Reading Roars!

I went to Reading’s new cocktail bar Mix last night and enjoyed it. The cocktail menu was interesting, though many of the drinks looked very sugary to me. The bar was elegantly designed and there were cream sofas, pink walls, chandeliers, mirrors and flowers. All very feminine, in other words. Four bartenders did their best to mix cocktails despite having “only half the ingredients” and the movie Sin City was displayed on the wall behind them. Tres chic.

There were a number of other customers at Mix who appeared quite smart. About 90% of guys present were drinking beer, despite the novelty of drinks available. It’s possible that they saw cocktails as something for the ladies.

I wasn’t so fussy. I had a cocktail. Two, in fact: a berry mojito - a mojito with a reddish strawberry/raspberry syrup (not sure what they’d make of that one in Havana), and a deep, fruity Slivovitz and Cointreau with assorted pieces of fruit, elderflower and a couple of other things. Result: pretty good. The fruity concoction in particular tasted rich and strong, and very probably wouldn’t appeal to the majority of people who I suspect have sweeter, lighter tastes.

Prices started at £4.95 for a cocktail, though cheaper drinks (£3.50, I believe) are on offer between 5pm and 8pm on a Monday and Tuesday. Most appeared to cost £5.95 or £6.95.

If you’re reading this post now (early Saturday evening), why not give Mix a try tonight? Last night it wasn’t very busy. I’m sure that in 6 weeks time, the place will get very crowded indeed.

A sparkling new cocktail bar in the heart of Reading is to open its doors to the public on Friday evening.

Mix, located at The Walk near The Oracle, looks very similar in style to London’s opulent Jewel and Vanilla. Big chandeliers hang from the ceiling and there is very a large and ornate mirror for the very vain (it also helps to make the somewhat small venue look bigger).

I suspect that Mix is a bar that will appeal mostly to women and, in particular, WAG wannabes (it’s also conveniently close to the shops). However, get a posse of dazzling young ladies in a room together, sipping margaritas and mojitos, and the guys will surely follow (though I doubt that Carling and Fosters will be on offer).

Instead, I imagine that there will be a fantastic drinks menu, with classic, Champagne and contemporary cocktails listed, and expert mixologists who could pour a Cuba Libre blindfolded.

After years of Mickey Mouse cocktails served in Reading’s bars, I’m delighted that another bar dedicated to the art of creating these amazing, fascinating drinks is opening in town (the others I can think of are Cerise and Sahara). But why didn’t you Mix folk invite me to your launch party on Wednesday night?

I was wondering… are there any readers of this blog who own or manage a small business?  Or who are interested in Microsoft products/technologies?

The reason I ask is because a Microsoft blog was launched recently with information specifically for small businesses, located at the following address: http://blogs.technet.com/smallbusiness.  Now, I’d rather not blog about irrelevant subjects on Reading Roars! i.e. anything unrelated to Reading, so I do feel I’ve broken a big rule here (unless you consider the fact that MS are located just outside of Reading).  However, I’m quite excited about the MS blog and I’d be interested to hear your thoughts and suggestions for improvement/content.

The blog will feature submissions from a number of people at the company (not just myself!), covering technology topics such as online marketing and advertising, hardware and software.  And I shall speak of it no longer.

Reading FC’s achievements last season reminded me of Getafe CF’s exploits in Spain’s La Liga.  Indeed, both clubs have a few things in common.

Getafe is a small club just south of Madrid (and Reading is a relatively small club west of London).  Both towns have similar populations - 156,000 in Getafe’s case and there are 144,000 people in Reading.  Both towns have good universities.

Getafe, like Reading, pulled off some stunning results.  Both clubs are managed by relative unknowns (until recently) of a very similar age (48 and 51), though Getafe’s Schuster has just joined Real Madrid (I guess this would be like Coppell going to Man United).  Both managers played for top clubs in their prime - Coppell for Man United and Schuster for Barcelona.  And both clubs achieved good results last season against those clubs - Reading versus Man United and Getafe when they met Barcelona.

Perhaps the two clubs should consider playing each other in a friendly?

The Register, always an entertaining read, commented on Reading’s top performing city status in an article headed Reading: UK’s epicentre of va-va-voom:

we went and did a bit of research of our own, just to see if Reading is indeed the UK’s epicentre of va-va-voom. Using the invariably accurate Google Trends facility, we found that the city still retained some of its past legacy, ranking 9th for prostitution and 8th for crack cocaine.

Among indicators that Reading might be on the up-and-up, Reading is dissapointingly not ranked at all for champagne, Ferraris or money laundering

However, it does show promise elsewhere, meriting 9th place for yachts and an impressive 5th for private jets

Google Trends, eh.  Turns out that Reading is also ranked 7th for caviar and 5th for truffles.  Then again, Rochdale is first for Burj al Arab.

The Readers’s Digest survey naming Reading worst town for families can now be forgotten. Reading really is roaring ahead.

A report by the ippr’s Centre for Cities, named Two-track cities, shows that Reading is the top-performing town in England, ahead of London, Manchester and Leeds (all cities enjoying a renaissance in recent years). According to their press release:

The report includes a new index of performance indicators which combine different measures of employment, population and skills. The report shows that, based on their employment, population growth and skills, England’s top five performing cities are

• Reading
• Bristol
• Southampton
• Cambridge
• York

A big arrow on p.6 of the report aptly illustrates how Reading is getting it right. The town has the lowest proportion of working age residents with no qualifications and lowest proportion of working age residents claiming unemployment benefits.

On p.11 of the report there is a bit mentioning transport:

Transport improvements and inter-urban cooperation can increase the economic benefits derived from proximity and density. Reducing travel times and increasing the frequency of transport services can produce agglomeration economies that can increase productivity in the city economy.

That’s it then. All we need to do is sort out the town’s traffic problem to make our lead unassailable.

You can download the full report (no registration required) from the think tank’s website.