Shopping & Leisure Together

Advantages: 90+ Retail Outlets, 22+ Restaurants & Bars, High Cleanliness
Disadvantages: Seasonal overcrowding, expensive car parks

...The Oracle shopping centre is located in the heart of Reading, Berkshire. It opened in 2000, after being developed by Hammerson Plc, and since then offers the best combination of shopping and leisure facilities around. The Oracle boasts over 90 top name retail outlets and over 22 contemporary and family orientated restaurants, bars and cafés. It also hosts a 10 screen Vue Cinema that can be found on the Oracle Riverside. The Oracle Riverside is the epitome of delight, and along its 270 metre promenade surrounding the River Kennet are a selection of restaurants where outdoor seating is also provided for when the weather permits. There are two bridges spanning the river, to allow easy access for both sides of the promenade, one of which is the uniquely designed Delphi Bridge, in the shape of an ellipse. The bridge has seating all...

kelr101 04.09.2005 · Read review
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Review of The Oracle, Reading

Chili's Bar and Grill - Oracle Riverside, Reading

Advantages: Delicious Food, Great Service, Available all day
Disadvantages: Couldn't book on Saturday night

...Last Saturday (12th June), some friends and I decided we would go into Reading town centre for a meal, in order to continue with my birthday celebrations. Searching the net, I came across several restaurants all based in and around the Oracle, Reading?s newest shopping centre, and as we would be walking into town, this seemed the ideal location and found restaurants varying from American to Mexican to British Cuisine. I?m useless at making decisions when it comes to choosing somewhere to eat, as I like to satisfy everyone?s different tastes, so I compared a couple of the menu?s for a few of the restaurants, Old Orleans, Ma Potters Grill and Chili?s. And Chili?s came out on top with the greatest selection. *Location* The Chili?s Bar and Grill I visited, is based in the Riverside Unit of the Oracle Shopping Centre, in Reading...

kelr101 19.06.2004 · Read review
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Review of Chili's (Reading)

IT'S PAYDAY ..... YIPPEE

Advantages: Everything under one roof
Disadvantages: Car parking fee

...Nothing like a bit of retail therapy, especially when you have someone on hand to carry your bags. Makes you feel like you have bought nothing because you are not the one being weighed down by 2 pairs of shoes, a pair of jeans, two tops, underwear etc. Well, after exhausting Guildford I headed out to Readings relatively new shopping centre The Oracle. Reading is just of Junction 11 of the M4, and The Oracle has sign posts from all directions. My only grumble regarding the car park is that it is £1.00 per hour from Monday to Saturday and £1.00 for all day Sunday, and the ticket price can soon mount up if you have lunch at one of the many places to eat. The Oracle is situated next to the canal which has been beautified dramatically with Cinemas, Restaurants, creche for the little darlings and Bars! On entering the Oracle you...

Zoe30 02.08.2002 · Read review
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Review of The Oracle, Reading

For the shopaholic

Advantages: wide range of shops, eateries and facilities
Disadvantages: decent shops spread between two malls at opposite ends of the high street

...The Oracle has achieved the impossible. My dear mum does not like shopping. (I think I'm adopted). However, even she can be persuaded to come shopping with me in Reading, which is handy, because as the ever-doting grandmother, she pushes my double buggy, leaving me free to shop till I drop. Fantastic. Access-wise, the town of Reading (or is it a city? Sorry if I've inadvertantly offended any patriotic residents) has a major train station with lifts over the platforms. A godsend. If you have small children of a pushchair-requiring age, you'll understand. As a non-driver, this is a massive bonus. If you do drive, I think it's junction 11 on the M4, but you'll probably want to check that on a roadmap. Whatever. It's got good road and rail links. My husband likes to go shopping in Reading, as it has a good variety of shops selling...

KTDouthwaite 07.12.2004 · Read review
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Review of The Oracle, Reading

odessey and oracle The Zombies

Advantages: sublime pastoral elegance
Disadvantages: all too brief

...Its seems rather unfortunate and at least unfair that The Zombies are regarded as little more than a footnote to pop and rocks golden days of the 1960,s ,true they did have to compete with the Beatles and The Kinks and The Who just for starters ,but of course this thing of rare and singular beauty could never have been borne from the triviality of competition or catch up ,at the heart of "Odessey and Oracle " are a centurys dead and the mist of a n English autumn in an English town ,its melancholic sounds echo the crumbling beauty of summers end and the yearning loss of summers endless promise ,never delivered ,lost in hibernation as winter like love sometimes gets colder leaving just a memory ,of course i could go on but you would have no real idea of what this breath taking record actually sounds like . The clarity of this...

terriano 02.02.2008 (01.02.2008) · Read review
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Review of Odessey And Oracle - Zombies (The)

A good day out!

Advantages: All you need for a day out in one place.
Disadvantages: Car parking fee is quite expensive, but then isn't it in most places?

...I'm a Reading girl so The Oracle is my local shopping centre and I visit it about once every month or two. I think it's very easy to find but it can be difficult to get into, especially on a Saturday, the queue can trail back quite some way so I would advise going mid week if possibly and as it's open until 8pm every weekday it makes it quite easy for most people who are fairly local to do. There are plenty of shops, split over two levels, to keep you happily shopping for quite a few hours. These include two department stores (House of Fraiser and Debenams), HMV, Waterstones for your books and a sit down with a coffee, there is also a smaller book shop, there is a hair dressers, several jewellery shops, the gadget shop, several clothes shops to satisfy young and old tastes, an opticians, sports shop, Boots, Clinton cards, Dixons...

LisaJR2004 10.03.2005 · Read review
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Review of The Oracle, Reading

Oracle of Ages

Advantages: great graphics, can be linked to seasons, great storyline
Disadvantages: none

...This game was released in conjunction with another Zelda Oracle game - Oracle of Seasons and both were released in Europe on October 2001. The two games are linked but can be played in any order, and although they're similar to each other they both have different stoylines. The main distinguishing features of the games are the characters involved and the colour of the packaging- Oracle of Ages has Nayru as one of the main characters, which is also the name of a Zelda goddess and is blue while Oracle of Seasons has Din another name of a goddess and is red. In this Ages game you meet Nayru who is possesed and kidnapped by the villian Veran, and since Nayru controls the ages Veran can maipulate time as she wishes. This leads to Link - the Zelda hero - being able to travel through time from the present to the past. Completing challenges...

Lauren89 14.09.2007 · Read review
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Review of Legend of Zelda: The Oracle Of Ages (Game Boy Color)

ORACLE overview

Advantages: Explains all the aspects of Oracle
Disadvantages: Far too vague

...Oracle ? A Beginners Guide ? attempts to explain all the areas of Oracle under one cover, and doesn?t do a very good job about it. While it gives a fairly decent background into Oracle, and has separate chapters on Installation, SQL, PL/SQL, Forms, DBA and Tuning, each chapter is very vague and not dealt with in any great depth. Therefore, this book is not suitable as a reference tool or to look up correct syntax. I also felt that the presentation and layout of this book could have been better, and there appeared to be a number of Typos and inaccuracies. Unless you are completely new to Oracle and are looking for a background in its entirety, I wouldn?t recommend this book....

Bluecat 02.08.2000 · Read review
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Review of Oracle - A Beginners Guide - Oracle Press

Ideally Located For A Reading Pub Crawl

Advantages: Nice and central, cheap price
Disadvantages: The extras are a little bit expensive

...It would seem over the last few months I've spent almost as much time staying in Hotel rooms as I have in my own flat, which can prove rather costly. One of my more recent excursions was to the Novotel in Friar Street in reading. Now being as how I only live in Basingstoke, getting a hotel for the night in Reading might seem a little bit pointless, but as it was my leaving do from work it seemed a cheaper and simpler option than trying to get home. That said, once all the little extra bits and pieces are added on it soon mounts up and what seemed like a good idea at the time, was perhaps a little too close to home to justify. As I'd decided upon the need to book myself a hotel room I paid a visit to the Novotel website where I managed to secure the room for a reasonable price. I've stayed in Novotel's quite a few times before so knew...

Andy.mack 03.04.2008 · Read review
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Review of Novotel, Reading

Chickenfeed - a Quick Read!

Advantages: An enjoyable read suitable for everyone!
Disadvantages: That I had initially dismissed 'Quick Reads'

... Minette Walters Minette Walters is one of my top ten authors, and I had read all of her books aside from her latest ("The Chameleon's Shadow") and one which I'd heard about called "Chickenfeed" but for reasons I will explain hadn't yet got round to reading. Minette Walters is famous for books such as "The Ice House", "The Sculptress" (which was made into a fantastic TV drama staring Pauline Quirk), "Acid Row", and "Fox Evil". She has written 14 books including Chickenfeed. They are of the crime/psychological thriller genre. Personally I would equate her writing to a slightly more modern version of Ruth Rendell (sorry Ruth, I do enjoy your books too). I feel that Walter's books would appeal to both men and women, although I am not a man, so I cannot be absolutely sure! I first got into her books through my mum when I...

marymoose99 15.02.2008 · Read review
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Review of Chickenfeed (Quick reads) - Minette Walters