Reading Gaol: Oscar Wilde prison sale proceeds despite petition

Wilde was held at the prison after being convicted of gross indecency - effectively for being gay

The sale of a historic jail that once held Oscar Wilde is close to completing despite an MP's petition against the plan gaining thousands of signatures.

Matt Rodda, Labour MP for Reading East, has urged the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to protect Reading Gaol for public use.

Reading Borough Council and performing arts groups want the prison, which stopped being used as a jail in 2013, to be turned into an arts hub.

But the MoJ said the sale was expected to go through in the coming months.

Mr Rodda's petition to halt the sale has so far received almost 13,000 signatures.

The ministry has not confirmed who is buying the site but campaign group Save Reading Gaol, and others including street artist Banksy and Oscar-winning actress Kate Winslet, have been calling for it to become a site for the arts and culture.

It has previously been reported the empty prison costs more than £250,000 a year to maintain

In the House of Commons this week, Mr Rodda asked prisons minister Damian Hinds to reconsider the government's approach after the response to his petition.

"Will he now reconsider and will he work with me, Reading Borough Council and the local arts community to save this wonderful building?" he asked.

Mr Hinds replied: "The sale is progressing, any proposed development of course would be subject to approval from the Reading Borough Council planning department, and of course the usual due diligence requirements will apply.

He said Mr Rodda and the Conservative MP for Reading West, Sir Alok Sharma, had been "incredibly assiduous in their attention to this matter on behalf of their constituents", adding: "And in turn, I commit to him that we will absolutely stay in touch."

Kenneth Branagh and Natalie Dormer have joined calls to preserve Reading Prison as a centre for culture

Reading Prison was formally closed in January 2014 after the last inmate left in November 2013. It was put up for sale by the MoJ in October 2019.

The idea for the building to be turned into a theatre and arts hub gained popularity after it was used for an arts exhibition in 2016.

The campaign to give the prison to theatre and arts community use has gained support from Stephen Fry, Natalie Dormer, Kate Winslet, Dame Judi Dench, Sir Kenneth Branagh.

Irish playwright and poet Oscar Wilde spent two years at the prison between 1895 and 1897 after being convicted of gross indecency - effectively for being gay.

His health suffered in prison and continued to decline after his release.

He spent the last three years of his life in exile in France, where he composed his last work The Ballad of Reading Gaol, a nod to his time at the prison.