We’re delighted to announce that the Drinksin iPhone App is now available to download for Free from the Apple App store for your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. Filled to the rafters with all the pub information you will ever need to have the most fun in the neighborhood you’re in right now.

The app is available for use Globally with data currently available for the UK, West Coast US and Zagreb, Croatia. Watch this space for other countries coming up soon.

Features

What’s On Nearby: One tap takes you straight to events happening in pubs and bars just round the corner from where you’re stood.

Offers Nearby: If you’re strapped for cash or just love a bargain, use this feature to access money saving offers and promotions from pubs and bars nearby. From food and drink offers to group discounts and incentives, they’re all there waiting for you.

Pubs Nearby: Not sure what pubs are nearby but fancy a drink, or need somewhere to meet a colleague for a coffee meeting. Tap the screen for a list and full details of venues nearby (includes photos, description, and contact info – even use the directions feature for a step by step guide on how to get to your venue of choice.

What’s next?

Over the coming weeks and months Drinksin will be adding lots of new features and services to the application including 1000’s more pub listings from up and down the UK and Worldwide. Expect enhanced search features, user tip-offs as well as a heap more offers and events to make sure you can have the most fun with minimum planning fuss. Some other top secret goodies also coming up but we have all been sworn to secrecy at Drinksin HQ. As soon as we can tell, you’ll be the first to know.

We’d love to hear what you think about the app and any suggestions you have for the future, you can contact us at support@drinksin.com or say hi via the contact us form on this blog.

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Drinksin and The Dealmap, two leading local websites have partnered up in the UK to bring people even closer to the best pub and bar deals in their neighborhood and beyond.

Drinksin, the location-based pub and bar community, connects people to pubs and bars they’ll love via their mobile.

Publicly launched today, The Dealmap is the most comprehensive source for consumers to find and share local deals on the Web.  In conjunction with the launch of its service, The Dealmap has created publicly available APIs that Drinksin will use to add unique local deal content to its sites.

Drinksin is focused around technology, in particular the latest in mobile location based services and personalised customisation. Drinksin’s tools learn what you like and provide personalised recommendations for pubs, bars and events to visit based on location

Using Drinksin, people can explore new places, grab money saving deals and discover the hottest events happening right now just round the corner from where you’re stood.

Owning over 120 domains and with a number of new technology services being made available this year, Drinksin will connect people to drinking establishments of interest wherever they are located in the world via the Internet or mobile device.

Drinksin’s city-based web sites such as Drinksinlondon.com and Drinksinreading.com are currently available in 18 UK cities, and 1 European city, Zagreb.

• Drinksin London achieving 120,000 views a month.
• Other domains achieving between 50,000 average a month.
• 120 Drinksin domains owned.
• Drinksin as a brand achieving 650,000 per month.

Drinksin is a privately funded start up based in London and co-founded by Laurence Williams, Mark Wallis, and Jaime Keenan. David Murray-Hundley, LinkedIn Business Leader of the Year 2010, serves as Chief Executive Officer. In this role, David is responsible for driving Drinkin’s product and monetisation road map, acquiring funding and expansion of partner and customer networks.

For more visit www.drinksin.com.

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Last Wednesday our Chief Technical Officer to Drinksin, David Murray-Hundley won European Business Leader of the Year 2010 at LinkedIn’s European Business Awards. The award designed to celebrate a business leader who has created an outstanding workplace based on a set of values that has led to a commited, effective and motivated workforce.

When I caught up with David this morning over coffee, I asked his feelings on the award, “Obviously very happy to have won the award and also so thankful to everyone who supported me. I still find it all crazy and still think I am no different to anyone else. Been an exciting year so far at Drinksin and the next 6 months will be a crucial window for us. We are shortly looking forward to launching our mobile application, as well as the World cup around the corner and of course I along with the rest of England am looking forward to us winning!

Drinksin is also growing as a company and we are currently looking for a new CEO and further funding of the business. Going to be a busy year for the team but know we can do it.”

Drinksin’s Technical award was judged and presented by PY Gerbeau, the ex Chief Executive of the Dome, VP of Disneyland Paris and current CEO of X Leisure. Reid Hoffman the chairman of LinkedIn, and ex Vice President of Paypal and Apple. Reid Hoffman also serves on the board of SixPart, Kiva and Mozilla. James Campanini the Managing Director of Cisco Webex and Cisco Systems Ltd.

PY Gerbeau in his announcement speech mentioned “the difference with David is his approach as a team player and his thinking out the box mentality. He has been quoted by a supporter as an inspired perfectionist. He’s not only trying to achieve things in business but to make a difference to people”.

Watch the announcement recorded via live Webex here

For more on the LinkedIn European Business Awards 2010 in asscoiation with Cisco Webex, visit the site

A big thanks to all who have supported Drinksin’s David Murray Hundley on this journey.

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We’ve just heard the good news that drinksin.com’s new Chief Technology Officer, David Murray-Hundley has been shortlisted for Business Leader of the Year category, LinkedIn European Business Awards 2010. Hand picked by LinkedIn’s expert panel of judges David is one of only 10 in Europeto make the shortlist.

Please show your support for David, by voting here

Linkedin is the world’s biggest network and business hub and was started by the co-founder of Ebay and PayPal.

David who also acts as CTO for Adaro Group recently became involved with Drinksin taking on the role as CTO to take the team through funding and hitting the rest of the UK and US market.

“David’s out of the box mentality and ability to push boundaries in delivering technology solutions is providing us  with an undeniable increase in operational strength and focus, he undoubtedly deserves to win this accolade.”

We’re very pleased to formally welcome David to the drinksin.com team, and wish him every success for this award.

Winners will be announced via a live WebEx on March 24th 2010.

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On Tuesday, the drinksin team were invited along to the Winter Menu sampling event at Friar Street’s newest bar and eatery Muse. If you have not yet had the pleasure Muse is a brand new treasure to Friar Street, based at the old Bar Four premises.

One thing you notice when you enter Muse is it’s warm, relaxed and welcoming interior. The deep reds and opulent furnishings are sure to help melt away any built up tension from a long day in the office or a busy day’s shopping. What’s really special about Muse is it is a break from the norm from what many would expect from a Friar Street premises – a little sanctuary for those seeking the smooth and sophisticated.

The new Winter Menu officially launches this week and offers an amuse-bouche of perfectly crafted plates and a cocktail menu with a playful nod to the 70’s as well as reverance for traditional classics.

We were lucky enough to sample a pick and mix of the new menu during the event, and the food is really good.

The chef at Muse has a strict policy on fine and fresh food, which means everything on premises is made from scratch – you can tell.

The food menu like the new cocktail menu shows a playful nod to some of the 70’s classics with dishes like chicken in a basket and bangers and mash. The chef has also clerverly constructed a pick and mix menu, similar to a tapas experience but with influences from all over the globe. Really great if eating light before a big night out or after work drinks with colleagues and friends.

For the conscientous amongst us, Muse have paid attention to health with a great offering of healthy options – the super food salads look fantastic, and the menu even comes with calorie count to make life eaiser.

The Express Menu also works really well for lunchtime workers with an eye on the time. Each express dish is marked and is guaranteed service within 20 minutes.

http://www.muse-reading.com/

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It’s been a whirlwind few weeks at drinksin HQ. We’ve now settled in all snuggly into our new office in Windsor and for the past few weeks have been gathering feedback, feedback and more feedback from users of drinksinreading.com as well as the pubs and bars we support.

As always some amazing suggestions. We’d love to get a few more replies before we go into our next development meeting so if you have any suggestions, would love to hear what you think. You can enter here

We ran a competition to win 3 bottles of Veuve Cliquot at Reading’s Twestival too. Congrats to the winners and shame on you for saving for special occasions. Ok, I’m only saying that because I fancied a glass. Nonetheless, Mojito’s went down a treat. Thanks to Chris and his team at Mix Bar and Twestival organisers, definitely a night to remember.

What else has been going on, oh yes the drinksin messenger pigeon dissapeared off to Bestival! We were worried until we saw sightings. He has unreservedly aoplogised for going missing in action.

We’ve also met Rob Wilson, Reading’s Conservative MP to talk about our plans for the future and to see how we may be able to further support Reading’s publican community. Great to meet him and some excellent all round advice received.

There are some fantastic support schemes and campaigns out there at the moment to help support the British Pub, who is, as we all know having a bit of a bad time at the moment. So if you haven’t already pledged your support for Britains favourite pastime, you can do so on any of these sites:

• Axe the Beer Tax
• Save the Great British Pub

In Reading Bar News:

• New club Sub89 launched, you can take the Virtual Tour here
• Bamboo is under new management and re-opened on Friday 25th Sept. Nearby Manakoo also a recent addition
• Xensations on Friar Street is in the process of becoming a new bar called Ruby Sky. With state of the art lighting and sound system, two-levels, 3 rooms, 4 bars, VIP areas, Ruby Sky will offer live shows and DJ music every night of the week, with weekly special events on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Oh and how can we forget, it’s Freshers time in Reading. Big wave to all new Reading Uni students. We’ll be out for a few upcoming student events snapping your beautiful faces, so hope to see you out and about.

To stay better in touch with good stuff happening at pubs and bars in Reading, why not join us today and get a user account. When you join, you can create your own personlised social diary, to help you set your social life free. So you never have to scratch your head and wonder where all the good stuff’s happening tonight, tomorrow, next week. Just login to drinksin!

May the rest of your week be fun filled xx

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Reading Twestivallers descend upon Mix Bar in Reading tonight. The Twestival taking place is one of 100’s of similar events taking place worldwide.

For the uninitiated a Twestival is a Festival organised for Twitter users, but in Reading’s case all are welcome. For advance tickets you can purchase them here, or there will be a limited amount available on the door.

Event is being held at Mix Bar from 7:30pm, Thursday 10th Sept.

Proceeds raised during the night going to Daisys Dream, a free service supporting bereaved children and their families in Berkshire and the surrounding areas.

Thanks to Dedipower, one of the UK’s fastest growing managed hosting providers for their generous donation as Gold Sponsor.

Some great competitions and giveaways throughout the night plus a free glass of bubbly on arrival courtesy of @tweetmeme and live music from local band Chasing Vegas.

drinksinreading.com (that’s us) will be handing out 3 bottles of champagne through the night too with a top secret retweet competition. Make sure to follow @drinksinreading to get involved in winning the champagne on the night.

The Cocktailists at Mix have also put together a saucy selection of Twitteresque cocktails.

For more on Reading Twestival and a sneak preview at the specially blended Cocktail’s on offer, check out the official site http://reading.twestival.com/

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This month we gave away two guestlist passes to the sell-out Fusion presents Norman Jay night at Bar Mango, along with a free bar tab. The winners Malgorzata Brzezicka and friend are set for a night to remember.

For those that aren’t familiar Norman Jay is stuff of legend, his last set at Big Chill made the festival for many and throughout his career he has amassed a huge following.

The early days

A self confessed ‘Beatle baby’ born in Notting Hill, London of West Indian parents, the young Jay had unwittingly displayed latent deejaying talents even from the tender age of eight. By then, encouraged by his music loving parents, he had bought his first record and played at his first gig – a 10th birthday party for one his female cousins – displaying for the first time, a precocious talent that was later to become the stuff of deejaying legend.

As young as he was, Norman eventually became hooked on all aspects of black music, becoming increasingly influenced by his father’s huge collection of original 60’s Jazz, blu beat, ska and rock steady reggae from Jamaica.

By the late 70’s he had become an avid follower of contemporary Afro-American music styles including soul, funk and jazz fusion – enthusiastically collecting classic urban record labels like MOTOWN, ATLANTIC and STAX.

New York, 1979

Whilst on a first time visit to relatives in BROOKLYN, New York around the same time – he was invited to play at his very first bona fide ‘block party’ alongside his uncle who – as it turned out, was also an accomplished deejay and sound system owner/operator of repute himself. Jay decided there and then to take his deejaying career more seriously.

Good Times Sound System

Upon his return to the uk – he teamed up with his brother JOEY and built the now legendary GOOD TIMES SOUND SYSTEM – where he embarked upon a mission to fulfill a long held childhood ambition to play at the infamous NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL – where he played FUNK, SOUL and DISCO (something completey unheard of in those days). This he did in the face of fierce opposition and considerable hostility to his initial efforts. His dogged determination to succeed saw him eventually triumph – ultimately winning him critical acclaim from his peers and fans in the process.

Arguably Reading’s freshest and most talked about club night

Fusion are proud to announce the launch of their new Club night at the award winning Bar Mango. The opening night is Friday 14th August with the legend that is Norman Jay MBE arguably one of the finest and most respected deejays in the world today. FUSION’s new regular monthly Reading night at Bar Mango, Reading will bring together a blend of two or more styles of FUNKY, DEEP, DIRTY ELECTRO & DIRTY BIG BEATS HOUSE MUSIC.

Stay Connected

To make sure you get the most out of your Reading social life, why not sign-up to the drinksin community? Regsitrations FREE, takes 2 minutes and will make planning your social life simple. drinksin learns what you like and suggests bars, events and offers based on your interest via your own diary myDrinksin. It’s like having your very own personal assistant dedcated to fun

When you register you also get included on any inside scoop and members only pub, bar and club deals for Reading. Come in an join us!

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Last week drinksin got vocal and joined Phil Kennedy over at the BBC Berkshire studio’s in Caversham to talk pubs on Phil’s weekday slot, you can watch the interview here: Jaime talks pubs on BBC Berkshire

The drive to Caversham was the ride from hell, 1st radio interview nerves were rife but despite that sickening feeling, the questions went well and not too many erms and aaarghs in sight, well apart from the do you know the pub by the bridge question.

On the way to BBC Berkshire

For anyone that knows me, directions send me into a vegetative state of shock. The ‘yes’ to Phil’s question of ‘do you know the pub that’s down there, to the left, by the bridge’ was actually ‘Noooooooooh I haven’t a clue but I’m on the radio and I’m an idiot, can’t believe this is happening, i’m sure I know it but I can’t think straight, just say yes anyway, they’ll never know’. ‘YES’

For those, who like me freeze when directions are used the pub in question was The Rising Sun’

As if that wasn’t enough excitement for one week, we’ve also been featured in last weeks Reading Chronicle.

A big thanks to BBC Berkshire letting me join them for the excitement in the studio, and Reading Chronicle for featuring an excellent write-up on drinksinreading.com.

drinksin hit the headlines

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We have launched a new Special Offers section on the site this month, to help the people of Reading beat the cash-strapped blues when out and about. Just like it says on the box, the section will showcase money-saving specials from drinksinReading.com participating venues.

We are starting to see some amazing offers added such as Sakura’s complimentary bottle of champagne for groups of six, when visiting Sakura on Friday from 12pm to 7pm with a drinksinReading.com voucher. Offer ends 14th August, so be quick.

See all Special Offers here

Check the Special Offers regularly, as they are changing on a daily basis and if you’d like to see offers from other venues please make sure to mention us to them on your next visit.

Some special offers will be exclusive to regsitered users ONLY, so if you haven’t yet registered for a free user account you can do so here. As well as members only offers, you’ll also get a host of other goodies and features. Hope to see you on the site soon.

Have a good weekend,

Jaime x

Special Offers on drinksinReading.com

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