The Great Western Hotel in Reading has been re-branded to a Malmaison Hotel. This style appears to be referred to as ‘chic boutique’. Judging by the internal decor boutique chic means purple velvet furnishings, lashings of pink, large-swirly-print dark-wallpaper and an angular-geometric floor covering all held together with elevator music and a hint of stale cigarette smoke.
According to the Malmaison-branded paper-wrappers on the Napkins: Malmaison. Eats. Drinks. Sleeps.
This sounded uninspiringly basic
I tried the eggs benedict, or rather egg benedict, just the one egg and half a muffin. The ‘eats’ were not impressing me, the ‘drinks’ didn’t include any real ales. Apart from myself the only other customers in the bar on this Saturday afternoon were a couple of Hotel guests from the romantic together while speaking in Dutch. After trying the ’sleeps’ while waiting about 15 minutes for any member of the Bar staff to actually come into the bar I gave-up on the ambition of eating a pudding and walked into the boutique reception area to ask if they could arrange to bring me my bill (US = check).
It was unisnpiringly basic
However, all of that said, I do have it on good authority that they have a fabulous suite with an en-suite train-set that is mumzie-impressingly-good. I may have to get a second, mumzie, opinion on this. Certainly I can see how a train-set is in keeping with the original, pre-boutique, Great Western Railway (GWR) branding…
Luckily, the chic boutique rebranding hasn’t yet spread to the external original architecture that conveys something of the original standing of the GWR.
Jacksons pay attention to branding detail.
The store is branded with a dark green background to its main name sign above the mannequinned window displays and below the large lettering that eponymously announces ‘Jacksons corner’ . The text on its custom plastic bags and the piece de resistance is the wonderful font used to announce Jacksons on the green marble entrance way.
I swooned.
I am easily pleased
Britain and Denmark negotiated exemptions from even commiting to shifting to using the Euro as its main currency. Wiki answers adds that there is ‘hostility’ in Britain towards the European Union. The cunning Swedes strategically avoided meeting the European Union requirements for shifting to using the Euro. According to the BBC, in 2003 12 countries use the Euro as legal currency.
I suspect the British like their currency with the picture of the English monarch and British famous people and fabulous architecture. Britain uses money issued by the Royal Bank of England. That’s English money, English Royalty.
So what is this? It’s Scottish money, without a picture of the Queen on it. Scottish money is also legal currency in all Britain, though some Southern stores may have cashiers that refuse to accept it.
facilitator: put your hand up if you’ve been to MacDonalds in the last week.
about 70% of the class raise their hands. The facilitator points out that desptie many negative associations people still purchase the product. Under my breath, I mutter that I’ve never been into MacDonalds. Things start to go downhill.
facilitator: BMW, what words do you associate with BMW?
I frantically try to search for a word to cover shafted the failing British car industry. Hearing other people generate words like ’stylish’, who am I in a room with… …they go to Macdonalds and think BMW is stylish? Am I in the wrong place? I get frustrated with my inability to find one word that covers the true depth of my dislike for BMW
Wendy: Bastards
Then we move on to consider Coca Cola. The word ‘Yuck’ comes to mind, the rest of the class are generating words like ‘red’ and ’sugar’. I realise that I haven’t knowingly drunk anything produced by that company in the last 2 decades. The girl stood next to me smiles and talks to me about how addictive and wonderful Coca Cola is. I toy with the idea of telling her that I find the brand Coca Cola product terminally icky but decide that I should hold off on becoming a fully-fledged curmudgeon for at least another 10 years… …and return her enthusiasm with a smile….
facilitator: what’s this?
Wendy: an excel pie chart?
facilitator: anything else? a branding symbol
Wendy: errrrrrmmmmm…
facilitator: Mercedes
Wendy: I’m a pedestrian
facilitator: [?????]
even the extremely long list of fonts in my Microsoft Office Word 2003 doesn’t include this one on Nicholoson’s corneer shop in Sumner. Small towns provide exquisite orginality and be-jeaned red car drivers
