Reading Roars!

Nando’s has gone “chic”. The chicken restaurant at Reading’s Oracle Riverside has ditched its fun and friendly personality in favour of one sleek and sombre. On their website, they claim (somewhat incongrously, in my opinion) to be a place for:

people with an appetite for life - people who love to laugh and love to eat. We put the chic into chicken!

Chicken is not “chic”. Chicken is chicken. Boring, humble. Chicken can never be chic.

Nando’s formerly appealed because of two reasons:

• their famous zesty sauces, making fundamentally boring chicken exciting;
• the brand was fun, informal, honest and warm.

Nando’s was a cheerful, colourful and charming place. Now, following the refit, it looks dull, contemporary and pretentious, like most restaurants these days.

I suspect they’ve made a branding cock-up (excuse the pun). I won’t be going back.