Reading can be a cool capital too
Numerous media commentators have recently said that London is the new capital of the world, replacing New York. Now that may or may not be true. Certainly the UN, whose headquarters are based in the Big Apple, isn’t what it used to be, and London is said to be the centre of the financial and business world. However, public transport in the capital is still shockingly bad, prices are ridiculously high and its pubs still close early.
Anyway, world capital status is an opinion, after all, and I doubt that many people will care all that much anyway, apart from proud New Yorkers (and possibly Parisians).
Now, n miles west of London is a prosperous town we all know and love: Reading. If our humongous neighbour to our right is now capital of the world, indeed “coolest city on earth” as James Harding today put it in The Times, what does that make little Reading? Surely there must be repurcussions of some sort?
Reading has unquestionably become more cosmopolitan in recent years, with a more diversified population, and cosmopolitanism is cool. The London effect can be seen on the high street, too, with the arrival of Starbucks, Caffe Nero and Wagamama (still no Borders, however), and there are bigger businesses in the town, spread around the M4 umbilical cord. But overall I would say that while there has been a rippling effect, London still feels very different (where is our street theatre, or our sushi bar with conveyor belt?).
London seems more, I’d argue, like a city state, unlike anywhere else in the UK, with its arms crossed.
In my opinion, while Reading should benefit from London’s economic success, the town must not lead a parasitic existence. We have a great opportunity to forge our own identity - as a regional capital. Reading must assert itself as capital of the Thames Valley and capital of the South East (London aside). Let’s have a flourishing arts scene, another world-class music festival, a WiFi network that we can use for free all over the town centre. Let’s use our rivers more.
We can make Reading cool too.
March 22nd, 2007 at 7:42 pm
It’s an interesting argument - having lived in both London and more recently Reading, I can certainly see the similarities… Not many of them good, but similarities nonetheless!
IMO Reading is now certainly big enough to be considered some sort of capital (even if it still hasn’t officially gained ‘city’ status), we’ve got the prerequisite shopping mall full of cloned chainstores and everything! At least the number of charity muggers on Broad St has declined.
In my opinion, Reading is already creaking at the seams from growing beyond the size supported by the infrastructure - have you ever driven into Reading on a Saturday? Or got the train into London at rush hour? It’s not a pleasant experience.
As for me, I have grown weary of living in Reading - so much so that I have decided to relocate to Wellington, NZ.
Now *there’s* a cool city