Despite strong community and MP support, Reading Borough Council has yet to confirm a plan for OHOS. Your voice still matters.
Dear supporters,
Thank you for continuing to stand with us to protect Open Hand Open Space (OHOS) and our home at Brock Keep, Reading’s only artist studios and contemporary art gallery. Your ongoing support has been vital in showing how much this space means to artists, communities, and the wider cultural life of the town.
As many of you know, we have been working intensively to make the case for keeping Brock Keep in cultural and community use. Around 20 artists currently work and run activities at the site, which has been a vital hub for creativity and social connection on Reading’s Oxford Road.
We have formally presented our petition, along with over 200 individual letters from supporters, to Reading Borough Council (RBC). Despite this widespread public backing — and the support of all three Reading MPs — we have received only vague assurances from the Council. We did not receive any direct update on the building’s status until our MP wrote to the Council on our behalf. It was only then that we learned the planned sale had been temporarily paused, and that the Council is revisiting its sale criteria.
We are concerned that this review could remove clauses relating to public benefit, making it easier for the building to be sold privately and placing the future of OHOS at continued risk.
OHOS has consistently demonstrated its value to Reading — strengthening the cultural offer, supporting local artists to stay and work in the town, and contributing to community well-being and inclusion.
Our position remains uncertain, but we are determined to keep engaging and to seek advice, advocacy, and support to help the Council recognise the importance of OHOS and take our request seriously.
Please continue to share the petition, raise awareness, and help us keep up the pressure. Together, we can make sure Brock Keep remains a home for artists, creativity, and community in Reading.
Thank you,
The OHOS Team