Blue Collar food and drink market shipping container plans

Blue Collar has submitted plans for its expansion of Hosier Street Market to create a ‘food and drink quarter’.

The local company, which also runs a food market in Market Place, took over as operator of the Hosier Street Market in March.

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At the time, its owners revealed plans to extend the market by adding shipping containers over two floors, featuring four kitchens and a bar.

Blue Collar has now applied to Reading Borough Council (RBC) for planning to set up the expanded market.

PICTURED: A bird's eye view of the plans

PICTURED: Designs for the site

It wants to clear the site, which currently has two portacabins, metal and timber fencing and rubbish.

The plan is then to install seven shipping containers to provide permanent commercial units, a bar and toilet facilities, as well as five beach huts for use by the commercial units.

Seating would be provided at ground floor level and on the first floor, on top of the shipping containers.

Two staircases would be built to enable access to additional seating areas above the shipping containers.

There would also be a covered pergola structure across most of the ground floor level, decorated with plants, vines and lighting.

Six foot-high fencing would be erected around the perimeter of the site, decorated with artwork/graphics.

The local Reading-based company is already well established in the town.

Alongside its popular Wednesday and Friday markets in Market Place and Summer events in Forbury Gardens, Blue Collar hosted the UK Final of The British Street Food Awards in Reading and previously managed and operated the outside catering at Reading Football Club on match days.

RBC, which owns the Hosier Street site, chose Blue Collar to run the market in March following a tendering process.

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Blue Collar owner Glen Dinning said at the time: “This deal provides us with the prospect of opening our first permanent site, which we hope will breathe new life into this area of our hometown.

“Our shipping container site will be over two floors, featuring four kitchens and a bar – great for outside food and drinks throughout the Summer and fully enclosed in the Winter.

“Assuming all OK with planning and licensing, we anticipate opening late Summer and will look to improve the market area to coincide with the container site opening, with the market traders selling fresh produce and benefitting from the additional footfall we hope the site will bring.

“We’d like to thank the council for giving us this opportunity.”

Town and Country Markets – which managed and operated the Hosier Street Market for a number of years – went into administration in 2018 and ceased trading.

As an interim arrangement, traders came to an agreement with the council to manage and operate the market themselves in order to keep the market open for business until a new operator was found.