Reading Roars!

Reading East MP Rob Wilson has remarkably suggested changing the town’s name to Reading-on-Thames in order to “make Reading more appealing”.

Interestingly, this tactic is being tried already - by London Street’s English Language Courses (ELC). Stated on ELC’s homepage are the words:

Welcome to the online brochure of: ENGLAND LANGUAGE COURSES in Reading-on-Thames, Berkshire, England.

The words “Reading on Thames”, arguably more attractive to the overseas reader (and potential customer) are again printed on a map displayed on the same page.

I really don’t think a name change is necessary. I do think we need to address the town/city confusion, however. We should either refer to Reading as a town or city, one or the other - not both. Reading Borough Council leader David Sutton, for example, responded to Wilson’s name suggestion with the following:

I would like us to continue to market Reading as a town which sits astride two increasingly attractive rivers

In an earlier statement, Sutton announced:

Chatham Place is a vitally important part of the reshaping of the centre of Reading, as we continue to create a vibrant European city of the future

I’m sure I’ve also seen the word “City” printed on the town’s buses.

On a less serious note, I myself had a go at giving Reading a new name. How about the following (silly) suggestions:

• Redding - To eliminate the usual confusion about the way the town name is pronounced
• Rdng - Reading for the txt generation
• Revving - A mecca for motorists
• Weading - A perfect destination for couples!
• Greying - Red no longer has the same allure. Grey is the “in” colour, apparently

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 4th, 2007 at 1:02 am and is filed under Business, Local Government, Parliament. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.