This arrival was not welcomed by the established Reading Abbey, but the fact that the friars had royal patronage meant that Adam de Lathbury, the then abbot, was obliged to assist.

[3] Nevertheless the first mention of a painted altarpiece known in Europe comes from the friary, which is recorded as having "unam tabulam ad altarem depictam et auro stellatam" in 1239.

[4][5] Initially the friars were granted a site alongside the road to Caversham Bridge, and by 1259 had erected a friary there, complete with church, chapter house, dormitory and refectory.

Eventually John Peckham, who was both the Archbishop of Canterbury and a fellow Franciscan, intervened and by 1285 a new site had been obtained at the west end of what is now Friar Street.

The mayor, along with Thomas Vachell of Coley Park, petitioned the king to grant the nave and aisles of the church for use as a town hall.

[2] The Memorial Hall, a building seating about fifty opens both to the north side of the Church and to Sackville Street, was constructed in the early twentieth century.

[6] Attached to the main church building is the West End, which was constructed in the 1970s to create an entrance foyer and a semi-circular lounge with seating for 100–150.

The Victorian pews were replaced with movable seating to allow greater flexibility in the building's use, such as the large dinners which launch the church's Alpha Courses.