Slough, once a vibrant town, has devolved into what locals describe as “Britain’s ugliest town,” marked by boarded-up shops and rising crime. Over the past decade, about 20% of homes are vacant, and the high street has become uninviting, prompting residents to shop in nearby areas like Windsor and Uxbridge. Formerly bustling with chain stores, Slough now features many cafes, pound shops, and repair outlets. With the local council facing bankruptcy and years of financial mismanagement, residents lament the loss of community and safe shopping spaces, questioning whether more could have been done to revive their once-thriving town.
Britain’s “ugliest town” was once a thriving high street before becoming filled with “drug dealers, prostitutes and the occasional human poop”, disgusted locals have revealed.
Over the past decade, Slough has seen an increase in boarded-up shops and is slowly turning into a ‘ghost town’, with figures released this week revealing one in five homes are now vacant. .
A depressing shopping scene has forced many locals in the Berkshire town to turn their backs on once-beloved high streets, instead running errands in nearby leafy Windsor and Uxbridge. They are also choosing to go to Stratford, which is a two-hour drive.
It’s no secret that high streets up and down the UK are struggling to cope with the onslaught of online shops, but Slough’s high street has been particularly neglected, with some locals saying: ‘It’s a bad idea to buy work pants. It is possible.”
The town, which shares a postcode with stately Windsor, has long been the butt of jokes.
Just before the bombings of World War II, former Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman wrote a poem that begins, “Come friendly bombs, fall on Slough!” It is currently unsuitable for humans to live in, and there is no grass for grazing cattle. ”
Ricky Gervais then set his bleak, groundbreaking sitcom The Office in the town, then had his character David Brent write a song about Slough. The song begins, “More convenient than Tesco Express / Closer to Windsor, but less property.” This keeps Britain in great shape for business/has Europe’s largest trading hub. ”
Sandra Edwards, 64, who now lives in Windsor, told MailOnline: “It’s a ghost town. It’s dead. It used to be really great. It used to have an outdoor market and clubs where everyone came to dance, including celebrities.
“Right now, there’s nothing here. It just smells like chemicals. You have to be careful with your wallets and bags. There’s a lot of shoplifting here, and you see people running out of stores. But the staff can’t do anything about it.
“It might make me cry, I have really fond memories of this town, but it has changed so much now. Where has this wonderful town gone?
Colin White, a real estate agent in the area, added: “Everything is a bit of a dump.” It seems that many miscreants, drug addicts, prostitutes, etc. gather there.
A depressing shopping scene has forced many locals in a Berkshire town to turn their backs on their once-beloved high street.
It’s no secret that high streets up and down the UK are struggling to cope with the onslaught of online shops, but Slough’s high street has been particularly neglected, with some locals saying: ‘It’s not worth it to buy work pants. claims that it is possible
Sandra Edwards, 64, who now lives in Windsor, told MailOnline: “It’s a ghost town. It’s dead. It used to be really great. It used to have an outdoor market and clubs where everyone came to dance, including celebrities.
“You can’t buy work pants here, so we go to Uxbridge, Bracknell or Reading to shop.
“I don’t think the blame lies with online shopping because it works in other downtown areas and in other areas. It’s easy to blame the city council, but the city council is said to be bankrupt. So I don’t know what the solution is.”
Data from JDM Retail shows Slough has seen severe decline over the past decade, with 20% of stores vacant, higher than the national average of 14%.
Years ago, Slough’s high street was lined with well-known chain stores, from Debenhams to British Home Store to M&S and Next.
Now those famous stores are gone, and all that remains are dozens of small cafes and eateries, plenty of pound shops, and countless cell phone repair shops.
The town’s cinema will close and the Queensmere Observatory shopping center will be demolished and replaced with new homes, offices and some shops.
Carol Clowes, a postal worker who grew up in Slough and still works here every day, said: There’s no actual store to shop at, drug dealers, I just stepped on human poop.
“I grew up in Slough and in the 1970s, 80s and 90s it was a great town. “People used to come from miles around to shop here; it’s not.
“Everything is a bit of a dump,” said Colin White, a real estate agent in the area. It seems to attract a lot of thugs, drug addicts, prostitutes, etc.”
“We used to have Woolworths, British Home Stores, all the proper shops, but now you can’t buy clothes here.”
Clifford Hutton, 84, who moved to Slough in 1937 when he was one year old, added: “Slough was a decent shopping area in the ’50s and ’60s.” All the teddy boys were meeting at the cafeteria down the road, and there was also a suit shop.
“In those days it was well worth coming to Slough no matter where you lived. They sometimes came from London. Slough used to be a very nice place where you could go anywhere and talk to anyone, but now I can’t do that.
“Now it’s crap, it’s totally crap, it’s nefarious. Unlike in my day, teenagers have nowhere to go, so they just hang out on the streets.”
The situation in Slough is very different from three miles away on Windsor’s High Street, next to the Berkshire Royal Estates.
Unlike Slough, Windsor has a higher number of vacant stores than the national average, with just 7% of stores vacant, according to JDM Retail data first reported by the Telegraph.
Only 6.5 per cent of stores in Windsor are counted as ‘undesirable’, which is also lower than the national average of 9.3 per cent and much lower than Slough’s 14 per cent.
Examples of such undesirable establishments include cash exchange stores, e-cigarette stores, and gambling establishments. Unsurprisingly, all of these types of retail businesses are coming to Slough.
Clifford Hutton, 84, who moved to Slough in 1937 when he was one year old, said: “Slough was a decent shopping area in the ’50s and ’60s.” All the teddy boys used to meet in the cafeteria across the road, we had a suit shop and all that. ”
Just 6.5 per cent of stores in Windsor are considered ‘undesirable’, which is also lower than the national average of 9.3 per cent and much lower than the 14 per cent of stores in Slough.
Over the past decade, more and more shops in Slough have been boarded up, slowly turning it into a ‘ghost town’.
The town’s cinema will close and the Queensmere Observatory shopping center will be demolished and replaced with new homes, offices and some shops.
Jonathan de Mello, Head of Retail at JDM, explained: “Despite being less than a 10-minute drive from the main street between Windsors, it is very attractive and attracts a high number of visits from both residents and tourists.”
“While high streets across the country have generally changed for the worse, Windsor has remained surprisingly consistent. Slough, by contrast, has generally suffered a loss of occupiers.
Mr Edwards added: “They say the best places to live are places like Windsor and the worst places to live are here.” [in Slough].
“At one point, the stars were coming here to perform. The Beatles played in the bingo hall, and Jimmy Hendrix even performed.
“Now there are a lot of alcoholics and homeless people coming in looking for a change. There are a lot of professional criminals who will knock you down and the next minute your phone is gone.”
“I’ve been living here since 1968, and in the past you could get everything here,” said an elderly woman who requested anonymity.
“It’s been great here and it’s a real shame it’s gone downhill. It was a lovely place to shop, with cafes, restaurants, Woolworths and all the big high street brands.
“And that’s what we’ve lost because people can now shop on the internet or get everything at the supermarket.” It’s unfortunate. In a way, I’m embarrassed to say this, but if we have supermarkets, we don’t need independent stores anymore. ”
The famous stores that everyone knows are gone, and all that remains are dozens of small cafes and restaurants, plenty of pound shops, and countless mobile phone repair shops.
Local residents question whether local authorities could have done more to save the town’s high street before it was too late.
Compounding the town’s problems, Slough City Council declared bankruptcy in 2021, leaving it with debts of £760m.
A subsequent independent inquiry found that the then Labor-run council had created a black hole through “years of financial mismanagement”.
This means the current Conservative-run council is considering further budget cuts that could impact local services.
Nevertheless, local residents question whether local authorities could have done more to save the town’s high street before it was too late.
Alexandra McKinnon, 74, added: “The council is bankrupt and they’re doing what they can, but they’ve taken over the center of Slough for a retail park, moved the shops there and the community has gone along with it.”
“Right now, there’s nothing here, it’s dead, and it’s only going to continue to go downhill fast. This place used to be thriving, and look at it now.
“Nothing is coming back here, the only ones open are chicken shops or kebab shops.
To compound the town’s problems, Slough City Council declared bankruptcy in 2021, leaving it with debts of £760 million.
The current Conservative-run council is considering further cuts that could impact local services after the then Labor-run council left a black hole in its finances.
Another woman added: “Not as good as it was a few years ago.” “I can’t blame councils because the whole country is losing high streets, but more money would help.”
Sinead, who works in the real estate industry with Colin, says, “The shop here doesn’t attract a specific customer, it just attracts people who just want to drop in and do a little something.” he added. Mostly pound shops, pop-up shops and grocery stores.
“If they [the council] If we invest in the town center itself, we can have the right shops here and attract the right people. ”