Does my business need a Reading address to get a 0118 number?

No. A CallFactory 0118 number is registered on your own business address, which can be anywhere in the UK or abroad. A company in London, Oxford or outside the UK can therefore publish a 0118 line for its Thames Valley customers, and calls to it ring through to the team wherever it works. The code simply tells callers that the line belongs to the Reading area.

Do Wokingham, Woodley and Earley share the same 0118 as Reading town centre?

Yes. The 0118 area covers Reading itself with Caversham, Tilehurst and Calcot, and extends to Earley, Woodley, Wokingham, Twyford and Wargrave in the east, Theale, Pangbourne, Bradfield and Woolhampton in the west, and Burghfield Common, Mortimer, Spencers Wood and Arborfield Cross to the south. All of them use the identical code.

Why is Bracknell on a different code when it is next to Wokingham?

Telephone areas follow the historical exchange map, not council boundaries. Bracknell has its own code, 01344, which also covers Crowthorne, Sandhurst and Ascot, so Crowthorne uses 01344 even though it belongs to the Borough of Wokingham. In the same way Henley-on-Thames is on 01491, Newbury on 01635, Basingstoke on 01256 and Maidenhead on 01628.

Are 0118 numbers still available?

Yes. When Reading moved to 0118 in 1998 its local numbers grew from six to seven digits, which multiplied the pool of available numbers. New ranges starting with 3, 4 and 2 have been opened since, the most recent in 2016. CallFactory holds a large 0118 stock, including memorable digit patterns, and activates a new number within one working day.

Should a business outside the Thames Valley choose 0118 or a national 0333 number?

Choose by audience. A 0118 number suits a company that wants Reading and Wokingham customers to see a local line, for example on a regional landing page or a local Google Business Profile. A 0333 number reads as national and costs callers the same as a geographic call from anywhere in the UK. Many businesses run both on one account, so the two lines share the same routing and the same team.

0118 Area Code | Which Towns It Covers

Area code 0118 is the code that Thames Valley callers read as Reading. It covers the town and a broad ring of suburbs and villages around it, from Woodley and Wokingham in the east to Theale and Pangbourne in the west, and it reaches across three counties, taking in Kidmore End in Oxfordshire and Tadley in Hampshire. At the same time Bracknell, Newbury and Henley-on-Thames, all within a short drive, sit on codes of their own. For a business that wants Reading customers to call, it helps to know exactly where the code applies, because a 0118 number on a website or a quote tells callers that the line belongs to their local area.

This article maps the 0118 coverage in detail, lists the neighbouring towns that use other codes, and shows how any business, inside or outside Berkshire, can add a 0118 number for Reading customers and receive their calls wherever the team works. A CallFactory 0118 number is registered on your own business address, which can be anywhere in the UK or abroad.

Which towns does the 0118 area code cover?

The 0118 area is built around the Reading exchanges and follows the older exchange map across Berkshire, south Oxfordshire and north Hampshire. The main places on the code:

Reading town centre — the commercial core around the station, the Oracle and Forbury Gardens, with the office blocks of the station quarter and the highest concentration of business lines on the code
Caversham — north of the Thames, the riverside district with its own shops and offices, on the same code as the town centre
Tilehurst and Calcot — the western suburbs, including the retail parks along the A4 and the business sites close to the M4
Earley and Woodley — the eastern suburbs, home to the University of Reading’s Whiteknights campus and the Thames Valley Park and Suttons business parks nearby
Wokingham — the market town south-east of Reading, which shares 0118 with its larger neighbour
Twyford and Wargrave — the villages along the Thames towards Henley, which stay on 0118
Theale, Pangbourne and Woolhampton — the corridor west along the Kennet and the Thames, including the logistics and office sites around Theale and the M4
Burghfield Common, Mortimer, Spencers Wood and Arborfield Cross — the southern villages towards the Hampshire border
Tadley, Silchester, Heckfield and Eversley — across the county line in Hampshire, yet on Reading’s 0118 rather than a Hampshire code
Bradfield and Kidmore End — the rural north-west and north, with Kidmore End in south Oxfordshire

A business based anywhere in this footprint will naturally use 0118, but the code is not reserved for local firms. Because a CallFactory number registers on your own business address, a company headquartered elsewhere can publish a 0118 line for its Reading customers in exactly the same way.

Why the 0118 code still matters to callers

UK area codes were designed so that the opening digits of a number tell the caller roughly where the line sits. Ofcom’s National Telephone Numbering Plan still allocates each geographic code to a named numbering area, which is why 0118 reads as Reading in the same way that 01344 reads as Bracknell and 01635 as Newbury. Along the M4 corridor, where many firms sell to other firms within a few miles of each other, callers notice that difference and often prefer a number they recognise as local.

That recognition is the commercial value of the code. A 0118 number on a regional landing page, a local Google Business Profile, a quote or an email signature tells Reading and Wokingham prospects that you serve their area, and they can call you at standard geographic rates without dialling a distant code. Calls then ring through to your team wherever it sits, whether that is an office near Reading station, a head office in London or staff working across the South East.

The code reflects how customers see you, not where your company is registered. CallFactory registers the number on your own business address, so you can choose 0118 because your customers are in the Thames Valley rather than because your office is.

Boundary cases around Reading

Berkshire is divided between several codes, and the 0118 boundary often runs through the middle of a borough. The main cases:

Bracknell, Crowthorne and Sandhurst — south-east, area code 01344. Crowthorne belongs to the Borough of Wokingham, yet it shares Bracknell’s code rather than Wokingham’s 0118
Henley-on-Thames — north-east, area code 01491. Wargrave and Twyford are on 0118, while the riverside town a few miles upstream has its own code
Newbury — west, area code 01635. Woolhampton is on 0118, while the West Berkshire town further along the A4 is not
Basingstoke — south, area code 01256. Tadley and Silchester are on Reading’s 0118, while the larger Hampshire town has its own code
Maidenhead — east, area code 01628, the Royal Borough town that anchors that code
Slough — further east, area code 01753, a separate numbering area even though Slough and Reading are often grouped together as one Thames Valley market

These boundaries matter when you choose which number to publish. A company whose customers are mainly in Bracknell or Newbury may be better served by that town’s own code, while one targeting Reading, Wokingham and Woodley together is covered by a single 0118 line. Several local numbers can run on one CallFactory account, so a Reading line and a Bracknell line can reach the same team without callers noticing any difference.

How the 0118 area grew historically

Reading’s code changed twice in the 1990s. On PhONEday in April 1995 the old code 0734 became 01734, with local numbers unchanged. To give the growing town more numbering capacity, in 1998 Reading received the shorter code 0118 with seven-digit local numbers. Existing numbers were lengthened by adding a “9” at the front, which turned (01734) 234567 into (0118) 923 4567, and many long-established Reading businesses still have numbers that start 0118 9.

The extra digit opened room for growth. Local numbers beginning with 3 were introduced in 1998, numbers beginning with 4 followed in 2009, and numbers beginning with 2 were added in 2016. Every one of those ranges is part of the same Reading area, so a number starting 0118 3 or 0118 2 is just as local to callers as one starting 0118 9.

The shape of the area follows the telephone exchange map rather than county or borough lines. That is why 0118 reaches into Hampshire at Tadley and into Oxfordshire at Kidmore End, while Crowthorne in Wokingham borough stayed with Bracknell. For businesses the practical rule is simple: always print the number in full as 0118 xxx xxxx, which is the format callers recognise and the one Google reads most reliably.

How to set up a 0118 number for your business

Getting a 0118 line running takes a few minutes of decisions and no local paperwork:

Choose the number. Pick a 0118 number from CallFactory’s stock, including memorable digit patterns, or port an existing 0118 line from your current provider free of charge so that customers keep dialling the number they already know.
Decide where calls go. Set the destination for incoming calls, such as a mobile, a desk phone, the CallFactory app or a hunt group, so that Reading callers reach the right person wherever your team works. Opening hours, a welcome message and a queue can be added at the same stage.
Go live. CallFactory registers the number on your own business address, which can be anywhere in the UK or abroad, and activates it within one working day. Publish it everywhere in the same format, because Google treats a consistent local number on your website and business listings as a location signal.

A few situations come up often. A firm moving from central Reading to a business park in Theale keeps its 0118 number, because both are on the code. A London company that serves clients along the M4 can publish a 0118 line for them without opening a Thames Valley office. A multi-site business can give each town its own local number and route them all through one call flow, so a single team handles every enquiry.

Other numbers worth considering alongside 0118

A 0118 number is the strongest choice when your customers are in and around Reading, but other ranges fit other goals:

A neighbouring local code — 01344 for Bracknell, 01491 for Henley-on-Thames, 01635 for Newbury, 01256 for Basingstoke, 01628 for Maidenhead and 01753 for Slough. Useful where your customers are concentrated in one of those towns
A national 0333 number — a 0333 number charged at standard geographic rates wherever the caller dials from, which suits businesses with a UK-wide customer base and one published line
A freephone 0800 line — an 0800 freephone number where the caller pays nothing, which is the classic fit for sales hotlines and customer-service campaigns
A national overview — the UK phone-numbers overview sets out every range Ofcom administers, with guidance on which one suits each commercial profile
A combination — a 0118 line for Thames Valley customers next to a 0333 for the rest of the country, both on one account, so regional and national enquiries land with the same team

The right mix depends on where your callers are. A local code reads as part of the community, a 0333 reads as nationally established, and an 0800 puts the caller’s cost first. Monthly prices and included features for each option are on the pricing page.

Get started

If you want Reading customers to call a number they recognise as local, apply through the Reading 0118 number page. CallFactory activates the line within one working day, complete with call forwarding to a mobile or landline, a text-to-speech welcome message in any language and call recording for training and quality checks.

Your business does not need a Reading office for this, because the number is registered on your own business address wherever that is. If your customers are spread across the country as well, a 0333 number can run next to the 0118 line on the same account.

Which towns does the 0118 area code cover and what it means for your business