Grade II listed building in Reading sold for £1 million

Yeomanry House is a two-storey Grade II listed building situated at the junction of Castle Hill and Coley Avenue near Reading town centre.  

Starting out as a private residence in the 1800s, the building was taken over by the Berkshire Yeomanry in 1906. 

Among the likely visitors of Yeomanry House was Arthur Budgett, who was an officer with the Berkshire Yeomanry and the basis for Captain Nicholls, the main character in Michael Morpurgo's book War Horse. 

Mr Budgett was a horseman from Abingdon, which was part of Berkshire during the First World War. 

The site was also used to train men for air defences in the prelude to the Second World War. 

Air raid precautions training took place inside the Drill Hall at Yeomanry House in Coley Avenue in Reading. (Image: Berkshire Chronicle / Reading Museum)

Yeomanry House became the property of Berkshire County Council circa 1967, with Reading Borough Council inheriting possession of the site during the dissolution of the county council in 1998. 

For years, it has served as the Reading Register Office, where records of marriages, births and deaths were stored. 

The old riding school on the site was demolished in the 1990s and replaced with the modern Berkshire Record Office. 

The demolished Victorian gates to Yeomanry House from Coley Avenue in Reading topped by wyverns. (Image: Berkshire Chronicle / Reading Museum)

The building was also used to store personal protective equipment during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. 

Now Yeomanry House is set to become housing as the council has agreed to sell it to the highest bidder.

The building was put on the market to attract purchasers, with the successful bidder being agreed in a private section of a council meeting. 

Historic Grade II listed building set to be sold to the highest bidder

Charan Dhillon, the council's assistant director of property and asset management announced the bid amounts during a public part of the meeting. 

She said: "The recommendation is to sell to bidder A. This is an unconditional offer, it is the highest offer which represents market value and best consideration. 

"Five offers received in total, offers ranged from £475,000 to £1.105 million. 

"The highest unconditional offer £1.105 million is from bidder A for residential use to convert the property into three houses and four flats. 

"The highest conditional offer was for £1.040 million and that is subject to planning.

"Officers are recommending the unconditional offer."

Micky Leng (Labour, Whitley) queried why figures for the lowest and highest bids, but ultimately welcomed the transparency. 

He said: "I think sometimes added detail can help the public." 

Readers can subscribe for just £3 for 3 months in this flash sale

The council's policy committee agreed to sell Yeomanry House at its meeting yesterday (Monday, April 7). 

The fresh sale of Yeomanry House comes after a plan to convert it into a nursery fell through, despite a plan for that conversion being approved in May 2022. 

Meanwhile, the neighbouring Berkshire Records Office was officially renamed The Royal Berkshire Archives in August 2023.