Losing Boots in Tilehurst is sad news, a councillor has said.

The high street store closed its branch at the Meadway shopping precinct in August as part of a nationwide strategy to shut down 300 shops. 

The branch offered a pharmacy service to residents as well as selling health and beauty items to the community. 

Councillor Anne Thompson, who represents Tilehurst, said: "We're sad to see a popular shop closing in the Meadway Precinct.

“It's important to keep as many facilities open as possible to support the different centres of Reading, not just the town centre.”

She said she was glad that residents would still be able to make use of other pharmacies in the area. There is one based at Asda at the same site on Honey End Lane and another a Lloyd’s on Pottery Road.

Cllr Thompson continued: "It is important to help communities. I am glad to say that there is a pharmacy in the location where Boots is closing and they are planning on staying open which is good news."

The Lib Dem councillor said despite the closure she and many others are keen to see a regeneration of the Meadway precinct which she feels is pretty tired. 

"A re-vamp is definitely needed," she said. "The owners had plans and put them forward but nothing has come of them yet. That precinct in particular is crying out for some TLC."

Ms Thompson said that she would like to see an improvement made to housing on the precinct with hopefully an addition of affordable and social housing. 

The shopping precinct has a mixture of charity shops, cafes, takeaways and stores - a redevelopment plan was approved back in 2021 but nearly three years on, no progress has been made. 

The councillor said she would be keen to retain the current stores under any new redevelopment plan as the services are well used.  

These include several takeaways and a launderette, along with the pharmacy. 

"We need the kind of shops that people would use but not too many as we don't want the problem of empty shops," Ms Thompson continued. 

"The problem is adapting to how everyone's shopping patterns have changed, especially after the pandemic. We equally need to make sure that the community's needs are catered for."

The high street brand’s parent company Walgreens Boots Alliance previously said in June 2023 that Boots would be closing down 300 pharmacy outlets in the UK within the year.

The Pharmaceutical Journal reports that all of those closures will be completed by the end of Summer 2024.

The closures are part of a money-saving scheme to save around £618 million, it was reported last year.

A spokesperson previously said: “Evolving the store estate in this way allows Boots to concentrate its team members where they are needed and focus investment more acutely in individual stores with the ambition of consistently delivering an excellent and reliable service in a fresh and up-to-date environment.”