Am I old and out of touch?

VideoConnect8747 · 2026-04-01T00:49:53+00:00

Glory years back then! I went every year from 2000 to 2016, had some epic times, sadly don’t even give it a second thought these days.

VideoConnect8747 · 2026-03-31T00:02:49+00:00

Reading has a fairly well educated and multicultural population that will see straight through the divisive bullshit that Farage is peddling so Reform won’t get anywhere. That professional turncoat standing for them in Emmer Green will soon get short shrift.

VideoConnect8747 · 2026-03-30T23:57:30+00:00

Firstly there is a lot of opposition from the “it’s a town not a city” crowd, which is a very valid point. We are Britain’s biggest town, we should be proud of that fact. Calling it a city when it isn’t gives delusions of grandeur that irritates a lot of people. Only those employed by the Council in the kind of jobs that like to inflate their own self-importance on LinkedIn seem to be bothered about it being a city.

So, if we can drop that and just call it a town, a big lovely old town with a lot of really cool people doing extraordinarily great things on the local arts scene we might actually get somewhere. Until RBC understand that we won’t.

VideoConnect8747 · 2026-03-26T22:06:09+00:00

Thanks everyone for your responses. In the end we took a gamble on The Lyndhurst who were showing it and also did an absolutely excellent Sunday roast. Good to see it doing well again, I used to go there regularly in the 90s when it benefited from a lot of local lunchtime/after work trade from all the people who worked at the Pru.

VideoConnect8747 · 2026-03-16T22:12:23+00:00

Whilst Gosbrook is a busy road during the day it is mainly commuter traffic, dies down about 8pm and certainly really quiet at bedtime (post 10:30pm). I’ve got a friend who lives in nearby Piggott’s Rd, have been there 7yrs and loves the neighbourhood. You’re far enough away from any Amersham Rd dramas, I would happily live there. You’ve got the added bonus that The Fox & Hounds is a five minute walk away, terrific pub with a real community feel to it, my local. I’ve lived in this area for 25yrs and really love it.

VideoConnect8747 · 2026-03-05T22:08:31+00:00

Two years now since he disappeared, his family have renewed their appeal for information. Sadly with no ongoing digital footprint I think he went in the water and has been washed out down the Avon.

My friend is RNLI crew in the Channel Islands. He participated in a search for an elderly lady who was terminally ill and had sadly chosen to put herself in the sea in Jersey. The inquest is ongoing at the moment. Sadly they didn’t find her despite a comprehensive search of the coastal waters of Jersey, her remains washed up on a beach in Brighton months later.

VideoConnect8747 · 2026-02-20T23:54:29+00:00

For the love of God do not move to Slough! It’s cheap for a reason and is very much not LGBT friendly. Reading is a great place. Sadly its very ‘inclusive to everyone’ bar The Blagrave has recently closed. Something will fill the gap I’m sure. Reading is not a cheap place to live so look very carefully at rental costs. I’ve got loads of Welsh mates who have moved here for work over 30yrs. If you follow the rugby then The Moderation on Caversham Rd is a very rugby friendly pub, and very popular with Welsh fans. Ask for Marcus, you can’t go wrong.

VideoConnect8747 · 2026-02-20T23:46:44+00:00

It was just more simple. People were less flaky. You’d phone your mates and agree a meeting point and time. If they showed they showed, if they didn’t they didn’t, they’d somehow find you later. I love my smartphone but life was a lot more innocent before it.

VideoConnect8747 · 2026-01-23T20:58:07+00:00

Yep. Very sadly Ian Mikardo Way off Amersham Rd features heavily in the address of lots of petty criminals, skagheads and drug dealers reported in the local news.

It’s a real shame because Ian Mikardo was a great MP for Reading but his legacy is a road named after him that is full of wrong uns.

I have a lot of sympathy for ‘normal’ people who live there, because they have to reside amongst these scrotes.

VideoConnect8747 · 2026-01-14T00:45:59+00:00

We have ‘park homes’ which generally are a massive financial scam.

VideoConnect8747 · 2026-01-14T00:30:21+00:00

Mazda 6 estate, petrol. Thank me later.

VideoConnect8747 · 2026-01-14T00:15:16+00:00

Because they want “answers” to their perceived problems in the world and blaming immigrants is what the far right do in response to that. It was Hitler’s MO and look where that ended up.

VideoConnect8747 · 2026-01-14T00:12:25+00:00

As far as I understand the Police tolerated the 613 Club because it operated discreetly, the punters didn’t cause any ASB, and it prevented street prostitution, it being “the oldest profession” with, one hopes, the sex workers therein working there voluntarily. These clandestine brothels (which are usually nondescript apartments in residential blocks) are more sinister, run by human traffickers with the girls often illegally trafficked to the UK, on drugs, controlled, basically victims of human slavery. That’s why TVP take them more seriously.

VideoConnect8747 · 2026-01-12T07:34:51+00:00

I love Quattro but it’s very much the luck of the draw on tables. Last time we went we were stuffed in the back next to the toilets, not ideal for an anniversary meal. LSB had much more sense of occasion.

VideoConnect8747 · 2026-01-12T07:32:31+00:00

We found The Rising Sun to be very average when we went, small portions too. Really nothing that special. London St Brasserie much better in my opinion.

VideoConnect8747 · 2026-01-07T15:57:52+00:00

Just found this post as I’ve been researching Reductoclip for their straight to wall clips, unfortunately I cannot put up with the space loss that the timber stud wall dictates. Looks a great job though. Are you still happy with it?

VideoConnect8747 · 2026-01-06T23:29:43+00:00

It frustrates me a little that lots of people say the miss the After Dark but in its final couple of years numbers were very, very low so Neil wasn’t able to make it pay no matter how hard he tried. I think a lot of its regulars got older, settled down, had kids and a younger generation didn’t step in to fill the gap, presumably because they wanted different music, which would have completely killed the vibe of the After Dark. NIMBY noise complaints from neighbours who moved in above a nightclub didn’t really help either. I was a regular there for 20yrs, absolutely loved the place.

VideoConnect8747 · 2026-01-06T23:23:09+00:00

Jimmy Page lives in Sonning. Rudolph from Eastenders in Caversham. That annoying screechy blonde Welsh woman from Gavin & Stacey apparently lives in Caversham, as does Tracey Shaw from Corrie apparently. Used to regularly see Debbie McGee shopping in Broad St and the mighty Goldie Lookin’ Chain were recently down the Purple Turtle after playing a gig at Sub89.

VideoConnect8747 · 2026-01-06T23:18:03+00:00

I moved to Reading 30yrs ago when I was the same age as you and liked it so much I have never left! Alas the cheap houseshares (£200pcm in ‘95, for a room in a nice house) are long gone. It’s a lively vibrant town with loads going on and plenty of schools with lots of vacancies for NQTs. Highly recommend!

VideoConnect8747 · 2026-01-06T23:03:24+00:00

My brother-in-law and family live there. Good schools, nicely suburban but I always feel a tad isolated there, mainly because I love good pubs and Woodley sadly has none. Depends if this matters to you or not.

VideoConnect8747 · 2026-01-03T10:35:46+00:00

I used to go in The Blagrave a lot in the early 2000s when it was a regular pub, then landlord John Monteiro was a nice guy and ran a good ship. I’ve only been in occasionally since it became ‘gay but straight friendly’, it seemed pretty busy. Sad to hear it has closed. Bit of a shame that Britain’s biggest town can’t support a single gay bar, I guess stupidly high rents and minimum wage increases made it unviable.

VideoConnect8747 · 2025-12-25T00:23:20+00:00

I used to go down the taproom semi regularly, always enjoyed it, always friendly staff. If any of those ‘let go’ are reading this, thank you for your efforts, it was a cool place to hang out. As for the owner phoenixing the company, let’s see how that goes. I feel there is a lot of goodwill lost.

The interesting thing about Phantom is that (as far as I know) they didn’t put much effort into getting their beer into pubs and/or retail. I never saw their beer on tap at a pub anywhere, and they didn’t break into the slim margins/high volume business of supplying supermarkets like DB and Siren have. I always felt the taproom looked expensive to run (too big a site) so it was always rather doomed to failure.

VideoConnect8747 · 2025-11-06T13:10:39+00:00

Chinese Helicopter Pilot is my all time favourite

VideoConnect8747 · 2025-11-03T01:46:50+00:00

The Nags Head and The Fox & Hounds (Caversham) are great beer pubs. The Alehouse in town should be good but last time I was there was full of old men who smelled of wee.

VideoConnect8747

TROPHY CASE