The main questions were why Reading lost City Status which is covered in the article “Reading loses out on City Status – The Full Reaction” written by Tom Dixon.

You can listen to the interview now which is hosted on the BBC website until Sunday 20th March 2012.  It took place at 410pm, 10 minutes into his show.

Don’t forget, you can continue to promote Reading by signing up as a writer on the City of Reading website today and also please keep an eye on the website over the coming weeks to see how The City of Reading plans to continue to contribute to Reading’s success.

But by this afternoon, when the fog lifts, Reading’s City Status rejection will seem a distant memory to most in our town.  The town and its people will have recovered from this feeling of disappointment and thoughts of what could have been, and will be back to doing what we do best…Being Reading.

Reading now has titles as one of the top 5 Cities of the Future and the European Micro City of the Future.  To come in the top 5 Cities of the future along with London, Paris, Vienna, and Moscow Reading beat competition from 253 other Cities including Berlin, Munich, Stockholm, Cambridge, Edinburgh, and Glasgow!  Wow I hear you say, really…Reading in Berkshire.  Yes Reading in Berkshire. People of the town who find themselves only having negative things to say so read more on our website to find out exactly how fortunate we all are to be in Reading.

Reading has achieved a lot and here are some of the official highlights on how Reading faired against the rest of the UK towns/cities in 2010:

• 3rd highest employment rate (77.2%).
• 4th highest number of business (364.2 per 10,000 residents).
• 4th lowest percentage of residents with ‘no qualifications’.
• 4th highest weekly wages (£563 per week in 2011).
• 5th highest growth in private sector jobs.
• 6th highest number of start up businesses in the country (47.5 per 10,000 residents).
• 9th highest percentage of residents with high qualifications.
• 10th most innovative town (11.1 patents granted per 100,000 residents).

The number of people signing up for Job Seekers Allowance in Reading is also the 3rd lowest in the UK, behind Norwich and Southampton.

It was a late night last night, speaking to all who kindly emailed and contacted me via twitter about the news that Reading didn’t get City Status.  Below are some of the comments I received, so thank you to all of those who took the time to send a message.

Comments on Twitter about Reading’s City Status Bid:

• @mattbrady – Considered the @cityofreading campaign rather good and refreshing. Hope it can maintain momentum somehow, despite today’s defeat.
• @mattbrady - @cityofreading Good stuff. Spark a movement. Keep it growing.
• @mrlondonstreet – I feel really sad for all the people who campaigned tirelessly for Reading to get city status. Nice work though, @cityofreading
• @mrlondonstreet - @cityofreading It’s a real shame, but you’re right that there’s still lots to celebrate.
• @CllrDaisyBenson – @cityofreading great work guys!
• @CllrDaisyBenson – stay positive – we will get there. Lots of goodwill for our Town out there – key thing is to build on this
• @MERLReading- @cityofreading Such a shame that #rdg missed out on #citystatus Well done for all your efforts though!
• @VenueReading – A shame that Reading didn’t win the City bid – Congrats to the winners though! A positive article from @cityofreading http://www.thecityofreading.com/2012/03/14/reading-the-city-in-all-but-name/

Below are some messages received via the website:

“Hi Mr Dixon,

I was campaigning for Colchester to be awarded city status and i share your dissapointment.
How on earth they chose Chelmsford is beyond me, because although i live in Essex and it was Essex town – i would have preferred our rivals Reading to have won any day over Chelmsford!
Colchester’s chances are now over… or are at least in my lifetime!

Reading has another chance, and one day it will get there!

The main thing to consider is that you’ve done alot of good for Reading in its campaign,

All the best,

Ray Moore
Think City, Think Colchester: Facebook Page“

And

“Disappointing result but could Reading get an official Royal status i.e Royal Reading town we deserve that much!” and “Still proud to be born Royal (and white)! URZZZZZZZZZ!” – Vicky Harris

There were lots of other confused messages on Twitter yesterday about how Reading was overlooked and a lot of analysis this morning about why Chelmsford over Reading!  Both Berkshire and Essex were the only town’s bidding without a City in their respective counties.

So if you were the adjudicators of this decision, you could rightly narrow the race to Reading and the contenders from Essex (Chelmsford, Colchester and Southend on Sea) based on the lack of a City in both counties.

If you look at the contenders from Essex, Chelmsford is the “County Town” and also is the only town with a Cathedral, so you could only assume this was part of the thought process of the judges.

So then you are left with Reading and Chelmsford.

The 2 theories being touted by the media are:

Theory 1 – Reading Doesn’t need City Status as their economy and future is looking good and therefore Chelmsford may need City Status more than Reading.

Theory 2 - Chelmsford has a Cathedral and Reading doesn’t.

In relation to these theories, Chelmsford, Perth and St Asaph all have Cathedrals and this was traditionally what defined a City.  However, as I explained earlier this year in all you need to know about City Status, in 1888 the requirement that a City had to have a Catherdral was removed.

What is the difference between the 2 towns?

Reading has a larger population and a booming economy, Chelmsford has a Cathedral and from people who I have heard who have lived in both say that apart from those differences they “feel” like similar places.

So one can only speculate from the above that maybe the history of Chelmsford’s Cathedral, Essex being the second largest county in the UK, and the fact Reading are flying and being spoken of in the same breath as London and Paris could have formed part of that decision to give it to Chelmsford over Reading.

But nobody will be given a full reason of how this decision was reached.  So the City Status competition is like preparing for a job interview for over 2 years, not getting the job and never being given feedback for when you try to apply again in the future, which seem very unfair to me personally.

But as this article began, Reading has so much going for it with or without being officially recognised as a City and Reading and its people will continue to operate as a City in all but name.

If you are a local business or local artist/clothes designer please contactus@thecityofreading.com as we continue with the project.  Watch this space Reading and the UK.

It will be Chelmsford, Perth (Scotland) and St Asaph (Wales) who will be given the highest of Civic Honours.

Reading have been the Bookmakers favourites throughout the whole process for a number of reasons.  Last year we highlight 10 of Reading’s major assets that meant that the town had one of the strongest cases for the honour.

Along with the help of the people, we prepared “The People’s Bid“, which was submitted to Reading UK CIC to assist them in preparing the final bid which was submitted to the Government.  The final bid was not only impressive, but would give anyone interested in Reading a real sense of it’s history and how it has come to be the most important place in The Royal County of Berkshire.  You can Read Reading’s City Status bid here.

The emphasis of the bid on this occasion was the towns association with Royalty due to the honour being awarded as part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.  You can read the full City Status Guidelines in an article we published last year.

So there is a real sense of disappointment, not because it was beyond doubt, but because our town truly deserves this recognition.

So, it is now more important than ever that the People of Reading help promote our town to enable it to continue to operate as a City in all but name!

You can support Reading by writing stories on this website to share good news and events happening in Reading.  To register, follow this link.

You can also follow us on twitter, @cityofreading or like our facebook page (The City of Reading).

Thank you to those who have supported this project so far.

Tom Dixon (City of Reading Founder)

Absolute disappointment and disbelief.

More reaction to follow.

As we highlighted Monday, Reading are favourites to take the title.  The Cabinet Office will announce at around 9:30am which town in the UK has been bestowed with the honour as part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Celebrations.

More to follow…

The festival will run over the August Bank Holiday (24th – 26th August) and tickets went on sale last night.  Tickets are priced at £197.50 and are available from the Hexagon, Reading today from 8am.  You can also buy tickets via the Festival organisers www.festivalrepublic.com and other authorised online sellers listed on the Festival Republic website or by calling 0871 231 0821.

As we covered in an article about Reading Festival 2012 tickets last month, there are also ways to spread the cost of your ticket in the run up to the big event.

The Reading Festival continues to go from strength to strength since it started out as the National Jazz Festival in 1961 at the same Richfield Avenue location.  Last year saw My Chemical Romance, The Stokes and Muse headlining with old school bands such as Madness and Pulp supporting.

Other notable acts this year are The Kaiser Chiefs who will appear on Sunday on the main stage.  The NME/Radio 1 Stage showcases The Cribs, At The Drive In, Billy Talent and Miike Snow.  The Dance stage sees now well established Katy B, along with Metronomy, and Jaguar Skillz.

As always, the Reading Festival lineup has something for everyone and we can’t wait.

Reading Festival Lineup 2012

There have been some changes in the order further down the betting, with the most notable movers being Medway, moving from 10/1 down to 6/1 second favourites, and Perth (Scotland) moving from 10/1 to 8/1.

Gateshead has had a late surge in betting, moving from 22/1 down to 16/1, but the rest are as they were in the story we published back at the end of January.

Here are the latest odds from William Hill:

10/11 Reading;

6/1 Medway;

8/1 Perth;

10/1 Middlesbrough;

14/1 Doncaster,  Bournemouth,  Dudley;

16/1 Milton Keynes,  Luton,  Gateshead;

18/1 Chelmsford, Bolton;

20/1 Colchester;

25/1 Wrexham,  Southend,  Croydon,  Stockport,  Tower Hamlets,  Coleraine, Dorchester;

33/1 St Asaph,  St Austell;

50/1 Corby,  Craigavon,  Goole.

Recently there was a surge in the number of people putting bets on Perth and Dudley to win City Status.   But with over 70% of all bets being placed on Reading to win the City Status Competition, we all wait with baited breath to see if Reading will move into the Premier League of places in the UK.

The project, costing an estimated £800 million will see Reading Stations train and passenger capacity and the area outside the station completely transformed.

The plans, put forward for public feedback include new offices, shops, cafes, approximately 300 apartments, as well as new public open space and other leisure facilities.  The plans also include a full revamp for the decaying Garrard Street car park.

The plans also show how the Redevelopment will re-route traffic around what is a very strained traffic network in the area.

This redevelopment is so important to the continued prosperity of Reading as it bids to become a City and continue to drive the economic recovery of the country.

Reading Station can be the first point of contact a person visiting Reading has with town and at present it is tired, outdated and not fit for purpose.

Station Hill Reading Today

You can see the new plans on the Station Hill website and also more detail on the redevelopment of the “skyline hogging” Thames Tower.

The main aim of the release of the plans is to get the feedback of the public.  You can express your view and ideas by following this link and completing the feedback form on the Station Hill website.

Read the previous stories I have written about the Reading Station Redevelopment and see how this huge project has taken shape over the past 2 years:

• Reading Station Redevelopment Update – January 2012
• Reading Station Redevelopment Update – November 2011
• Reading Station Redevelopment Update – May 2011
• Reading Station Redevelopment Update – January 2011
• Reading Station Redevelopment Update – January 2011 (Inc Video)
• Reading Station Redevelopment Update – November 2010
• Reading Station Redevelopment Update – October 2010
• Reading Station Redevelopment Update – September 2010

These awards were as a result of fDi (Foreign Direct Investment) Intelligence, a Financial Times company who publish a European Cities and Regions of the future report.

Above Reading in the Top 5 Cities of the Future is London, Paris, Vienna, and Moscow.  Yes, you are reading that correctly, Reading beat competition from 253 other Cities including Berlin, Munich, Stockholm, Cambridge, Edinburgh, and Glasgow!

The other award, Micro City saw Reading top the chart, with Cambridge, Dundee, Slough and Milton Keynes taking the other top 5 places.

For those people inside and outside of Reading who think Reading is just a small town in Berkshire, will now have to reassess their views as Reading is continuing to outgrow and exceed all expectations.  Named again in the Top 10 UK Cities to pull the UK Economy out of recession, Reading is a place to be, a place to invest, and a place to be immensely proud of.

So get on board, sign up to write on www.thecityofreading.com and help promote Reading to ensure we get City Status, the next step on Reading’s exciting journey.

But due to the much talked about precarious state of our economy, will ticket sales be hit by people who can’t afford to pay the hundreds of pounds for a weekend ticket?

On Monday, Festival Republic, the organisers of Reading Festival unveiled 2 payment options for people wanting to spread the cost of a ticket to the greatest show in Reading over a more manageable period.

The 2 options are a two part and a four part payments scheme.

The two part payment scheme means that an initial payment of 50% of face value plus £8.00 booking fee per ticket would be paid on purchase.  There would then be a second payment of the remaining 50% of the face value plus £5.25 postage fee per transaction (regardless of number of tickets in the booking) to be paid at a later date which organisers are yet to confirmed.

The four part payment plan relies on people purchasing tickets over 4 months in advance of Reading Festival, which is the weekend of 24th-26th August.  An initial payment of 25% of the face value plus the £8.00 booking fee per ticket would be paid upfront.  There would then be 2 monthly instalments of 25% of the face value of the ticket, with the final payment of the remaining 25% plus the £5.25 postage fee per transaction (regardless of number of tickets in the booking).

It is a great idea to give people the opportunity to reserve their ticket and pay it off with no interest added over a longer period and should ensure that numbers attending the event are maintained.

However, if you start paying the instalments and change your mind, the money is none refundable, and the 4 part payment plan is only available with over 4 months to go until the festival itself.

To find out more about these payment plans visit the Reading Festival 2012 website.

We will be discussing the possible 2012 line up for the Reading Festival over the next few weeks.  So follow us on Twitter or join us on Facebook.