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Landmark - The mural on the wall of the Central Club
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Traders Central to club opening

By Anna Roberts
October 23, 2008

A black campaign group wants Reading businesses to get behind the resurrection of the Central Club.

The African Caribbean Community Group (ACCG) is after local businesses – including plumbers, electricians and painters – to throw their support behind the campaign for the town centre club to reopen.

The London Street club – which has a distinctive mural depicting black people’s struggles and achievements in Reading and beyond – shut in 2005.

The ACCG is keen for Reading’s black community to have somewhere to go which is a community group as much as a nightclub.

Club secretary Mark Bartley, who attended the club as a young man, made the suggestion in an email to members of the community group, which also has a page on the internet networking site Facebook.

He said: “I am proposing the tradesmen and women of the Reading community be involved in the project.

“One would hope that with all the painters, electricians, plumbers and so on we have within our community we could go a long way to doing the majority of this [work] ourselves.”

Group leaders are currently thrashing out legal issues that need to be addressed before work can begin on refurbishing and reopening the club.

The campaign group will meet in Reading’s Civic Centre at the end of November when they will push ahead with plans to open the club.

The group has the support of Reading Borough Council, including deputy leader Councillor Tony Page.

Mr Bartley said: “Recently I met with a potential project manager and showed him around the Central.

“The idea is that we get three project managers to present us with quotes and design ideas for the centre before deciding who to proceed with.

“We will run another open meeting showing the findings of the three different organisations before any decision is made to enable us to get feedback from everyone on what they’ve seen.

"The council has agreed to cover the costs of these initial quotes.”

Mr Bartley believes it is important for generations of black people in Reading to have a base they can go to.

On the Evening Post’s website www.getreading.co.uk, the 29-year-old investment consultant said: “The idea is the club will be a hub to deal with issues mainly affecting the black community.

“The self empowerment and education of our younger generation will give them the skills and tools to make a positive contribution to society and make the right life choices when they are presented.

“In a multicultural town such as this, it is also just as important for the non-black relatives of mixed raced children to know there is a place where they can learn about their heritage and in turn understand themselves.”

The meeting will take place at 7.30pm on Monday, November 24, in the Civic Centre’s Kennet Room.

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But surely you can see how provocative the mural is? Would you be happy to see a similar one with just white faces and white history (and substitute "white" for Indian, Chinese there), especially with banners/comments like "Our Struggle Continues" etc. I think it is better that we are all EQUAL, don't you?

Buck, Reading
25/10/2008 at 10:37

Just bizarre.

If someone suggested imposing this kind of ghetto-isation in schooling the world would be up in arms. But when self imposed it's OK apparently.

As for African/Caribbean history being taught in schools, we were taught it where it touched on British history, much the same as for German history, Chinese history, French history, Spanish etc etc. No doubt these countries histories are taught in greater depth in the countries where they are more relevant.

"The struggle continues so do what you must." Yes, Peace & Love.

Ben Towtershape
25/10/2008 at 10:20

comparing Reading to other places in the country, Reading does nothing towards supporting the BME community. In Dec 06 the equalities duty came in and I have not seen or heard Reading promote it, empower it or even respect it.

AS
24/10/2008 at 12:13

Because it's not racist, do you not realise what the painting depicts is a part of african history that for a long while was kept hidden i.e not taught in schools etc.., at school the only time i saw black people in history books was a double page spread showing the inside of a slave ship, african / caribbean history is way much more than that, way before the atlantic slave trade.

8Xtreme
24/10/2008 at 11:46

Please explain why I am, as you so magnificently put it 8Xtreme, a "dumb a...". This story is full of divisive and worrying issues.

Buck, Reading
23/10/2008 at 22:59

You a dumb a..!!!

8Xtreme
23/10/2008 at 16:38

So where do other communities go? This is one of the most racist things I have heard of, although it is what I have come to expect from this group - take look at that mural - "Black women up front" etc - why not "Black, white and Asian women and men up front" and where are the white and Asian faces on that dreadful picture?