Reading vs Surrey

buglawton

Slough is practical but suprisingly expensive in property terms and it takes while to get anywhere nice. Major road congestion in all directions during the rush hours and often through the weekend. I used to live in Burnham just to the West - Burnham Beeches the nearest green recreation area is totally crowded at weekends. And while central Slough is not directly under the Heathrow flight path, Burnham has periodic flight-path noise loud enough to drown out your TV. Slough shopping is unexpectedly good and efficient - nice pedestrian zone. Langley to the East of Slough has a popular Grammar school but much of it gets constant flight path noise and the thrum of the M4.

Looking back at this thread, I wonderi if Dummie made a decision in the end. Farnham which Dummie fancied is in the news today there'a an item on the Radio 4 Today website about an unattractive development taking place in the centre.

mstar

buglawton... is there any areas (in slough) or around which you would reccomend as i am looking for a house near slough city centre any advice is much appreciated :-)

brasso

I agree that Reading is a rather godawful town, thought here are some nice villages roundabout. Reading is OK as a place to go when you have to -- for a range of mobile phone shops for instance, or opticians, but otherwise it has little to commend it.

The thing I like least about it is the lack of culture. Just one multiplex cinema showing Hollywood blockbusters. No decent theatre or arts centre. It's a philistine's heaven.

Someone suggested South Oxfordshire. There are some lovely villages in that area, and it's only (I would guess) 5-8 miles from Reading. Newbury is OK too. Less sterile than Reading.

buglawton

mstar wrote: »

buglawton... is there any areas (in slough) or around which you would reccomend as i am looking for a house near slough city centre any advice is much appreciated :-)

If you mean close to Slough town centre I assume it's because you want to be walking distance from the rail station. There is an enclave of Victorian houses just to the East of the shopping zone. Expensive and street parking at a premium. Nothing nice is cheap around here! The upside is that you could walk through a traffic free zone to get to & from the station. Windsor is very nearby and some Slough residences have a nice view of the castle!

Dummie_2

buglawton wrote: »

Looking back at this thread, I wonderi if Dummie made a decision in the end. Farnham which Dummie fancied is in the news today there'a an item on the Radio 4 Today website about an unattractive development taking place in the centre.

Hi There! Was quite surprised to see this thread resurface after so long. I'm now in Farnham. Moved nearly 2wks ago. Loving it at the moment but I suppose it's still the honeymoon period LOL.

lush_walrus

brasso wrote: »

The thing I like least about it is the lack of culture. Just one multiplex cinema showing Hollywood blockbusters. No decent theatre or arts centre. It's a philistine's heaven.

Slightly off topic, but I couldn't help but spot this...There are plenty of good productions on at the Hexigan if you are looking for something mainstream, such as The Nutcracker or a musical like Buddy, Jools Holland is normally on there at least once a year, plenty of comedy and normally a couple of Operas.

If Shakespeare is your thing then every summer there is an outdoor production around the Abbey ruins, I have been to the last couple of years and to be honest they have matched the outdoor ones I have seen in Regents Park.

If you want something less mainstream then South Street covers that, with poetry readings and a whole host of performances.

Then there is the Concert Hall in the town hall which has plenty of classical music events and lectures during the day and evening.

The town hall also has a film theatre for arthouse films.

There is the Progress Theatre Group if you want to join in yourself and contemporary dance lessons at South Street and salsa at the hippy bar.

There is a museum, that is a reasonable size and holds lots of historical documents surrounding the history of Reading.

Every year there is a Real Ale and jazz festival every year.

Seriously what more do you want from a relatively small town! I guess you don't live in Reading, nor do I but I have always found plenty to occupy me, it depends what you are looking for!

buglawton

I was going to mention such things myself but lush walrus has done it in spades above. Then there's the Reading Festival annually and just outside Reading, the Mill at Sonning has dinner & jazz events with world-renowned bands plus theatre and comedy.

brasso

lush_walrus wrote: »

Slightly off topic, but I couldn't help but spot this...There are plenty of good productions on at the Hexigan if you are looking for something mainstream, such as The Nutcracker or a musical like Buddy, Jools Holland is normally on there at least once a year, plenty of comedy and normally a couple of Operas.

If Shakespeare is your thing then every summer there is an outdoor production around the Abbey ruins, I have been to the last couple of years and to be honest they have matched the outdoor ones I have seen in Regents Park.

If you want something less mainstream then South Street covers that, with poetry readings and a whole host of performances.

Then there is the Concert Hall in the town hall which has plenty of classical music events and lectures during the day and evening.

The town hall also has a film theatre for arthouse films.

There is the Progress Theatre Group if you want to join in yourself and contemporary dance lessons at South Street and salsa at the hippy bar.

There is a museum, that is a reasonable size and holds lots of historical documents surrounding the history of Reading.

Every year there is a Real Ale and jazz festival every year.

Seriously what more do you want from a relatively small town! I guess you don't live in Reading, nor do I but I have always found plenty to occupy me, it depends what you are looking for!

Sorry, more off-topic stuff.

Reading a "relatively small town"? Hmm. Relative to London perhaps, but I think of Reading as a very large town indeed. In fact it's no.21 in size in the UK. Reading is bigger than Newcastle and Brighton for instance

Given its size, there's something lacking in it. Reading just seems to have an atmosphere of creative sterility. I acknowledge the Hexagon's support for the mainstream arts and comedy circuit, and local non-professional groups like the Progress Theatre are rightly celebrated. But you get the feeling that most of these happenings are special one-off events. There's no great sense of culture there.

Reading has a population of a quarter of a million. Add in the local towns and villages and you have a lot of people. And it's a university town with a large, educated workforce. Were we really the only people who would like to see a film that isn't a Hollywood blockbuster? What do we get? One film a week at the Town Hall. Pan's Labyrinth was released in November. It's finally reaching the town hall in April -- for one night only. When I lived in Leeds, I was in walking distance of three independent cinemas with programmes that changed several times a week. Maybe I didn't appreciate how lucky we were.

buglawton

Reading is flat. Hilly cities have more atmosphere! But seriously, most people are busy working and trying to keep their mortgages under control. Even the students seem to be more serious-minder than other places.

lush_walrus

brasso wrote: »

Sorry, more off-topic stuff.

Reading a "relatively small town"? Hmm. Relative to London perhaps, but I think of Reading as a very large town indeed. In fact it's no.21 in size in the UK. Reading is bigger than Newcastle and Brighton for instance

Given its size, there's something lacking in it. Reading just seems to have an atmosphere of creative sterility. I acknowledge the Hexagon's support for the mainstream arts and comedy circuit, and local non-professional groups like the Progress Theatre are rightly celebrated. But you get the feeling that most of these happenings are special one-off events. There's no great sense of culture there.

Reading has a population of a quarter of a million. Add in the local towns and villages and you have a lot of people. And it's a university town with a large, educated workforce. Were we really the only people who would like to see a film that isn't a Hollywood blockbuster? What do we get? One film a week at the Town Hall. Pan's Labyrinth was released in November. It's finally reaching the town hall in April -- for one night only. When I lived in Leeds, I was in walking distance of three independent cinemas with programmes that changed several times a week. Maybe I didn't appreciate how lucky we were.

Unless I am missing something, aren't all of your examples actually cities, rather than towns? 66 cities, then 21 towns, sorry but Reading is pretty small in comparison to quite a few places I can think of...Including all of your examples which far outstretch Readings size!

Anyway, this can really go on forever! But, try one of the other 20 towns above Reading, and I am pretty sure you will find they are not any better serviced than Reading. And given it's close proximity to London and it's large commuting population who make the most of London for their entertainment, I think Reading is doing fine....BUT, if you do live in Reading I am sure you have already heard about the fact that a new out of town theatre/venue is being planned, so you might just get more of what you are looking for.