| Election Name: | 1987 Reading Borough Council election |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Previous Election: | 1986 Reading Borough Council election |
| Previous Year: | 1986 |
| Next Election: | 1988 Reading Borough Council election |
| Next Year: | 1988 |
| Seats For Election: | 15 seats of 45 on council |
| Majority Seats: | 23 |
| Image1: | Lab |
| Leader1: | Mike Orton |
| Party1: | Labour Party (UK) |
| Seats Before1: | 22 |
| Seats After1: | 24 |
| Seat Change1: | 2 |
| Popular Vote1: | 14,358 |
| Percentage1: | 31.0 |
| Swing1: | 5.4 |
| Leader2: | Geoff Canning |
| Party2: | Conservative Party (UK) |
| Seats Before2: | 17 |
| Seats After2: | 16 |
| Seat Change2: | 1 |
| Popular Vote2: | 18,993 |
| Percentage2: | 41.0 |
| Swing2: | 8.2 |
| Image3: | Lib |
| Leader3: | Jim Day |
| Party3: | Liberal Party (UK) |
| Alliance3: | SDP-Liberal Alliance |
| Seats Before3: | 6 |
| Seats After3: | 5 |
| Seat Change3: | 1 |
| Popular Vote3: | 12,343 |
| Percentage3: | 26.7 |
| Swing3: | 1.8 |
The 1987 Reading Borough Council election was held on 7 May 1987, at the same time as other local elections across England and Wales. One third of Reading Borough Council's 45 seats were up for election.
Before the election, the council was under no overall control with Labour running a minority administration, being one seat short of an overall majority. The election saw Labour gain two extra seats, giving it a majority. After the election, Labour had 24 seats, the Conservatives had 16 seats, and the SDP-Liberal Alliance had 5 seats, all of whom were Liberals.[1]
The results in each ward were as follows (candidates with an asterisk* were the previous incumbent standing for re-election:[2] [1]