Reading Gaol: MP 'cautiously optimistic' over jail sale

Matt Rodda, the MP for Reading East, previously urged the government to allow the site to become an arts hub

An MP has said he is "cautiously optimistic" after an empty jail that once held Oscar Wilde was sold.

The government announced on Thursday Reading Prison had been sold. It has been bought by educational charity Ziran Education Foundation for £7m.

Reading East MP Matt Rodda said he now wanted to know more about the plans but was pleased expected to be used as an educational arts centre.

Reading Goal formally closed in January 2014 and has been empty ever since.

In a statement, the MoJ previously said: "The sale follows an extensive bidding and vetting process to guarantee best value for taxpayers' money while ensuring future planning applications acknowledge the historic nature of the site."

A campaign to turn the Grade II listed building into an arts and community centre was supported by celebrities including Stephen Fry, Kate Winslet, Dame Judi Dench and artist Banksy.

It said the proposed plans for the site included an educational centre incorporating a museum and exhibition space.

The prison has remained empty for more than 10 years

Mr Rodda said he had "cautiously optimistic" about the plans and wanted to know more about the plans.

He added: "It is great that the proposal is for it to be used as an educational arts centre.

"I do have some real optimism about the future of the jail now this proposal doesn't appear to be a commercial development, and it seems to be based around arts and education which is positive.

"However, I would like to know much more about it and I think that is a view many people in the community share."

In 2021, a portrait by the celebrated street artist Banksy appeared on a prison wall.

The image showed a prisoner escaping on a rope made of bedsheets tied to a typewriter.

The artist later offered to support the campaign to create an arts hub at the site by selling the stencil he had used in order to match the jail's initial £10m asking price.

In 2021, a portrait by the celebrated street artist Banksy appeared on a prison wall

Toby Davies, of Rabble Theatre in Reading, has long campaigned for Reading Gaol to become an arts centre.

Mr Davies said: "It's a relief that finally we have some sort of progress and some of the noise around what it will be sound quite positive.

He said he hoped the new owners understood "the heritage of the site with Oscar Wilde and Henry the first", and that they were "going to be preserved".

"It is a wonderful opportunity to really put Reading on the map as a cultural destination," he added.

Oscar Wilde was imprisoned at Reading Jail after being convicted of gross indecency - effectively for being gay

Oscar Wilde spent two years at the jail after being convicted in 1895 of gross indecency - effectively for being gay.

He spent the last three years of his life in exile in France, where he composed his last work, The Ballad of Reading Gaol, describing an execution at the prison.

Merlin Holland, Oscar Wilde's only child and biographer, said his grandfather would be" absolutely delighted that if his time in the jail had any influence on the decision of the ministry of justice".

"Turning it [Reading jail] into an education centre and a museum I think is absolutely wonderful and I think he would approve," he said.

The prison is based in the Reading Abbey precinct.

Henry I, son of William the Conqueror, founded Reading Abbey in 1121.

After his death in Normandy in December 1135, his body was taken to Reading sewn into a bull's hide.

He was laid to rest in January 1136 and his tomb is thought to be in the grounds of the prison.