. This map covers the area around Newbury and Thatcham at a scale of 1:25000 and is best for walking or local touring by car or cycle.
 * Ordnance Survey Landranger 174. This map covers the area around and between Newbury and Thatcham at a scale of 1:50000 and is best for longer range exploration by car or cycle.

Do

 * Go to the races at

Buy
Newbury has a number of shops and a number of leading high street chain-stores. See NewburyTownCentre.co.uk for more information.

Eat
A reasonable range of choices including pubs, the usual chain restaurants (pizza/pasta or French), Indian and a Thai. Local restaurants of note include

Sleep
There are a number of hotels in and around Newbury

Phone
The area code for Newbury and Thatcham is 01635 when dialed from within the UK or +44 1635 from outside the UK.

Go next

 * Swindon - Known for its history as the heart of the Great Western Railway, a 35-minute journey by car on the M4 motorway
 * Reading
 * Oxford