Closed Reading restaurant to become chicken shop

La De Express occupied a prominent position in Market Place last year, but suddenly shut down just months after opening in the unit previously used as the Select Car Leasing offices.

Now, posters have appeared in the windows announcing that ‘Korean Fried Chicken’ will be coming to the town.

The exact name of the company is not clear, but it is understood to also have a presence in Swindon and Farnborough.

As an established business, the poster shows a 5/5 food review alongside a pledge that the new shop will be ‘coming soon’.

Korean Fried Chicken coming to Market Place in Reading town centre. Credit: James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporting Service

Meanwhile, plans for the upper floors of the building, 23-24 Market Place are currently being considered by Reading Borough Council’s planning department.

Earlier this year, building owners Sykes Capital submitted two applications for the building.

The upper floors are currently outfitted as offices, with Sykes Capital applying to convert them into apartments.

Application 221880 relates to the conversion of the floors from offices into flats, with 221881 involving internal and external alterations including new ventilation outlets to the rear of the building.

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Initially, the plan was to convert the upper floors into six one-bed flats, but the plan was amended in May, with floorplans for these floors being made up of one two-bedroom and four one bedroom flats.

The flat on the first floor would consist of two double bedrooms with one ensuite, whereas the flats on the floors above would all have single beds.

The plans also show an outline for an extraction system.

The ground and first floor plans for the conversion of 23-24 Market Place in Reading from offices into flats. Credit: The Keen Partnership

23-24 Market Place is Grade II listed as it dates back to the 1800s.

A heritage assessment by Heritage Fusion has been submitted with application 221881 considering the impact of the conversion on the building. 

Michelle Purnell, the surveyor who wrote the assessment, ultimately concluded the conversion would have no impact upon the architectural and visual significance of the building.

In her report, she states that the building  is believed to have been designed in the early 19th Century by renowned Reading Architects Henry or Nathaniel Briant, who worked in Reading in the 1830s and early 1840s and were responsible for many of the town’s prominent civic designs,  such as Reading Cemetery and the Former Barclays Bank in King Street.

The plan for the upper floors is set to be determined by the council’s planning department.