Reading Beer and Cider Festival - brilliant!

Yep, another excellent festival, thanks folks.

I have one minor criticism. This year a very large tent was used on the same site, and this limited the area of grass available for sitting down when it got busy. It didn't help that a large area of grass was lost to provide a clear emergency access route. Maybe some tweaking of the site layout or perimeter would help.

Good to visit the legendary Reading Beer Festival Gents Urinal again :-)

Best regards, Paul

-- Paul Sherwin Consulting

Yes - forgot to mention those. They're better than mine :)

How do the urinals compare to the famous Philharmonic Dining Room toilets in Liverpool. See

They are so famous that they are visited by mixed sex tourists. (I hope that doesn't get misunderstood) 8^)

Reading has always used quite upmarket mobile toilets of the sort used at race meetings etc. but these are expensive, and about 5 years ago it was obvious after the Thursday session that the provision was inadequate. A few people went to B&Q on Friday and bought lots of plastic sheeting, guttering, gaffer tape etc. and lashed up a urinal against one of the perimeter fences (I actually watched it being constructed in amazement). This worked very well and more or less the same arrangement has been used ever since. This year there was actually running water to wash your hands. I'm not sure I agree with this, it detracts from the essential purity of the Reading Urinal concept.

Festival organizers may have a more detailed or even accurate explanation, but I suspect they'd rather keep their heads down :-)

Paul

-- Paul Sherwin Consulting

Reading Beer Festival

Currently the site cannnot be expanded as we abutt the playing fields and football and glass do not mix, the emergency access strip is a requirement from the Fire Brigade and has to be kept clear. On Thursday there was no queueing, Friday queueing started at 18:30 -

19:00 but died at 22:15 (longest wait about 1 hour), on Saturday the queue did start at 13:00 but did dieat 22:00 (longest wait 3.5 hours). Local Tescos did well out of the queue!

Cider was excellent Hounslow Cider Cooperative maker was there and even though there was a warning to taste on the tub it was not too aggressive!

Excellent festival and a really nice crowd of people (punters and staff).

Dray & Shire horses as usual on Sunday.

I worked there Friday - Monday but did have a few ciders and 1 beer once the festival was clear.

The only warning it needs is that it goes down alarmingly well:)

In message , loobyloo writes

The staff concensus on Thursday was that some people hated it (with remarks about "Jet 8" and "essence of M4") while others (me included) couldn't see what their problem was. "Give sample" warnings aren't just for rocket fuel, they help make sure unusual ciders are drunk by those who like them and not wasted on those who don't. Vickery's Old Smoky for instance - it should taste as if a bonfire'd drowned in it - lovely!

This year the cider bar had a large reserve supply to make absolutely sure we didn't run out. And sure enough, we did send one tub back to Upton. However, we sold eight tubs that were in a dealer's van to be delivered to another customer on Tuesday, so you could say the organiser lost on points this year instead of being repeatedly floored as in previous years.

Hope to see you all again next year