Reading Roars!

The September edition of Monocle magazine explores Britain’s image and asks experts what they would do to improve it, from business to the arts.
I thought that it would be interesting to think about what Reading suggests to the world and what a makeover might look like.
Ask an international audience what Reading means to them and [...]

Day 3 of the Reading Festival beckons and Guns N’ Roses are still dominating headlines after that show.  But what else has been happening at the Richfield Avenue site?
If, like me, you have been unable to go to this world-famous event this year, you might be interested in getting updates from the following online sources:
Twitter

@allfestivals - UK music festival news
@BBCreadingfest - [...]

Remember how Reading Festival was granted an increase in capacity last year, up from 78,500 to a total of 85,000 by 2011? No? Well then you’ll definitely have missed the accompanying news: that Reading residents now get first dibs on a batch of 3,500 tickets to the festival.
If you live in an RG1, RG2, RG4, [...]

Sunday 14 February is not only a day for lovers, but the first day of the Year of the Tiger on the Chinese Lunar Calendar.
London offers the best Chinese New Year celebrations in the South-East, but if you’re inclined to stay in Reading, here are several ways of getting the Year of the Tiger off [...]

Anyone wandering around Reading may have noticed this curious spectacle of PEEPSHOW in the window of the now-derelict Long Tall Sally shop, opposite the Town Hall.

Step closer and you will find tiny worlds and surprises tucked behind each of the peeping holes. Some of the things appear connected, some seem more random, some make you [...]

Do you “heart” Valentine’s Day, now only one week away at the time of writing?  Here are 7 things to do in Reading and the Reading area to make it a romantic day to remember:
1. Go for a romantic walk in the gorgeous countryside surrounding Reading and combine this with an intimate Sunday pub lunch.  Country pubs [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

I like to consider myself as pretty knowledgeable about music, pretty clued up, but the truth is – although I am generally more so than most of my friends – current music is always something that I take a while to catch up with. Now, I appreciate that makes me sound a tad old before [...]

I am hungover today. I have a head as heavy as an anvil and a stomach like a bin that hasn’t been collected for three weeks, but frustratingly, I also have the urge to be productive and creative. These two states of mind tend to clash somewhat and it puts me in a bad mood [...]