Lunch at the Thames Lido comes with a view of the pool. The open-air bath first opened in 1902 is now heated, and the restaurant tables sit right at its edge, so a plate of roasted beetroot arrives while swimmers trace lengths a few feet away and others sink into the jacuzzi. The Lido is in Reading, a town most American travelers have only ever watched slide past the train window on the way somewhere else.
Reading is closer to London than its reputation suggests. The fast train reaches London Paddington in about 23 minutes, several times an hour. Travelers write it off as commuter-belt office blocks, but it makes an ideal base for the capital, with good food of its own. Stay here, ride in for the museums and theater, come back for dinner and the nightly hotel savings pay for the meals.
What a night here actually costs
In the first half of 2026, average room rates in central London reached £244.30 a night, against £103.40 across regional Britain, roughly $330 against $140, a gap of well over 2 to 1. Those figures lean toward upscale and luxury hotels, so everyday-stay rates are closer, but the trend holds. A night in the capital can run close to the price of two nights a short train ride west.
Lunch at the Lido pool
The Lido building opened in 1902 as the Ladies Swimming Bath. It closed in 1974 and sat empty for decades. It is a listed building, and in the late 2010s the team behind the Bristol Lido took it on and restored it.
The restaurant runs a seasonal, Eastern Mediterranean-inspired menu cooked over a chargrill and in a clay oven. On one lunchtime visit, that meant a wedge of roasted beetroot over cool yogurt with fennel and hazelnuts, and gnocchi with burrata, peas and courgette, served a few feet from the water. Small plates run around £6 to £12, about $8 to $16, and dinner mains land closer to £30.
Hyderabadi cooking in a former pub
Across the river in Caversham, Clay’s Kitchen & Bar began in 2018 in a small former kebab shop on London Street in the town center. During the pandemic, it shipped meal kits around the country, then took over a former pub on the north bank.
The cooking is Hyderabadi, from the south of India, and it earned a spot in the Good Food Guide’s 100 Best Local Restaurants for 2025, a list from Britain’s long-running restaurant guide. One national newspaper review called it punchy cooking and a cult success. Sharing plates run about £10 to £16 and curries around £19 to £26, roughly $13 to $35.
A red brick hotel with its own kitchen
The Roseate Reading sits in a red brick building beside Forbury Gardens, a park near the town center. It runs its own restaurant, The Reading Room, serving modern European food built on British ingredients, alongside afternoon tea from about £39 a head and a rooftop spa called Aheli. Dinner mains start around £24, with a five-course tasting menu near £65. A room, dinner and the morning train still come to less than a central London bed alone.
Caversham’s independents
Caversham is where Reading’s independents cluster. On the same Prospect Street as Clay’s, Miss Croquetas is a Spanish spot that owner Esther grew from a market stall under its earlier name, Serdio Ibéricos, and now serves tapas and handmade croquetas, six for around £8.
Nearby, Vegivores Natural Kitchen has served an entirely plant-based menu since it opened here in 2019, and BKRY sells custom cakes downstairs while running cake decorating classes in an academy upstairs. Add Spill, a coffee shop by day that becomes a wine and cocktail bar at night, and these few streets hold a dense cluster of independents for a town this size.
Back across the river
On Fridays, Whittington’s Tea Barge, moored on the River Thames, swaps its weekend afternoon teas for cha chaan teng, the Hong Kong diner style of milk tea, pineapple buns and crepes, run by a family who brought the tradition with them. Near Forbury Gardens, Vino Vita took over a site from an Italian chain in 2024 and went independent, giving its owners a free hand over what they cook.
Few American visitors have added Reading to a London trip yet, and the town has never pushed to be noticed; it spent its history being useful rather than admired. The pressure now comes from the capital’s own room rates, which show no sign of easing. Run the numbers on a London bed, and the case for sleeping a short ride west, and eating far better for it, only grows.
If you go
Heathrow, London’s largest airport, is the closest, with a direct RailAir coach link and rail connections to Reading. Fast trains from Paddington reach Reading in about 23 minutes, several times an hour, and off-peak fares are usually cheaper, so travel outside the morning and evening rushes. In Reading, the Thames Lido, the Roseate hotel and the Caversham restaurants are a short taxi or walk from the station. Reserve the Lido restaurant ahead, since the poolside tables fill quickly.
Mandy is a luxury travel, fine dining and bucket-list-adventure journalist with expert insight from 47 countries. She uncovers unforgettable experiences around the world and brings them to life through immersive storytelling that blends indulgence, culture and discovery, and shares them with a global audience as co-founder of Food Drink Life. Her articles appear on MSN and through the Associated Press wire in major U.S. outlets, including NBC, the Daily News, Boston Herald, the Chicago Sun-Times and many more.