Working in Slough, where to live

Working in Slough, where to live

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Discussion

cwis

1,147 posts

178 months

Thursday 24th March 2016
quotequote all
CaptainSlow said:
The local area:

Henley - Horay Henrys that get on the farmers' nerves, mainly alcoholics and sexually frustrated women
Marlow - full of day trippers from Wycombe, borish rowers or doggers from wider afield.
Marlow Bottom - residents claim they live in Marlow, reality is they live on the cut though to Lane End, drunks with their own brewery.
Chesham - no comment, but drive through it with doors locked.
Beaconsfield - investment brokers and bankers that sell their souls in the week and dine in restaurants with horrific wallpaper at weekends.
Bracknell - town facelift, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Residents wish they were in Windsor.
Reading - competing with Slough and Swindon to be the biggest tip on the M4, currently in second place.
Ascot/Sunningdale etc - Full of golfers waiting to die, massive property equity levels. Car dealers with expensive metal.
Maidenhead - pretends to be another Marlow but actually more like High Wycombe with a wider river.
High Wycombe - melting pot of criminals with a wide variety of illegal items hidden in local woods. 113th best University in the UK, high chance of finding a dead body whilst walking your dog.
Great Missenden/Prestwood - inbreds with webbed fingers... Chilterns swimming champions since 1979. Local economy based on childrens' books.
Amersham - full of commuters trying to decide which train to use, standing room only.
The Chalfonts - Chavs with a bit of cash, lots of Range Rovers.
Taplow - where?
Windsor - full of people complaining about traffic, tourists or aircraft noise. Unsecured loans available for parking costs.
Uncannily accurate as a Downley (like High Wycombe but smug for no apparent reason) resident.

Do Aylesbury!


TwigtheWonderkid

43,248 posts

149 months

Thursday 24th March 2016
quotequote all
cwis said:
Uncannily accurate as a Downley (like High Wycombe but smug for no apparent reason) resident.

Do Aylesbury!
Aylesbury - 30 kids in the class and only 2 surnames. If a bloke goes out for a walk with his sister and his wife, he only has 1 woman with him.

Medical notes for people with genetic deformities have NFA scrawled across them....Normal For Aylesbury.

colin_p

4,503 posts

211 months

Thursday 24th March 2016
quotequote all
Being a bloke and someone who resides in Maidenhead, the town center is perfect for me.

For a bloke it has everything I need and better still, you can get in there, buy what you need and get back out easily within half an hour.

Now, if you are a woman or are one of those metrosexual type blokes who actually likes shopping, there are indeed better places for you to go and waste a lot of time insanely browsing round the shops having spent an age battling through traffic to get there (Reading, I'm talking about you) and then another age getting out. My idea of hell.

Maidenhead, in, go to Marks and Sparks, buy new work shirts / pants / socks etc, a crafty Big Mac whilst looking in the window of the high end hi-fi shop then home, all in typically less then half an hour. Perfect.

Like some others, I know the area very well having lived here all of my life also being born in Taplow. If given the choice and money was no object in terms of working in Slough, my preferences would be;

North Burnham / Burnham Beeches / Taplow area.
Farnham Common
Stoke Poges
Cookham(s)
Maidenhead

Beaconsfield, Gerrads Cross, The Chalfonts and Windsor are all very nice but you need a lot of money. Saying that everywhere is mind bogglingly expensive, they are just a bit more so.

Beyond those, the commute could be rather annoying.

Marlow, whilst lovely is a total utter and complete nightmare to travel to and from in rush hour and that reason alone wouldn't be a place I'd choose to live.


But back to good old Maidenhead, the perfect compromise, with the best transport links and the most bloke friendly town center, EVER !

Croutons

Original Poster:

9,807 posts

165 months

Thursday 24th March 2016
quotequote all
Thanks all for the continued interest, really appreciate it!

Quick update, I will be house-sitting in Barkham (which claims to be near Wokingham, but seems to be a golf course and a single shop somewhere near Wokingham) initially as all I'll pay is utilities, so I guess I'll see which of the M4 car park or backroads work best.

From then on it looks like:

swisstoni said:
Op made is pretty clear he wanted to drive IMHO
Well yes, this is PH, but with basically free accomodation I'll cope for now, the thread is doing a good job of putting me off at least Windsor (and I've never even been to Legoland), despite the convenience of the train to Sluff, and noting:

MuffDaddy said:
Oh and BlackBerry, never drop the second B.
Ta! But of course...

okgo said:
I doubt anyone will get 4 more years work out of them, dead men walking.
No Facebook & WhatsApp already, you could be right, however I suspect if the decline persists it may lead to a sale rather than complete closure, but we speculate, suffice to say Beaconsfield (aside from the weekend wallpaper comment!) looks quite good- there are an awful lot of positive comments on here, as does Guildford, although the schools in Bucks are quite a draw.

motco

15,919 posts

245 months

Thursday 24th March 2016
quotequote all
TwigtheWonderkid said:
cwis said:
Uncannily accurate as a Downley (like High Wycombe but smug for no apparent reason) resident.

Do Aylesbury!
Aylesbury - 30 kids in the class and only 2 surnames. If a bloke goes out for a walk with his sister and his wife, he only has 1 woman with him.

Medical notes for people with genetic deformities have NFA scrawled across them....Normal For Aylesbury.
Aylesbury used to be a nice country town until it was designated as a GLC overspill town in the 1960s - Greater London Council mortages at favourable rates meant filled up with chavs from the London boroughs. The modern Aylesbury is the result.

My kids were both born in Taplow - loads of kids were until they closed and demolished the Royal Canadian Memorial Hospital and made it into an expensive gated development. Hardly anyone born there now... frown

CaptainSlow

13,179 posts

211 months

Thursday 24th March 2016
quotequote all
The local area:

Henley - Horay Henrys that get on the farmers' nerves, mainly alcoholics and sexually frustrated women
Marlow - full of day trippers from Wycombe, borish rowers or doggers from wider afield.
Marlow Bottom - residents claim they live in Marlow, reality is they live on the cut though to Lane End, drunks with their own brewery.
Chesham - no comment, but drive through it with doors locked.
Beaconsfield - investment brokers and bankers that sell their souls in the week and dine in restaurants with horrific wallpaper at weekends.
Bracknell - town facelift, you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Residents wish they were in Windsor.
Reading - competing with Slough and Swindon to be the biggest tip on the M4, currently in second place.
Ascot/Sunningdale etc - Full of golfers waiting to die, massive property equity levels. Car dealers with expensive metal.
Maidenhead - pretends to be another Marlow but actually more like High Wycombe with a wider river.
High Wycombe - melting pot of criminals with a wide variety of illegal items hidden in local woods. 113th best University in the UK, high chance of finding a dead body whilst walking your dog.
Great Missenden/Prestwood - inbreds with webbed fingers... Chilterns swimming champions since 1979. Local economy based on childrens' books.
Amersham - full of commuters trying to decide which train to use, standing room only.
The Chalfonts - Chavs with a bit of cash, lots of Range Rovers.
Taplow - where?
Windsor - full of people complaining about traffic, tourists or aircraft noise. Unsecured loans available for parking costs.
Aylesbury - disappointed shared ownership residents living next door to social housing layabouts in new build identikit hell, both have tats and smoke weed. Often confused with Rotherham.
Luton - town that inspired the exit bag and Vauxhall Mokka, least preferable tbc. Most overworked airport baggage scanner outside Tel Aviv.
Leighton Buzzard - weekday town centre resembles a Sports Direct catalogue shoot, weekends full of people from Luton "on a nice day out".
Hemel Hempstead - single mothers swiping right on Tinder sat in KFC smoking rollies. Gymkhana practice on purpose built road layout.
Downley - ex Totteridge residents that think they're donkey big dicks as they have five bar phone signals and managed to get a pitched roof on their pub.


prand

5,910 posts

195 months

Thursday 24th March 2016
quotequote all
motco said:
My kids were both born in Taplow - loads of kids were until they closed and demolished the Royal Canadian Memorial Hospital and made it into an expensive gated development. Hardly anyone born there now... frown
Well, the development is for over 55's only, so barring some sort of medical miracle, we'll never see another baby born on that site (closed in 1985).

It's funny, anyone from the area always seems to mention they were born in Taplow. Wonder why that is?!

I'd say Taplow Village (not down by the A4) is a pretty nice place to live, it has a surprising variety of houses and worth a look (though prices are increasing rapidly now). A nice Primary school and a decent local (Oak & Saw), and the new shops at the bottom of the hill are handy. Plus Crossrail will mean a direct route to the city within the next 3-4 years.

motco

15,919 posts

245 months

Thursday 24th March 2016
quotequote all
prand said:
motco said:
My kids were both born in Taplow - loads of kids were until they closed and demolished the Royal Canadian Memorial Hospital and made it into an expensive gated development. Hardly anyone born there now... frown
Well, the development is for over 55's only, so barring some sort of medical miracle, we'll never see another baby born on that site (closed in 1985).

It's funny, anyone from the area always seems to mention they were born in Taplow. Wonder why that is?!

I'd say Taplow Village (not down by the A4) is a pretty nice place to live, it has a surprising variety of houses and worth a look (though prices are increasing rapidly now). A nice Primary school and a decent local (Oak & Saw), and the new shops at the bottom of the hill are handy. Plus Crossrail will mean a direct route to the city within the next 3-4 years.
'Hardly anyone now born there now' means Taplow not the RCMH. When it was up and running it was also a facility for children with rheumatoid arthritis. It was very depressing to see these poor little kids hardly able to walk - some had tricycles to move around the place on. Cliveden Village, the retirement home, is a very expensive set-up and won't suit anyone with modest means!

swisstoni

16,850 posts

278 months

Thursday 24th March 2016
quotequote all
Croutons said:
Thanks all for the continued interest, really appreciate it!

Quick update, I will be house-sitting in Barkham (which claims to be near Wokingham, but seems to be a golf course and a single shop somewhere near Wokingham) initially as all I'll pay is utilities, so I guess I'll see which of the M4 car park or backroads work best.

From then on it looks like:

swisstoni said:
Op made is pretty clear he wanted to drive IMHO
Well yes, this is PH, but with basically free accomodation I'll cope for now, the thread is doing a good job of putting me off at least Windsor (and I've never even been to Legoland), despite the convenience of the train to Sluff, and noting:

MuffDaddy said:
Oh and BlackBerry, never drop the second B.
You have looked st a map and seen where Guildford actually is haven't you ?

Ta! But of course...

okgo said:
I doubt anyone will get 4 more years work out of them, dead men walking.
No Facebook & WhatsApp already, you could be right, however I suspect if the decline persists it may lead to a sale rather than complete closure, but we speculate, suffice to say Beaconsfield (aside from the weekend wallpaper comment!) looks quite good- there are an awful lot of positive comments on here, as does Guildford, although the schools in Bucks are quite a draw.

Croutons

Original Poster:

9,807 posts

165 months

Thursday 24th March 2016
quotequote all
swisstoni said:
Guildford
Yes, fastgerman's post yesterday at 14.46 (prev page) suggest more than doable.

I currently spend 40-75 mins doing about 9 miles, so I'm used to a st commute!

swisstoni

16,850 posts

278 months

Thursday 24th March 2016
quotequote all
I can understand someone living in Guildford and working in Slough because it just worked out that way.
I'd have a harder job understanding someone creating that commute by design.

SlackBladder

2,579 posts

202 months

Friday 25th March 2016
quotequote all
Another vote for Maidenhead here. Town centre being redeveloped, cross rail sending prices up and up so get in quick. Or just across the Thames on the Taplow side of the bridge the old Skindles hotel and Taplow paper mill development could well be worth a look at.

cwis

1,147 posts

178 months

Friday 25th March 2016
quotequote all
CaptainSlow said:
Downley - ex Totteridge residents that think they're donkey big dicks as they have five bar phone signals and managed to get a pitched roof on their pub.
I'm a bit scared now - I used to live in Totteridge...

Although the Captain has the local area's bad bits bang on via broad brush strokes, each of the towns has good bits too, and some really nice places to live.

What surprised me when I moved down south nearly 20 years ago was how close the bad bits were to the good bits! Local knowledge is all, unfortunately.

Here's a local property to me in budget for the OP that's nice and probably in catchment for the local Grammar schools.

Slough would be down country lanes for about 30 minutes from here - I did it myself for about 4 years.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/prope...





motco

15,919 posts

245 months

Friday 25th March 2016
quotequote all
cwis said:
I'm a bit scared now - I used to live in Totteridge...

Although the Captain has the local area's bad bits bang on via broad brush strokes, each of the towns has good bits too, and some really nice places to live.

What surprised me when I moved down south nearly 20 years ago was how close the bad bits were to the good bits! Local knowledge is all, unfortunately.

Here's a local property to me in budget for the OP that's nice and probably in catchment for the local Grammar schools.

Slough would be down country lanes for about 30 minutes from here - I did it myself for about 4 years.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/prope...
That big mother of a TV mast in Downley would worry me - fried nuts anyone? yikes

ps01

218 posts

204 months

Sunday 25th September 2016
quotequote all
Just discovered this thread on the search function - interesting stuff.

Noticed the OP ended up temporarily in Barkham just round the corner from me in Shinfield. I wondered how the Slough commute was going - my guess is probably too much hard work 5 days a week in rush hour? I work up and down the m4 and in London but I am able to flex my travel times so it works well for me. I've been in the Wokingham district for 14 years and we love the area - really works well for us.

Where did you end up OP?

Welshbeef

49,633 posts

197 months

Sunday 25th September 2016
quotequote all
Two places to consider IMHO are

Stoke Row - Ross Brawn and a few F1 drivers live there and Hurley just East of Henley has a lovely pub and great walk along the river.

Good local cricket clubs, Polo if your into it too

One issue is flag with both are when it snows you are properly stranded / isolated

Croutons

Original Poster:

9,807 posts

165 months

Monday 26th September 2016
quotequote all
ps01 said:
Just discovered this thread on the search function - interesting stuff.

Noticed the OP ended up temporarily in Barkham just round the corner from me in Shinfield. I wondered how the Slough commute was going - my guess is probably too much hard work 5 days a week in rush hour? I work up and down the m4 and in London but I am able to flex my travel times so it works well for me. I've been in the Wokingham district for 14 years and we love the area - really works well for us.

Where did you end up OP?
After wasting a significant amount of time not buying in Marlow, running away from BlackBerry to work at Ford (a later thread on location is available!)

The drive was fine (which for me is an assumed 40-60 mins) at the right timeof day, largely as expected. Although the number of idiots parking in the verge or central reservation on either side never ceased to amaze, nor the gawping that slowed passage by.

Smiler.

11,752 posts

229 months

Monday 26th September 2016
quotequote all
You dodged a bullet there OP. Marlow Bridge has been closed to vehicles for the foreseeable future after a lorry driver under the instruction of his GPS caused serious damage.

Was a bit chaotic this morning & evening by all accounts.

Welshbeef

49,633 posts

197 months

Monday 26th September 2016
quotequote all
Shipmate is nice
Biofuels Heath too
Rotherfield Peppard
Christmas Common