Leader: Block out the music and listen to the tills

Newsdesk • Published 27 Aug 2009 11:00 0 Comments

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IT'S HERE again - well, the fans are at least.

The earliest of early birds have been seen in parts of west Reading since Monday and Tuesday, and staff started pouring into town yesterday. But it is today that Reading Festival 2009 really starts for most people, even though the first guitar will not be strummed until tomorrow afternoon.

For some the Festival remains a long, long weekend to be endured rather than enjoyed, along with the traffic, litter, profiteering and noise.

For others it's a chance to have fun, make money, and feel a little bit special as the town bulges at its seams, its population more than half as big again compared to the rest of the year.

Reading is known for much more than just the Festival these days, but it really did help kickstart a mini-boom in tourism which helps sustain many in the town outside the IT and insurance industries.

This year it's also a recession-buster. Exact figures are disputable, but latest estimates from organisers and council officers show the event brings in something like £6m-£10m for the local economy, on top of the £120,000 paid directly into council coffers.

Even unlikely organisations like Reading Town Football Club tell us the annual Festival spend-a-thon helps keep them going for the rest of the year.

Love it or loathe it, that revenue comes here and mostly stays here. Our town is completely entwined with a massive event which makes a lot of people happy. If the music and the clothes and crowds aren't your thing, if you've seen too many beer cans and condoms and abandoned shopping trolleys, if you're sat in yet another traffic jam - try to think of that!

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