Reading Roars!

A new logo for Reading has emerged.  Two, in fact (right).  Designed by Indent Design, the emblems, unveiled at the Madejski, are intended to project, in the Reading FC Chairman’s words:

a powerful and exciting image for Reading to promote ot the outside world

According to Tim Smith, who heads Reading UK Community Interest Company,

this new identity is much more than a logo.  It’s a way of presenting ourselves, creating a sense of place in promotion and on the streets

The full story can be read in the Evening Post article Video: First look at new Reading brand (where a video on the brand can also be seen).

We can expect to see much more of these two logos, which I’m sure cost less than £400k to produce.  I will place one prominently on this blog to do my part to help promote the town.  Ideally, this logo would link to a website built around the new Reading brand, or another suitable external landing page, but I don’t think one exists (alternatively, I can create a page on this blog).  

Traffic is down 73% this month. Not road traffic, of course.  That is definitely up after a quiet August.  Yesterday it was horrendous, even,  in the Reading Station area around 6pm.  No, I’m referring to traffic to this blog, a consequence of not having written anything for a while (while I remained in the town, I chose to stay away from the computer to work on other things, such as my peripheral vision).

Here are some observations during my period of absence:

Reading Football Club.  The new season started - yay!  The opening draw against Man United was a sign of promising stuff.  A respectable defeat against Chelsea followed, before Reading achieved a very commendable 1-0 win against a highly-regarded Everton.  Then two poor results.  Consequence:  Reading are 18th in the Premiership table.  Seol Ki-Hyeon, the classy Korean, meanwhile unfortunately joined Fulham.  As for Shorey - his stature is rising, sought by West Ham (who spanked Reading) and playing for England against Germany,where does his future lie?  

Picnic.  A wonderful new cafe opening in the heart of Reading, its customer service is first-class and the quality of their coffee is excellent  (in my opinion).  Plus, Picnic are very ethically-minded - their coffee is ethically sound and The Guardian newspaper is available for customers to read.  A massive thumbs up to them.

Reading Festival.  I didn’t go, but I felt its impact.  The huddle of humanity looked magnificent from the train passing the site.  Fortunately for the festivalgoers, the weather was superb over the Bank Holiday Weekend.  Was Reading better than Glastonbury this year, anyone?

Zero Degrees.  A new speciality beer was introduced, replacing their popular Mango beer: Raspberry.  Raspberry was withdrawn, with Strawberry & Vanilla offered instead.  Raspberry was brought back and Mango was also reinstated.

Mix Bar.  I’m loving their choice of flicks projected on to the wall behind the bar.  On my last two outings they were showing an old Transformers cartoon and Pulp Fiction.  I was told that Mojito is their biggest-selling cocktail (no surprise there) and that Wimbledon Corleone is also hugely popular (funny name - maybe it’s named after a Mafia racket? ;)).

Malmaison.  A beautifully-restored building (I read that this was praised also in the Reading Evening Post).  Very dark inside, but very comfortable seating.