 'Living the dream' with Luckys Diner opening
A couple from Woodley with a huge passion for food have realised their dream of running their own business with Wokingham’s newest restaurant.
Venu Popuri and Swapna Inuganti celebrated the opening of Luckys Diner in Elms Walk last week. Coming from a background of sales and IT respectively, Venu and Swapna say it is the strength of the menu that made them want to be a part of the Luckys team.
The first Luckys Diner opened in Oldham in 2018 and there are now ten restaurants with the addition of Wokingham, which is the second to open in 2025. There are plans to open a further 27 branches this year.
The unit in Elms Walk is part of our Elms Field town centre regeneration, which will soon see another addition in Opuz Kitchen & Bar, a Turkish grill and bar restaurant that currently has sites in Watford and Hemel Hempstead.
 Cantley parking charges removed from budget
We’ve listened to your concerns about proposed car parking charges at Cantley Park in Wokingham, so we won’t be introducing them in next week’s budget.
The income we make from hiring our facilities at Cantley doesn’t cover the costs of running and improving it, so the idea was put forward to ensure it stays viable.
But after hearing your views, we’re going to work with the park’s users to find a solution instead.
We don’t want to limit people’s opportunities for sports and leisure, but we have to generate an income to ensure future generations can enjoy all Cantley offers.
For example, the price of hiring grass football pitches at the site covers less than a third of the true cost of maintaining them.
However, as with the many financial challenges that we and other councils are facing, we want to fully engage with people to find the best way forward.
 Household Support Fund can help you
There’s more than £500,000 available to help Wokingham Borough residents through the Household Support Fund this winter. You can apply if you’re struggling to pay for:
- Food
- Bills
- Energy costs
- Other everyday essentials
The Household Support Fund has been allocated by the Department for Work and Pensions to councils in England to pass on money to residents who need it.
What you’re entitled to depends on your situation:
- Free school meal families - £15 per week, per child during the school holidays for each child receiving means-tested free school meals
- Pensioners, carers and disabled people – one off grant of £120
- All other households – one off grant of £60
The current round covers October 1, 2024 to March 31, 2025. Do not re-apply if you’ve already got a payment recently.
 First steps under way in building new road
Our partners at Balfour Beatty are making progress on the initial enabling works to allow them to complete the South Wokingham Distributor Road.
Easthampstead Road is now open again, following a brief period of closure to allow the crews to clear vegetation and create temporary site entrances.
This was slightly delayed from its original reopening date due to heavy rain and flooding, which set work behind, and we're thankful for your patience.
The team will now be pressing ahead with further tree and hedge clearance works, with a view to starting main construction works in the spring.
In the long term, we're planning a lot more planting and landscaping to make up for trees and hedges that were cleared in these early stages.
Don't forget - you can get more details about this project in our South Wokingham community newsletter, so sign up if you're interested.
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