Exciting pop-up street food market opens at Broad St. Mall, Reading
Image (l-r): Daryll Bunce, Director of Innovation, Moorgath; Gary Lewis, Managing Director, Moorgarth; Nicola Williamson, Centre Manager, Broad St Mall, and Richard Sweet, joint owner PopCity.
By Daryll Bunce, Director of Innovation
We’re delighted to announce the opening of our outdoor, pop-up street food market at Broad Street Mall in Reading. Union Square will open for a temporary period from June 25 at the rear of the mall, serving delicious food from around the world, and will be the forerunner to our permanent indoor food hall opening mid-November.
This temporary pop-up venture provides vendors a helpful transition phase as we emerge from lockdown. It’s a great opportunity to build confidence and loyalty with local customers, whilst laying strong foundations for the permanent indoor food hall. Plus it brings 25 new jobs to the local area.
At Moorgarth we have relentlessly pursued the need to be innovative in a tough retail market - now we’re responding with a positive reimagined retail offering in this new era. This only happens by really understanding what local communities need and providing them with experiences they can get truly excited about. We’re driven by the challenge of these unusual times to be more creative, more flexible and more proactive than ever.
This marks the start of an exciting partnership between Moorgarth and Union’s owner PopCity. As Richard Sweet from PopCity explained:
“We’ve really done our homework on Reading and are confident that there is a pent-up demand for a more exciting re-interpretation of fast-food.”
Union’s permanent site, a 350-seat, indoor food hall, will feature seven award-winning street food vendors, and a bar showcasing Vocation Brewery’s vast range of craft beers. There will be a variety of tasty options for food lovers including meatballs from The Bowler, Slap & Pickle’s renowned smash burgers and loaded fries, Lobbo’s innovative seafood cuisine, and pizza from Let’s Go Pizza. The site is also an ideal event space and will offer live music, film screenings and other themed gatherings.
Plan for the proposed indoor food hall
We believe Union will bring life and vibrancy to the city of Reading, offering a platform to local food independents that would not ordinarily be able to trade from such a high-profile location. It forms an integral part of our plans to improve Broad Street Mall as part of our wider masterplan, which includes the addition of 400 new high quality, centrally located homes recently granted planning permission, alongside a new Premier Inn hotel.
Read our case study to learn more about our exciting plans for Reading.