John pitched up in Reading as a naïve student back in 1999. He's lived in every part of town except Caversham (which is definitely part of Reading, no matter what anyone says) and these days can most often be found making full use of the Global Cafe's free wireless while drinking dark Budvar and pretending to work. John McGarvey
John pitched up in Reading as a naïve student back in 1999. He's lived in every part of town except Caversham (which is definitely part of Reading, no matter what anyone says) and these days can most often be found making full use of the Global Cafe's free wireless while drinking dark Budvar and pretending to work. Comedy preview: Dave Gorman at The Hexagon
If you’re looking for something not at all lovey-dovey to do on Valentine’s Day, you could do worse than head down to The Hexagon to see Dave Gorman perform as part of his Sit down, pedal, pedal, stop and stand up tour. The slightly weird name stems from the fact that he toured the same [...]
Can we do better than city status?
We’re a little late with this one, so you might already have realised that Reading Borough Council has decided to chuck the town’s hat into the ring and bid to be granted city status in 2010.
Reading has tried this twice before; on previous occasions we were beaten by economic powerhouses like Wolverhampton and Newport. Third [...]
Adverse weather conditions close Market Place
You probably got bored of hearing the phrase “adverse weather conditions” about two weeks ago, but the snow’s effect is still being felt. Market Place in central Reading is closed to all traffic this morning as a couple of impressively-sized potholes have opened up. It’s the freezing and thawing of water that does it, y’know.
Lots [...]
Remember that Tesco on Crown Street?
You might remember that Tesco opened one of its “Metro” stores at the junction of Crown and London Streets around a year ago. We took this photo tonight because we thought you might be interested to see what’s happened to the local corner shop since.
Six months ago this shop - less than a minute’s walk [...]
Cautious and cagey: what we thought of Cameron Direct
You know those recent stories about David Cameron’s airbrushed face? They might be a little exagerrated. Going by yesterday’s Cameron Direct event at the Madejski Stadium, the Conservative leader’s face really does have an unusually smooth texture.
It’s probably designed to match his smooth manner on stage, because, well practiced at this sort of unscripted Q&A, [...]
David Cameron is coming to Reading after all
We’re a little surprised (but not displeased) to learn that David Cameron’s snow-affected visit to Reading has been rescheduled with impressive alacrity. The leader of the Conservatives will now visit the Madejski Stadium (we’re not sure which bit) on Thursday 14 January at 5.15pm.
We hadn’t anticipated the event being rescheduled so soon and have been [...]
The pick of Reading’s creative snow sculptures
One of the things we’ve enjoyed about this week’s snow is the range of snowmen and sculptures that have sprung up around Reading. There’s definitely something about the white stuff that inspires creativity.
We had a quick hunt around town yesterday with a camera (ok, round Forbury Gardens) and spotted these masterpieces. Click for full-size images.
We’ve [...]
David Cameron no longer visiting Reading
Right. Remember that Cameron Direct event we wrote about? It was meant to be your big chance to put questions about the NHS straight to the Conservative leader, in person. But now it’s been postponed.
The dodgy weather’s to blame (that or he was just scared of getting a frosty reception - geddit?), and while we [...]
Getting around in the snow: walking good, cars bad
It’s still snowing in central Reading. Well, sort of. Either way, there’s enough of the stuff here already to make driving extremely tricky, cycling hazardous and walking fun in a you-could-be-about-to-fall-over-any-second kind of way.
A quick look round the middle of town suggests main roads are slippy and very quiet. We even saw a snowplough, a [...]
Yes, it’s definitely snowing in Reading. We’ve got proof.
We’ve been admiring the snow coming down all evening, and decided to venture out to see what it’s like out there. We’re just back from a half-hour stroll in the neighbourhood.
Here’s the good news: there’s no gridlock. In fact there’s virtually no traffic of any kind whatsoever. Here’s the other good news: you probably won’t [...]
