Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Reading

  • Reading – Cosmo AYCE

    Reading – Cosmo AYCE

    Well, since I was in Reading I thought that I would go to Cosmo. I accept that I live near to a Cosmo and haven’t bothered going to that one in years, but when in Rome and all that…. I arrived shortly after opening and there was a welcoming staff member and I was seated immediately.

    There’s a time limit, like a food version of Supermarket Sweep, but it’s one hour and 45 minutes, which is enough time, particularly for solo diners who don’t have to bother chatting and can focus on eating. I did though merrily read a book on my phone, which took me some time to clean chicken grease off from at the end of the meal. Nice…..

    There was a queue to get in when I left, but these seats were left empty for reasons I’m unsure of as they were still empty when I walked by an hour later. Anyway, it was otherwise busy throughout my time in the restaurant other than for the first few ten minutes or so, which is fortunately how I’ve got so many photos with no-one in them. Advance reservations are really necessary here unless you get here early on just after opening.

    The soft drinks are self-service and unlimited, although are a little expensive. I watched the table next to me share three soft drinks between four of them whilst trying to hide their little set-up from the staff (they had got a fourth cup by asking a staff member for tap water) and that added extra amusement to my meal. They didn’t have any decadent craft beer, so I had quite a lot of sugar-free (there’s no sugar option here with the self-service drinks) Vimto (I know how to live).

    That’s some of the food options, all neatly presented.

    Yes, I did laboriously take photos of each plate, and here’s a little selection for entirely unnecessary reasons other than it reminds me what I can comment positively on and what I can mutter and moan about. Cosmo is very good at fried things, as they keep hot and don’t really deteriorate if let to sit for a while. The prawns were a bit odd and the rosemary gravy on the roast was insipid, not that the freshly cut turkey was actually much better and I’m not sure how they made that taste so bland. I’m also conscious that duck wraps shouldn’t have pickled gherkins and pickled onions in them, but I saw them and decided that I missed them as they’re so commonplace in Poland. As for the duck, it was a little too fatty and tasteless for my liking (and didn’t actually even taste of duck), with the honey coated chicken also being quite bland. Some things were more tepid than hot, but fortunately the chicken satay remained perfect throughout and that remained my favourite, with the chicken wings being a close second. The runner beans were also really rather decadent (well, as decadent as a vegetable can be when piled up in an all you can eat restaurant) and I noted that they kept going quickly.

    Oh, I have two particular children in mind when writing this, who I know tried an all you can eat recently, and I can safely say that there are chicken nuggets and chicken popcorn, as well as numerous other forms of chicken cooked in similar and innovative ways.

    Anyway, I tried too many different things and I’m pleased that I don’t have breakfast in the hotel tomorrow morning, as I certainly didn’t need a dessert tonight. The service from the staff in the restaurant was efficient and polite, although the chefs seemed a bit surly towards customers as if they were offended that people were taking their food. This is a pile it high and sell it cheap kind of operation, which is why it’s so popular as that’s clearly what appeals to me and half of Reading. Perhaps I should set my sights a little higher, but yet here we are…. The quality isn’t always great, but it’s decent enough to come for a visit every now and then. I think I accept partial mediocrity as long as there’s enough fried chicken.

    It was a comment that I heard from another table that summed my experience up quite well, a lady saying to her friend, “did you really need those jelly babies?”. I felt like that when leaving.

  • Reading – Greyfriar of Reading

    Reading – Greyfriar of Reading

    Cask (eight options) and keg (fourteen options) meet here, a Good Beer Guide listed pub which is also an Untappd verified venue (wooooo – another venue badge…..) and is well reviewed on-line. I’m not sure that the quality of the experience is evident from the exterior, but I had high hopes after reading about it. The advantage of having beer options listed on Untappd is that I’m excited before entering, or at least my expectations have been moderated if the choices aren’t very decadent.

    It was quite dark inside, so I struggled to get a clear photo, so this will have to do. There are plenty of cask and keg options, with the service being efficient and polite, with the far wall off to the right being covered in pump clips to add a little decoration to the arrangement. This pub seemed to have a bit of everything in terms of customer demographic, young and old, male and female, quiet and loud, all fitting together well, so I’d suggest that this is very much a pub at ease with itself.

    The Inner-City Sumo from the formidable Turning Point Brewing Company, memorable for me as they brew the Yellow Matter Custard beer. This beer was delightful, a heap of passionfruit and orange and aroma to mach. It’s actually also got guava, but I have no idea what that tastes like, as I’m not a fruit expert. It’s a shame that more beers aren’t designed to taste like crisps or chocolate bars, as I could add an element of knowledge to my comments there…..

    The Night Lapse, also from Turning Point, which was perhaps a bit too roasty (as they put it) for me, but a well kept cask beer which had a depth of flavour and no shortage of coffee notes.

    I very much liked this pub and am pleased that it has reached the Good Beer Guide, although I assume that’s primarily because of the quality of their real ales. I liked the keg options, I liked the environment and I suspect this will be one of the best pubs that I visit in Reading. How lovely.

  • Reading – Brewdog

    Reading – Brewdog

    Continuing my vague plan to visit every Brewdog in the country (along with many other similar plans that I have), this is their outlet in Reading, an impressive building which was constructed in the 1830s as a Congregational Chapel. Over the last decade, it has housed a number of different pubs and bars, but it has been a Brewdog for the last few years.

    I’m not sure what is happening to the frontage of this building, it’s in a really poor state and it has lost the blue coating that Brewdog painted it not that long ago. At a best guess, they painted it without permission and have been told to remove it (this sounds like something that Brewdog would do), but they really need to do something about the current situation.

    The beer selection, with the Coffee Stout confusing me as it had no brewery name by it. The staff member didn’t know and couldn’t find out, but she asked a passing manager who told me that it was brewed by Firebrand Brewing Company, a Cornish brewery. The member of bar staff was personable and engaging, but she accidentally poured me a pint instead of a half. She realised when pouring, but she tipped the remainder into another glass, although it was probably just easier to give it to me (not that I really wanted any more than a half to be fair) rather than have a bit of beer randomly sitting there.

    There’s quite a large interior which is bright and comfortable, with another floor above.

    There was a booth available which I thought looked comfortable, and was a pleasant environment to read a book on my phone. The beer is the Lil’ Beans from Double-Barrelled Brewery, which was better than I anticipated, with rich vanilla and chocolate notes. The brewery are local to Reading, so credit to Brewdog for making the effort to have this available to support local businesses. I was pondering why I had heard of this brewery and it transpires I had their ‘Infinite Reflections’ beer a couple of weeks ago in the Artichoke in Norwich, where I’ve also had the ‘Everything But the Bulbs’ beer as well. I’m going to see if I can get chance to visit their taproom over the next couple of days, probably not, but I shall do my best…..

    Anyway, I had expected the bar to be a little busier, not least because Google warned me that it was “as busy as it gets”, which usually means that people are flooding out of the door. In the end I read a chunk of my book, a sign of a warm and comfortable environment, so all really very amiable with the friendly staff and clean surroundings.

  • Reading – Reading Central Library

    Reading – Reading Central Library

    I like to pop in the library in any town or city that I visit, so that I can comment on whether or not I’m happy with their selection of books. Another one of my little services to the local community…..

    What a lovely welcome. There seems to be a substantial proportion of books in foreign languages, more than I’ve seen even in libraries such as Stratford in Newham when I lived there (in Newham I mean, I didn’t live in the library). I did like though that the library offers free online courses to learn foreign languages for those who are library members, which I think is a nice mixture of things.

    I’d say that these opening hours are somewhat inadequate, for anyone who works nine until five on weekdays then they’re going to struggle to ever get here. Closing at 15.00 on a Saturday and being closed on Wednesdays and Sundays really isn’t ideal. There’s a comparison possible here between Reading in the United States (which is named after this town) and Reading in the United Kingdom, with the latter having the twice the population. Despite that, the central library in Reading in Pennsylvania is open from 09.00 until 21.00 on Mondays to Wednesdays, from 13.00 until 19.00 on Thursdays, from 09.00 until 17.00 on Fridays and Saturdays and from 13.00 until 17.00 on Sundays.

    The library goes over the Holy Brook river channel.

    I went to the second floor and noted that the local history library opened at 11.00, and since it was 10.55 I meandered back to the first floor selection of books. It seemed adequate and there was plenty of seating available.

    On getting to the local history library, I think it’s actually open earlier and it’s just the specialist collections at the family history section that open at 11.00. Either way, this is a very decent collection of books, plenty of local history reference books and also some to be taken out of the library as well. Nearly no-one came up to the floor during my time in the library, so it doesn’t seem to be the busiest section in the building, but at least that will stop bits of the collection from being stolen.

    My first impressions might not have been the best, but I was pleased in the end that it was a peaceful library which seemed organised and well stocked. Oh, and most importantly, they had a Pevsner.

  • Reading – Allied Arms

    Reading – Allied Arms

    There are more Good Beer Guide listed pubs in Reading than I had expected, over ten in the centre (or within easy walking distance of it) and I’ll try to get to as many as possible. This is the Allied Arms, one of the few pubs that doesn’t serve food (other than bar snacks) and it has some history to it, which I might as well quote from their web-site:

    “The Allied Arms has been a pub since 1828 but the building dates back to the 16th Century. Over the years it has been used as a butchers and brewery as well as a pub. The inside decor is warm and cosy and includes old beams which likely came from the ruins of Reading Abbey after the dissolution by Henry VIII.”

    I liked a building with some heritage to it and it’d be good to think that the old beams theory is true.

    Unfortunately, the stout I ordered ran out as it was being poured, so I switched to the Loddon Hullabaloo which was adequate and at the appropriate temperature. I had hoped for something darker and the pub will usually have that offer available, I was just slightly unfortunate today that the barrel ran out. Nonetheless, there were a range of beer styles, and although nothing exceptional, it was entirely adequate. Pricing here, which I knew about in advance from reviews, is a little expensive and I suspect that might cost them some custom, although it’s not unreasonable.

    The interior of the pub, all bright and feeling historic. There’s a front and back room, both served by the same bar, as well as a large outdoors garden. I can imagine that on most weekends the seating gets taken quickly, so the extensive external area must be quite handy.

    The Loddon Hullabaloo, which is the pub’s house ale, produced by the Loddon Brewery who are based on Dunsden in Oxfordshire (I thought that sounded quite a long way away, but I’ve realised how near Reading us to the border of Berkshire and Oxfordshire).

    It’s a nice enough little pub, with the staff member being friendly and welcoming, so there was an inviting and quite cosy atmosphere. They’re still requiring masks to be worn, which I’m happy with that their being choice and I had one ready, so all was well. Given the building’s heritage and the range of real ales, I can see why it’s in the Good Beer Guide.

  • Reading – Museum of English Rural Life (Upstairs Stores)

    Reading – Museum of English Rural Life (Upstairs Stores)

    I like it when museums do this, which is placing items from their stores on public display rather than keeping them hidden and inaccessible. The National Railway Museum do this particularly well with the Warehouse, now called the North Shed (but I prefer Warehouse so I’m going to persist in calling it that). The Museum of English Rural Life have clearly spent some money on their set-up, but it’s visitor friendly and it keeps everything safe, but still visible.

    Some of the clothing, including smocks and the like.

    Bits from coffins, which to be fair are probably a little harder to incorporate into the main displays.

    There’s no end of material on these shelves, and there’s also an area at the back which can’t be accessed without a prior appointment, but this has even more items visible.

    The problem with running a museum on English rural life is that quite a lot of the exhibits are really quite bulky.

    Anyway, I liked this upstairs section to the museum, there’s an exploration element to the whole arrangement. The museum has a total of 25,000 items and only a limited amount of space to display them, but they’re used what they have really well. They’ve also carefully, and no doubt laboriously, listed everything in their collections and this is available at https://merl.reading.ac.uk/merl-collections/search-and-browse/databases/.

  • Reading – Museum of English Rural Life (Ladybird Books Collection)

    Reading – Museum of English Rural Life (Ladybird Books Collection)

    More on this museum in other posts, but I was told by a friendly member of staff at the entrance when she was giving me directions that there was a Ladybird display. As the museum is about English rural life I thought it would be something about ladybirds in terms of beetles (expecting something similar to what Stuart wrote in the LDWA’s Strider magazine about bumble bees), but I was surprised and delighted to see that it was all about Ladybird books.

    The cover of Bunnikin’s Picnic Party, the first Ladybird Book which was produced in 1940.

    The pages of a Ladybird Book before cutting.

    The original artwork from one of the Ladybird books.

    One of the challenges for adapting books for the Arabic market, not least the days of the week all needed amending.

    The dog was seen as unclean and was replaced by a goat.

    Head coverings were added for this book.

    And a switch from a pig to a sheep in this illustration.

    An internal memorandum from Ladybird Books, indicating that the Saudi Government didn’t like a girl being used in one of the images, it needed to be a boy. it was duly changed.

    And there’s the change that the Saudi Government requested.

    Some of the foreign language editions.

    And some of the collection of books that the museum has, which is a fairly comprehensive set. I remember having some of these, indeed quite a lot of them, and they remain a design classic.

    This is the only permanent display of Ladybird Books anywhere in the world and I think that they’ve done a nice job here in presenting some of the titles and giving a background to their history. They change the main feature every few months to keep the displays seem fresh and I’d pop in and see what they’ve done if in the area again. This collection could perhaps do with a little more space to allow the museum to do everything they want, but this was a nice surprise to end my visit with.

  • Crossrail : London Paddington to Reading

    Crossrail : London Paddington to Reading

    One thing that I have realised is just how confusing the rail pricing is from London to Reading, with the rail fare being at least £20 if looking to use rail booking web-sites. I discovered, to my surprise and delight, that it’s a little over £11 if travelling off-peak on the new Crossrail service, which is much more realistic. It’s not ideal though that this train journey pricing isn’t on the rail matrix for those trying to book tickets, another failing of the whole Crossrail set-up. Anyway, complaining aside, the signage at London Paddington is clear and I caught the train with just a minute to spare.

    Inside the Crossrail train carriages, this really could do with power points, but they decided early on that they weren’t going to bother with that burden. Nor does the train have toilets, despite the length of the journey and they had to bend the rules as a train service of this length would usually require toilets on board. I suspect they’ll retrofit power points at some random time in the future, it’s rare for services not to have them now. But, to be fair, these decisions were made by Boris Johnson when he was London Mayor, so it’d be unkind to expect them to be any good. Anyway, enough politics.

    At the moment the train is departing from London Paddington to get to Reading, they still haven’t quite finished the testing of the middle section between London Liverpool Street and London Paddington. This whole line was meant to open in 2018, just as an indication of how messed up the entire project has become, billions over budget. However, it is a very useful line to cut across London and it increases capacity as well as speeding up many journeys. Unfortunately, the Crossrail 2 project which would have been equally useful was scrapped by Boris Johnson in his Prime Ministerial role in 2020. It will probably be reinstated in the future, although the earliest opening date would now be in the late 2040s at very best according to TFL.

    It wasn’t a particularly packed service, but it was clean throughout.

    There’s the journey section between London Paddington and Reading. Hopefully this signage will all be removed this year as the entire line should be formally opening in late 2022.

    And getting off at Reading, on time and as expected.

    I didn’t linger at Reading station as the weather was quite stormy, but the railway station feels quite modern with a new section added onto the older building.

    This proved to be an easy way into Reading from London, with the journey taking under an hour. The facilities have actually been downgraded since GWR ran this line, as they offered more comfortable seating, power points and toilets. But, there has been an increase in capacity and for any passenger wanting to go through to east London, this is a much more efficient service than changing at Paddington and then switching to the underground and then another train.