ABOVE: Reading Buses 252 (YX74 ORG), an ADL Enviro400 City, calls at the Cresswell Road stop in Avon Way, Newbury, whilst working "Jet Black" route 1 to Reading. Photos were taken on Saturday 14 March 2026, unless otherwise stated.
Finding the 1 ... in Berkshire
Reading to Newbury
15 August 2026
Runs: Daily
Limited late evening part-route service only (no evening service on Sundays)
Operator: Reading Buses
Weekday daytime frequency: Every 30 minutes
Estimated Peak Vehicle Requirement: Six buses
Off-peak journey time (weekdays): 74-80 minutes
Estimated route length: 17-20 miles
Jet black: the deepest and most intense shade of black, named after the gemstone jet (a glossy, fossilized wood).
Each bus route /group of routes operated by Reading Buses, the Berkshire municipal operator, has its own designated colour, and route-bound buses are painted in the appropriate colour. We have already met the likes of "Orange" route 14 and "Purple" route 17 in the 100 British Bus Routes series as well as "Yellow" route 26 elsewhere.
But Reading Buses runs a lot of routes, and therefore needs a lot of colours! "Pink", "Aqua", "Royal Blue" and even "Claret" feature on various routes. And the longest route in the portfolio - excluding the London and Heathrow services - is the "Jet Black" route 1.
And parts of the livery on the fleet of ADL Enviro400 City vehicles used on the route are indeed "jet black", although the front is predominantly cream-coloured:
ABOVE: Reading Buses 258 (YX74 ORO), an ADL Enviro400 City on route 1 from Newbury, passes Reading Buses 23 (RG23 ZEB), an ADL Enviro400 EV on route 21 to Lower Earley, outside Reading Station. The "cherished" number plate on the EV disguises that the bus is actually newer (registered February 2026) than the Jet Black bus (registered November 2024). An "Orange" 13 or 14 can be seen in the background.
I am still on my quest to find the Route 1, from the 140 or so that run in Britain, that will go into my "100 British Bus Routes" series. This route 1, being so close to my West London home, is one I am familiar with, although it has rarely had a mention in these pages. Time to put that right.
The bus starts in Blagrave Street, just around the corner from Reading's main railway station. We navigate our way out of the Town Centre and head out of town in a broadly west-southwesterly direction.
The first suburb is Southcote. By the time William the Conqueror undertook the Domesday Survey of 1086, Southcote was sufficiently established to warrant a Lord of the Manor, who at that time was William de Braose. From the 16th century, Southcote Manor was owned by the Blagrave family (who presumably gave their name to our departure point in Reading), until they sold it in the 1920s.
ABOVE: Reading Buses 260 (YX74 ORT) is in Southcote, outside Reading, crossing the junction of Bath Road with Berkeley Avenue. Just beyond the junction, Bath Road crosses the railway line - we are south of Reading West station (which is half a mile to the right), but ahead of the junction where the Basingstoke and Newbury lines part (a similar distance to the left). This bus is one of a number of 'spares' deployed by Reading Buses to whatever routes they are needed on. It carries a generic livery.
The nearby Prospect Park is the largest park in Reading, and incorporates a Mansion House. Built in the 1760s by Benjamin Child, and now Grade-II listed, this Regency-style white stuccoed building now houses... a Harvester restaurant! The building can just be picked out from the road, at the far end of the park:
We're passing through Calcot. I made a journey from Reading to Calcot in January 2026, on the "Yellow" 26. The 26 digs into the residential areas while the 1 sticks to the main road.
The two routes come together again at the Calcot Sainsbury's, part of a vast retailing site and one of the biggest Sainsbury's stores that I know. Half a dozen other retailers have a presence here, and there's even an Ikea round the back!
There's a separate stop for Ikea (served by the 26), but the main complex only has one bus stop. The 1 back to Reading is just ahead of us, showing the side livery to good effect (and I am glad of the creamy bits, else the bus would be a bit ugly, I suspect):
We're passing through Calcot. I made a journey from Reading to Calcot in January 2026, on the "Yellow" 26. The 26 digs into the residential areas while the 1 sticks to the main road.
The two routes come together again at the Calcot Sainsbury's, part of a vast retailing site and one of the biggest Sainsbury's stores that I know. Half a dozen other retailers have a presence here, and there's even an Ikea round the back!
There's a separate stop for Ikea (served by the 26), but the main complex only has one bus stop. The 1 back to Reading is just ahead of us, showing the side livery to good effect (and I am glad of the creamy bits, else the bus would be a bit ugly, I suspect):
We cross the M4 motorway at a major junction and continue on the Bath Road for a short way, before branching off into the village of Theale. The Bath Road provides a bypass away from the village High Street, which is therefore relatively quiet, and feels to me like somewhere that should be a lot further away from London:
ABOVE: Theale High Street
Theale lay at the junction of two ancient natural routes, one following the Kennet Valley from east to west and another exploiting the valley of the River Pang, through the Chiltern Hills from north to south, via the Goring Gap.
There is also a local legend that suggests that the name Theale refers to the village's coaching inns, and its position as the first staging post on the Bath Road out of Reading – literally calling the village "The ale"! Perhaps some of those early travellers called in at The Crown Inn, a 17th century coaching inn in the heart of the village:
The Holy Trinity Church was completed in 1832 and is now Grade-I listed. It is quite well hidden by trees although you can see the spire in the picture below, and there is a decent view on Google Streetview.
ABOVE: The spire of the Holy Trinity Church in the appropriately-named Church Street, Theale, on Saturday 17 January 2026.
We exit from the other end of Theale and rejoin the main A4 Bath Road. It's quite rural for the next couple of miles. We're close to the River Kennet - as close as 150 yards at one point but houses prevent us seeing it. The railway runs in between but we can't see that either!
ABOVE: On Saturday 17 January 2026, Reading Buses 255 (YX74 ORK) is about to cross the roundabout where the Bath Road meets the Basingstoke Road, just outside Aldermaston Wharf
There's a glimpse, to the left, of Aldermaston Railway Station. We're actually near the village of Aldermaston Wharf - Aldermaston itself is a mile-and-a-half away.
The village of Woolhampton straddles both sides of the Bath Road and is served by Midgham railway station. Midgham village is a mile to the west-north-west, on the opposite side of the main road, and it has been suggested that the station, originally called Woolhampton, was renamed Midgham to avoid confusion with Wolverhampton (also served by the original Great Western Railway).
The centre of Woolhampton is brief but attractive:
The first town we have reached since leaving Reading is Thatcham. The area around this market town has evidence of occupation dating from prehistoric times, and has been listed in the Guinness Book of Records (1990 edition) as the "strongest claimant to being the oldest continuously-inhabited place in Britain".
Before we reach the Town Centre we divert off the main road to serve some of the residential parts of town:
ABOVE: Falmouth Way, Thatcham, with Hurford Drive on the left
ABOVE: 253 (YX74 ORH) in Thatcham
Thatcham Broadway itself is very enticing:
ABOVE: Thatcham Broadway, on Saturday 17 January 2026
As we turn onto the Broadway, there's a brief hint of what lies beyond the bus route. There has been a church on the site of St Mary’s Thatcham for 1000 years, and I can never resist a clever pun in a shop name, like "Stitch in Time" for a tailor's...
ABOVE: Church Gate, Thatcham, with St Mary's Church standing proud. The bus turns right here, to navigate Thatcham Broadway
The International Seismological Centre, an organisation for the final collection, definitive analysis and publication of global seismicity, is located here! The main scientific goal of the centre is the definitive compilation of earthquake information. I only discover this while writing this article - I have no inkling at the time of its existence. I suppose I would say that I don't feel anything...
Benham Hill sits on the borders of Thatcham and Newbury, and houses the West Berkshire Community Hospital. We call in but there are no customers for us here. Quite unusual for what is becoming a busy journey.
This is now the final approach to Newbury. The town has a population of over 42,000 (2021 Census), and we are now in the residential area to the north-east of the town centre.
Just before we reach journey's end, we pass through the village of Shaw, to the north of Newbury. It sits on the River Lambourn:
There's a major and confusing road junction at the 'entrance' to the Town Centre of Newbury. Clearly it was once a roundabout but one side has been blocked off. It's easy enough for the 1 to traverse in this direction, but is more complicated for services towards Reading, which have to double-run along a 250-yard stretch of the A339, to the north, and back again, in order to access the road back to Shaw (see inset on the route map above).
The approach to the not-quite roundabout gives us a good view of the Grade-II listed St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church. Built between 1926 & 1928 in an Italianate style, it is "a major local landmark" according to Historic England, and it's hard to argue:
Newbury itself is congested as we reach the Town Centre. Lunchtime on a Saturday, so everyone is shopping! An entrance to the Parkway Car Park - a three-way roundabout - is causing some congestion as the Car Park access is slow. Perhaps it's full? Whatever the reason, we have to edge forward slowly.
There are local routes between Newbury and Thatcham that carry the numbers 1a, 1c and 1d. One assumes people don't mix them up with the core 1 service. They are operated by Newbury & District, a separate operation by Reading Buses.
ABOVE: Newbury & District 783 (SN16 OHA), an ADL Enviro400 MMC, on Park Way in Newbury, with the (late-running) 11:40 service 1c from Newbury Wharf to Thatcham, due here at 11:42 (the time stamp on the picture is 11:55).
We reach Newbury Wharf, the terminus of the route, at 12:00, 15 minutes late. We have lost several minutes on the final approaches but I don't know where we lost the rest of the time.
The Kennet & Avon Canal was built over 200 years ago to link the River Kennet and the River Avon, and to provide a faster trade route between Bristol and London. Newbury Wharf was a busy area of warehouses, workshops, offices, stables, store yards and docks. Boats would have been loading and unloading cargoes such as timber, grain, coal and salt (source: Canal and River Trust).
Newbury Wharf Bus Station is somewhat more recent in development, having opened in December 2018. It's small, but seems to do the job.
ABOVE: 252 (YX74 ORG) again, setting off from Newbury Wharf Bus Station on Saturday 17 January 2026. The main shelter of the Bus Station is the structure to the immediate right of the bus.
It's a lovely run on this route 1. If you like top deck views, some fast running and a mix of rural and urban landscapes, this could be "the 1" for you.
But delightful as it is, I have more route 1s to explore, so my search for "the 1" continues...
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