ON SATURDAY, the Gin and Rum Festival returned to Reading, bringing speciality spirits to the Great Hall on London Road.
Attendees were served a range of flavoured rums and gins, with the new addition of tequila ranges.
The festival also saw a performance from Rick Moorhouse, who played an acoustic set full of popular covers and hits as part of the festival’s entertainment, which also included a live DJ.
Festival owner Bobby Nanua said: “We run the festival about 25 times a year all around the country, and we come to Reading annually, so we will be back in 2024.
“While gin became very popular, we wanted to create an event that I would want to go to, so it’s about getting together with friends.
“People don’t always want to go clubbing, you want a nice, safe environment where you can party, along with the music, the ambience, and a calm space with a nice mix of people.”
“People still want to go to events, but bars are closing down by the day with rising costs– here, we can make it a less regular thing but more of an event.
“There aren’t many people who do what we do– and Reading has always been brilliant since we started in 2018.”
He says that the venues themselves are a big part of the festival: “Our venues are unique buildings; we were in St Albans Cathedral recently, so that people can have that unique experience.
“People wanted with rum what they got from special gins, so we also created out own flavoured rums, and I think we were probably the first in the UK to really look at properly flavoured rums.”
The Gin and Rum Festival will return to Reading in 2024, but is also taking place in London on Saturday, September 23, and around the country until late November.
More information and tickets are available via: ginandrumfestival.com
