Reading Roars!

What makes a town unique?  It is said that the people make the town.  It is true of Reading, in my opinion, derided by some outsiders who describe it as “soulless” or a “commuter town” (quite a derogatory tag). 

There really is more to Reading than a busy railway station, commercial high street and shopping centres.  There are buzzing personalities who give the town a distinctive identity, through their community deeds for example, or their running of independent cafes and historical pubs.

It is a theme that I am exploring with a new podcast series, Roarcasts.   In this series, I aim to find out through informal conversations what makes busy people (local business owners, artists and community leaders, for example) in Reading tick, why they do what they do in Reading (as opposed to anywhere else) and what they have planned for the future.      

The series begins with a chat with Tutu Melaku of Tutu’s Ethiopian Table, the Ethiopian restaurant and catering service based at Reading’s Global Cafe.  In Roarcast #1, Tutu revealed to me why she started Tutu’s Ethiopian Table, what her most popular dish is, the importance of Ethiopian coffee and more. 

Before going any further, I should add that I was inspired by podcasts giants Nick Saalfeld and Mike Southon with their Beermat Radio podcasts and Alex Bellinger of SmallBizPod fame.  As for the apparently curious name “Roarcast”  (sounding somewhat like “broadcast”), this was wittily suggested by Joff Hopkins of Reading 107 FM.

Without further ado, the running order for Roarcast #1 (11 minutes 10 seconds) is below.  Please let me know what you think.  It’s a first for me, so plenty of room for improvement!  At times you will hear the sound fade out and in.  It’s a fairly crude editing technique for when I want to snip certain sections, but I’m a newbie and expect to come up with something better.

• 00:00:00  Introduction
• 00:00:48  Tutu’s Ethiopian Table: how it started
• 00:02:46  About the food
• 00:03:29  Authenticity, Fair Trade and keeping it local
• 00:05:52  (Ethiopian) coffee and popcorn
• 00:07:30  The most popular dish
• 00:07:57  Global specials: food from other countries
• 00:09:00  Ethiopian music and dance
• 00:10:10  Tutu’s Ethiopian Table opening times

 Roarcast #1: Tutu Melaku and Tutu’s Ethiopian Table [MP3]

The Evening Post has commented on the chilling mannequins in the window of town centre store Jacksons and their subsequent disappearance (“Little shop of horrors“). 

I walk past the famous Reading shop almost every day and couldn’t help but notice the beady eyes and knowing smiles of the Victorian-looking children behind the glass.  Fellow Reading blogger Wendy described the spine-chilling feeling thus (“Jacksons: mannequins“):

A child mannequin in a tutu appears to watch you with evil eyes… …she scared me…  …intrigued me…

Thank goodness they are gone (though there has been no mention of this on the Jacksons blog).  They really were better placed on the set of a horror production.

I have been checking out veevow (don’t you just love these Web 2.0 names?), an online video playlist site that launched just 10 days ago. 

Veevow, founded by former Reading PhD student Dr Matthew Ryan (I’m told that the veewow team is very fond of The Oracle), allows you to build YouTube video playlists.  I gave it a go 5 minutes ago and it really is very simple:

1. Sign up.  This is short and sweet (how it should be)
2. Create a playlist, in this instance “Reading FC” – got there first! 
3. Add videos to your playlist, taking the “embed” code from YouTube.  The playlist is automatically generated
4. Save or play your selection.  See my Reading FC playlist for yourselves.

You can share the playlist with your mates and add other videos found on veewow to your playlist. 

Further features are planned (it would be good to see enhancements such as video rating, a Facebook application, WordPress plugin and tagging, for example).  One new feature was added yesterday – a WordPress blog (nice one!).

One to watch, I think

I keep thinking that, on the talent front, Reading should be more like bohemian Brighton.  Or Oxford. 

Brighton has formidable digital talent (must be something in the sea air) and is quite rightly regarded as a creative hotspot.  Reading has its fair share of geeks, yet does not share the same creative accolade as the seaside city. 

Oxford has produced an abundance of musical talent in recent years, but where is our Radiohead or Supergrass?  We seem more content with hosting word-class acts (itself not a bad thing) than producing them.

Rescue is on its way, it would appear.  Fabulous and Undiscovered is a recently launched glossy magazine aimed at getting undiscovered talent noticed.  More information, including a sample magazine, can be found on the FU website.

Now, back to my movie script…

The Evening Post reports that plans to build a new luxury hotel and leisure complex (yawn) in Friar Street have been given the green light.

I’ve not seen these plans but I’m hoping that the hotel will blend in a whole lot better than the Novotel monstrosity that looks like something designed for Ceausescu.  Fingers crossed.

Following on from “speciality beers”, we don’t appear to have that many “speciality bars” in Reading (we have mostly yawn-inducing clone bars, as found in most UK cities).  One of the noble few is new Polish bar Gospoda (meaning “restaurant” in Polish) in the heart of Oxford Road’s Polish community.

Gospoda’s interior impressed me.  Its sweet, wooden decor felt rural and homely (a nod to traditional Poland).  Touches such as the immaculately-crafted “stars” at the bar added to the gentle mood.  Gospoda’s charm was attacked by the harsh commentary of Polish club football, shown on the screen, but as an enthusiastic follower of the beautiful game, that didn’t bother me. 

Lunch was a different issue.  Ordering a wooden platter of cold meat for sharing between two, I was expecting something better for £12.50 than the resulting cold streaks of greasy bacon, sliced sausage and a tomato for effect.  The failed chip & pin machine, requiring that I pay in cash only, got things off to a bad start, and service was slow (I saw just two other customers eating, so what was the issue?). 

Food aside, I’d be more than happy to go back (I’m keen on trying the Polish beer).  Gospoda is refreshingly different and a world away from the dive that previously existed in its place.

I was checking out the large Abbey Mill House construction project next to the library (it should look pretty spectacular, ok, relatively spectacular, when finished), when I spotted a new bar I hadn’t seen before: Copa.  The “Continental Biers” emblazoned across its front drew me excitedly across the road.  My mind conjured up thoughts of Chimay Blue, Pilsner Urquell and Paulaner.

What a surprise I got.   Instead of the “fantastic range of continental biers” advertised at the bar entrance, I saw what appeared to be a pretty average drinks menu.  Kronenbourg Blanc, Staropramen, Amstel and Leffe are all rather conventional, as opposed to ”speciality beers” as Copa’s website puts it.   Bizarrely, the site adds ”Our drinks range really sets us apart from the norm”.  Really?  And as for “biers”, rather than the more familiar “beers”, laughable (last I checked, Peroni is an Italian brand, but I guess “continental birras” doesn’t have the same impact).

I didn’t enter the bar on this occasion, so I cannot comment on anything else.  I suspect that Copa will prove a hit with office workers in particular.

And finally, if you are after speciality beers in Reading, rather than the same popular brands found in all cities across the globe, I personally recommend the following places (I’m sure others can come up with a bigger list):

• Zerodegrees – They produce their own (high-quality) beer such as Czech-style black lager (as not all lagers look like wee) and in fruity flavours such as mango 
• The Retreat – A traditional pub offering a number of Belgian (forget Stella) and German beers, as well as local ales
• The Hobgoblin – Always offering something new (beer with coffee, anyone?)

Following on from my last post, another new development that may face difficult months ahead is Sakura.  I’m referring to the new bar/club combo in Reading’s Gun Street, rather than the dazzling Colombian singing sensation (who is, in fact, Shakira). 

Weak jokes aside, Sakura will be replacing The Fez, also owned by Eclectic Bars.  It is a little bit sad to see The Fez go.  I do think it has quasi-legendary status in Reading, as did its 1999 predecessor the Alleycat Live.   I remember thinking how exciting it was to have a North African-style venue in town.  That is, until I went to Morocco and saw the real thing (and I can assure readers who haven’t been that sipping cocktails in the souk simply isn’t possible).

Sakura, as you may have guessed, is a Japanese-themed establishment (I wonder what other possibilities the Eclectic Bars folk considered?  Russian – arguably taken by Revolution; Australian, likewise by Walkabout; Sub-Saharan African would have been interesting…). 

Will we see an exclusive zone where kimono-dressed geishas deliver sake to your table?  Will there be high-tech toilets?  Again, we shall see. 

There are growing concerns about our economy.  Retailers and consumers are feeling the squeeze.  There is much doom and gloom reported in the press (“Consumer crunch” was the solemn Times headline last Friday).  When will it end?  How bad can it get?  I don’t think anyone really knows. 

With this in mind, the timing of Reading’s new high-end property and retail development seems awkward, to say the least.  Brashly and cumbersomely described on its website as a “distinctive new high quality niche retail development”, the ambitious Market Arcade will consist of a 3 storey health club (“A new dimension in leisure and fitness”), 13 “cutting edge” (whatever that means) shops and 14 apartments.

The Market Arcade developers are hoping to attract Reading’s band of “discerning, affluent shoppers”, the kind who wine and dine at places like Malmaison, stating somewhat optimistically on their website that:

Broad Street footfall has recently been compared favourably to London’s Oxford Street at 7,900 -10,000 per hour – a sure sign of the potential waiting to be tapped at Market Arcade.

I’m seeing fewer shoppers in town these days.  I suspect that many of the discerning types targeted by the Market Arcade team are now seeing their credit limits slashed by card providers.  The situation doesn’t look rosy for homebuyers either, with the number of loans expected to halve this year.

I’m not an economist.  I could be very naive in my assessment.  There will be many, not just the hedge fund bosses and other top financiers who made eye-wateringly big gains last year, unaffected by the “crisis”.  We shall see what happens, right?  If things do get tricky, well, gyms (as health clubs used to be called) are a waste of money anyhow.  A cheap pair of trainers should do the trick and the weather is getting warmer…

Thames Valley Economic Partnership (TVEP) has suggested the following to reduce M4 congestion (“Businesses demand 21st century transport“):

• A motorway monorail linking Reading with Heathrow
• New toll lanes between the M4′s J4 and J13; and
• Underground busways on special tracks

TVEP’s Shaun Whitaker explains:

Our vision is for an integrated transport system that enables efficient travel by rail, bus or car across the Thames Valley and between the main towns in the region.  This will only be achieved quickly and effectively with close coordination between the public and private sector, and with the support of the Government to address these schemes of national importance.

Creative thinking is a must.  I stressed the new for big ideas in a previous post (“Awful traffic: Reading residents give their views“), even mentioning two new monorail systems deployed in South-East Asia. 

Of course, while it’s good to talk (and we do a lot of that), actually acting on these creative ideas would be even better and I strongly doubt that an integrated transport system can be achieved “quickly and effectively” in the UK. 

Consider Heathrow’s lengthy Terminal 5 project (the building’s architect was selected way back in 1989 and planning permission was granted 8 years after the first planning application).  In a Guardian article published today about the terminal’s disastrous first couple of days (“‘We can’t give you information. We haven’t got a Tannoy’“), passenger Anthony Horowitz forlornly comments that T5′s handling:

so obviously repeats the pattern of the Millennium Dome, Wembley stadium and the Scottish parliament which, you may remember, arrived three years late and 10-times over budget

Integrating transport in the South-East is a big job – a much bigger challenge, arguably, than erecting a large white tent in East London and constructing a stadium with a big arch.  However, fixing our transport woes is a job that we simply cannot ignore.  As TVEP’s Whitaker darkly says:

We are supposed to be the fifth or sixth wealthiest country with the highest GDP and yet we don’t supply a 21st century transport system.