My spouse and I visited Reading on a weekend in late October
2016 to attend the Steve Miller Band concert at the Santander Arena. Although
downtown Reading is only about 30 miles from our home, the drive takes closer
to an hour. To make our evening more enjoyable, we reserved a room at the
Doubletree Reading, which is located right across the street from the main
entrance of the Santander Arena. We even booked a panoramic suite, which gave
us a birds-eye view of the main entrance as well as the loading area, so we
were able to see the behind-the-scenes action (which was particularly
meaningful because we recently finished watching the Showtime series Roadies). We arrived in Reading in the
early afternoon, and we made our own pub crawl of a few local bars, beginning
with lunch at the Ugly Oyster, followed by drinks and dessert at Jimmie
Kramer’s Peanut Bar, and capped off by cocktails and snacks at The Speckled
Hen. (Originally, we planned to dine at the more formal Judy’s on Cherry for
dinner, but we decided on a more casual progressive afternoon once we arrived
in town.) The concert was great; Steve Miller was so personable, and we tested
out seats on the floor. (For all of our other recent concerts [The Eagles,
James Taylor, Billy Joel, Elton John], we sat in the front row of the lower
section.) We loved being up close! Downtown Reading was busy because of the
concert, a program at the Reading Symphony Orchestra, a wedding, and a Halloween
party, and a Disney ice show. On Sunday, rather than eat at a restaurant in
West Reading as planned, we used our voucher for the complimentary breakfast
buffet at the hotel restaurant, Cheers. It was a great weekend!
- Doubletree Reading Link to my review
- The Ugly Oyster Link to my review
- Jimmie Kramer's Peanut Bar Link to my review
- The Speckled Hen Link to my review
- Cheers at the Doubletree Reading Link to my review
- Santander Arena Link to my review
- Steve Miller Band Link to my review
