Old Caversham, New Caversham
Written by: BlackPhi
I find Caversham a fascinating place to live, On the one hand it is an overgrown, but long-established, village – separated from Reading by a river and a lot of attitude. On the other hand it is still part of that vibrant and still-growing town, with its transient population and urban attitudes.
As a small business mostly operating in and around Caversham, I notice this reflected in my customers. Some have lived all their lives in Caversham, probably a good chunk of that time in a single house. Others are just on their way through, house prices being the main factor determining how long they stay. Then there are a few of us who are newcomers to one group – I’ve ‘only’ been here thirty years – but ludicrously settled to the other.
This combination, I think, gives Caversham a style which often works as the best of both worlds: there is a real sense of established community in the village, yet there is also a degree of liveliness and cosmopolitan outlook . The two worlds intersect at community facilities such as schools, pubs, churches and shops – WordPlay and Waitrose are, in my view, examples of Caversham shops which support a sense of integration and community, and I’ve posted before about the importance of good local pubs.
What do you think about Caversham? Do you find its combination of old and new refreshing, confusing or simply schizophrenic? What facilities do you find valuable in building community? Do you even think local community matters – maybe you think we should stop pretending Caversham is anything other than a suburb of Reading? I’d love to know.
Interesting that you mention Waitrose as a shop that supports integration and community. Is it because of the little green plastic disks?
Waitrose in Caversham is an odd place in that it is a branch of a major supermarket chain, yet to me it has the feel of a local shop.
Some of that goes back to the days when my kids were very small: some shopping trips could be very challenging, but the staff at Waitrose were so helpful they made shopping there a pleasure. Some of it is that there is good staff retention so familiar faces provide a sense of continuity. Also Caversham Waitrose is very much a place where one does tend to bump into local people – my wife is what I called in the post ‘old Caversham’ and shopping with her there can be a very long process (even community can have its downside).
The green disks are a nice idea, I think, but to me a bit … corporate. They reflect well on Waitrose as a whole, but are not really why I associate Caversham Waitrose with a sense of local community. That is much more about people, I think.
What about you, do you like those disks? Where, or what, in Caversham (or Emmer Green, etc) do you find promotes a sense of community?
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