Reading away day: a first-timer's guide to the Select Car Leasing Stadium

I was up early on Saturday for the first round of the 2026-27 League One season, and not just any game, but the fixture that opened the whole league at 12:30: Reading vs Luton Town.

As a Luton Town member I got a ticket in the away end, and travelled about half an hour west of London to a city I'd never visited and a ground I'd never seen. Here's how the day went, and everything I wish I'd known before I set off; the trains, the bus, the pubs, the away end, and exactly what the whole thing cost.

Reading away day at a glance

• Ground: Select Car Leasing Stadium (still "the Madejski" to plenty of people)

• Home club: Reading FC

• Capacity: 24,161

• Opened: August 1998

• Where: Smallmead, roughly two miles south of Reading town centre, right by junction 11 of the M4, an industrial estate, not a residential neighbourhood

• Away end: behind the goal in the South Stand

• Nearest mainline station: Reading (then a bus); Reading Green Park is closer on foot but has a much thinner service

• What my day cost: £75 all in, from London

How to get to the Select Car Leasing Stadium from Reading station

Reading is one of the easiest away days in the country to reach from London. I took the 10:22 from Paddington to Reading: 23 minutes. Be warned: on a Saturday morning that train is rammed, because it's also the train to Oxford. Mine was a mix of Reading fans in blue and white, Luton fans in orange, and a few hundred tourists heading further up the line.

From Reading station you have two realistic options to the ground:

• Bus 600: the regular service to the stadium. £3, about 15 minutes.

• Matchday shuttles (F1 / F2): laid on from the station on matchdays. I took the 600 out and the F1 back; both were fine. £3, about 15 minutes.

There's also Reading Green Park station, which opened in 2023 and sits just under a mile from the ground, walkable in around 15-20 minutes. It's on the Reading–Basingstoke line rather than the main London route, so check whether the service actually suits your journey before you plan around it. I didn't use it, but if you're driving-and-parking-and-training it's worth a look.

Whichever way you come, you end up crossing a fairly wide road to reach the ground, with a huge car park and a KFC on the approach. It reminded me a little of America, which is not something I say about many English grounds.

More detail on the ground itself is on the Select Car Leasing Stadium page.

Best pubs near Reading station before the match

Straight out of the station exit is The Three Guineas, a beautiful old pub that was already heaving when I walked past. And I mean already ,this was 10:45 in the morning, and it was full of both sets of fans with pints in hand.

This is the thing I love most about away days in England: in most places, fans of both clubs drink together before kick-off. A bit of ribbing, sure, but the atmosphere is almost always good, and Reading was no exception.

Because the ground sits in an industrial estate rather than in a neighbourhood, the drinking splits into two zones:

• Around the station and town centre, where the actual pubs are, and where I'd tell you to spend your pre-match time. I did a quick loop of the town centre, which is what I always do at a new away ground, grabbed something small to eat and drink, and talked to a few fans about their hopes for the season.

• At the ground, a pub inside the stadium complex, plus a row of burger and drinks stalls outside the away turnstiles. Functional rather than memorable.

You can see what else is walkable in the places to eat and drink near the Select Car Leasing Stadium guide.

What is the away end at the Select Car Leasing Stadium like?

The away entrance takes you past the hotel that's built into the ground and past the stadium pub. Away fans are behind the goal in the South Stand, and the view is genuinely excellent, as it is from just about anywhere in there, because it's a well-built stadium.

That's also the honest problem with it: it's a bit too big for Reading right now. The official attendance was 14,065 in a 24,161-seat ground, of which 2,432 were away fans. A packed 2,400-strong away end makes plenty of noise, but there's a lot of empty plastic around you, and matchday feels different in a bowl that isn't full.

If you're comparing it to your own ground, it's about as far from Kenilworth Road as an English away day gets. Luton's home is a tight 11,500 where you're on top of the pitch; Reading's is a modern out-of-town bowl.

Tickets: away allocations for Reading go on sale through your own club first. If you're picking up a home ticket or chasing a sold-out away end, compare prices for Reading tickets or Luton Town tickets, or through the official websites.

Reading 3-4 Luton Town: how opening day actually unfolded

One quick beer before the whistle, and then the season started, and God, football is fun.

Jake Richards put Luton ahead inside six minutes with the first goal of the League One season. Two minutes later it was level, after a mistake in the orange defence let Jack Marriott in. Marriott then scored again on 31 and completed his hat-trick on 38, 3-1 to the hosts at half-time, and a very quiet away end.

But football has its own rules. Kasey Palmer scored twice in two minutes, on 50 and 52, to make it 3-3. The draw held all the way to the sixth minute of stoppage time, when Gideon Kodua bundled in a fourth from a goalmouth scramble. 4-3 Luton. Three of the most dramatic points you'll get in August.

Getting back to Reading station after the game

After a bit of good-natured back-and-forth outside, both sets of fans ended up queuing together for the bus back into town. On a 27-degree afternoon that queue was not fun, though after a win, considerably less painful.

Don't make my mistake: I walked the whole way around the outside of the stadium looking for the stop. Just ask a steward where the bus is and they'll point you to the right side. I was on a train back to London by 15:45 and home by 16:30, tired and very happy.

If you're travelling from further away and want to make a weekend of it rather than a dash, hotels within a couple of miles of the ground are mostly town-centre, which is where you want to be anyway, but I'd recommend taking the train back to London.

How much does a Reading away day cost?

Here's exactly what I spent, travelling from London:

For a full day out and a seven-goal game, that is very good value, and it's a useful benchmark if you're planning any League One away day from London this season.

Is Reading a good away day?

It's a slightly atypical one, mostly because of where the ground is. English stadiums are usually in the middle of a neighbourhood, and even the newer ones tend to look a bit old school. This one doesn't: it's late-nineties, out of town, surrounded by car parks and fast food, and noticeably bigger than the club currently needs.

But the atmosphere inside was good, the away end was full and loud, the view is excellent, the transport is genuinely easy, and we got a wonderful football experience at a price anyone can manage. If your club is drawn here, go.

You can check what else is on around the city on the football in Reading page.

Reading away day FAQs

How do you get to the Select Car Leasing Stadium from Reading station? Take bus 600 (£3, around 15 minutes) or one of the F1/F2 matchday shuttles from outside the station. Reading Green Park station is under a mile from the ground on foot, but has a much less frequent service.

Where do away fans sit at the Select Car Leasing Stadium? Behind the goal in the South Stand. The view is very good, and the away allocation for a typical League One fixture is in the region of 2,000-2,500.

What is the capacity of the Select Car Leasing Stadium? 24,161. Reading's League One crowds sit well below that, 14,065 attended the opening game of the 2026-27 season.

Are there pubs near the Select Car Leasing Stadium? Not really in the way you'd expect. The ground is in an industrial estate, so most away fans drink near Reading station or in the town centre. The Three Guineas, right outside the station, is the obvious one, then take the bus down. There's a pub inside the stadium complex and food stalls by the away turnstiles.

How long is the train from London to Reading? About 23 minutes from London Paddington. Expect it to be busy on a Saturday morning, as it's also the Oxford train.

Assaf Hay Eden is Co-Founder of Football Finder, and has attended matches at more than 100 stadiums worldwide.