Where in Slough?

[nevermindthecrocodiles]

Hello lovely MNers - please help me as I'm having a bit of a panic!

DP works for a business based in slough. At the moment we're renting in Windsor, which is lovely but way too expensive! He wants to buy a property in Slough or the surrounding area as it's much cheaper .

Fine by me, BUT....fifteen of his colleagues have bought property in Slough since mid-2012 (they all started at the same time through either grad schemes/overseas recruitment) and...gulp...all fifteen have had serious burglaries since they moved to slough seven have also had cars broken into. Is there (and I can't believe I'm saying this!) a "naice" part of slough or can anyone recommend an area close by?

[littleducks]

Stoke Poges?

bits of Burnham can be nice

[Cantbelieveitsnotbutter]

Iver, Farnham common, chalfont st peter, little chalfont, chalfont st giles, Gerrards cross.

There are loads of lovely places round slough

[wasabipeanut]

I'd rather rent in Windsor than buy in Slough. Alternatively look a bit further down the M4 - Wokingham, Maidenhead, Reading.

[nevermindthecrocodiles]

Thank you! I know it sounds really snobby, I don't mean it to at all - obviously getting paranoid! Would prefer to stay in Windsor but the rent is insane! Also we have inadvertently acquired a puppy (bloody DP falling for a cute photo like a teenage girl!) so need to find somewhere with a garden rather than current flat. We were planning on buying anyway though - not suddenly buying because of the pup!

[nevermindthecrocodiles]

That's an insane amount of exclamation marks apologies.

[TalkinPeace2]

Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!
It isn't fit for humans now,
There isn't grass to graze a cow.
Swarm over, Death!
Come, bombs and blow to smithereens
Those air -conditioned, bright canteens,
Tinned fruit, tinned meat, tinned milk, tinned beans,
Tinned minds, tinned breath.

Mess up the mess they call a town-
A house for ninety-seven down
And once a week a half a crown
For twenty years.

And get that man with double chin
Who'll always cheat and always win,
Who washes his repulsive skin
In women's tears:

And smash his desk of polished oak
And smash his hands so used to stroke
And stop his boring dirty joke
And make him yell.

But spare the bald young clerks who add
The profits of the stinking cad;
It's not their fault that they are mad,
They've tasted Hell.

It's not their fault they do not know
The birdsong from the radio,
It's not their fault they often go
To Maidenhead

And talk of sport and makes of cars
In various bogus-Tudor bars
And daren't look up and see the stars
But belch instead.

In labour-saving homes, with care
Their wives frizz out peroxide hair
And dry it in synthetic air
And paint their nails.

Come, friendly bombs and fall on Slough
To get it ready for the plough.
The cabbages are coming now;
The earth exhales.

[TalkinPeace2]

Sorry, could not resist. Betjeman by the way.

[Claire2009]

Crowthorne, Ascot

[yani]

Burnham is nice, and on train line.

[FellowshipOfFineFellows]

Don't move to Maidenhead. It's overpriced, no shops and burgularies are on the up. Burnham Village, Taplow, Cookham and Farnham Royal are much nicer. There's not much difference in house prices though between Slough and Maidenhead.

[user12785]

Burnham, Taplow, Farnham Common. We rented in Windsor and moved out to buy. We went from a flat to a house with garden, with a nice view. You can drive back to Windsor in 15mins anyway! Ignore the snobs, Slough's reputation is much worse than reality. Maidenhead is ugly and its high street has died. I wouldn't live in the centre of Slough, but that's because I'm a country girl at heart, I wouldn't want to live in the centre of any town.

[nevermindthecrocodiles]

TalkinPeace2 I LOVE it! Quote Mr B to DP every time we talk about buying in Slough! I live in the middle of Wiltshire, can just about handle Windsor during the week - lovely riverside walks! - but the thought of being in a town centre permanently fills me with dread!

Thank you so much for all your help & advice everyone - very very much appreciated

[CaipirinhasAllRound]

I feel the need to defend Maidenhead! Crossrail will be finished in 4 or 5 years and trains will go straight through to central London and Canary Wharf so house prices will rise. There is planning for a new development in town too called Kings Triangle. The high street is bad at the moment but High Wycombe, Marlow, Reading and Windsor are so close.
Good things about Maidenhead include:
the Thames and Boulters Lock
Pinkneys Green
short drive to Windsor, Cookham, Bray and Marlow
the Italian supermarket
the thai shop
breakfast at Stubbings nursery
the burgers at The Golden Ball

[CaipirinhasAllRound]

(oops nearly forgot) the Thai Orchid restaurant

[Salbertina]

Wd rather live in village near Windsor than in it. Agree so lovely, convenient and safe (but why wdnt it with all those police/soldiers)
However, imho its very overpriced considering awful flight noise which you can avoid if you puck the right village. Best of both worlds then. Slough is... convenient but wd never live there. Not a snob thing just find it depressing, ugly and downtrodden so not a natural
Choice!

[user12785]

Cap your "Good things about Maidenhead" are all places not in Maidenhead...or food!

[CaipirinhasAllRound]

I tried writing a diary when I went travelling and it was like a menu!
Pinkneys Green and Boulters Lock are both Maidenhead!

[yani]

Slough is very convenient. Trains in all directions, M4, M40, M3 and M25 all very nearby.

However it is a shithole not very pretty, but things are improving. Like all places there are some central areas that are quite nice.

Salbertina - Do you read the local papers? They will give you a good idea of the levels of petty crime. Car crime is a bit of a problem in Windsor (or it used to be when I lived there)

Datchet or Cippenham/Windsor Meadows and Eton Wick are nice too.

[FellowshipOfFineFellows]

I live in Maidenhead btw so speaking from experience.

Schools are pretty great though, in its defence as are the open spaces. Just the centre is crap as they keep promising to redevelop it but its just been turned down again. The RBWM council doesn't like what ING Developers plan to do in the centre and are doing everything they can to block it.

Crimewise, I've seen it increase- lots of daytime house break ins, our car was deliberately scratched on our drive on Christmas Day. My DSil's car has been broken into on her drive a number of times as well. There is a bit of snobbery here and its not all that friendly, sadly.

[nevermindthecrocodiles]

Fellowship that sounds awful, I'm so sorry, how horrible for you!

Will be coming back to Wiltshire every weekend so I guess I can cope with a lack of green-ness provided I find somewhere with a garden/nearby park for pup. The crime levels do scare me a bit though!

[littleducks]

We left Maidenhead.

Lovely play parks and open spaces (the island on the Thames was sweet).

The town centre is dead definately. The good schools are good but the bad schools are horrid.

[OopsDearyMe]

I love that few people said Cippenham, I was raised here until I was 9 and came back 4years ago. Its a lovely area, the schools are good and friendly. I had a hard time in Burnham only to lots of people snobs and chavs. Stoke Poges is good or anything up that direction,drop more,hedgerly

[LunaLovebad]

Slough thoroughly deserves its reputation. DH has worked there for 15 years, it was a shithole when he started working there and it's still a shithole now. Nobody who works in DH's office lives in Slough, they all commute from places mentioned above, and also from our direction (Egham, Englefield Green). Slough is ironically surrounded by loads of lovely places. I love Windsor but it's hugely overpriced.

[SecretSeven]

I grew up not far from Slough, in Henley. For the first time in about fifteen years, I had to go there for work this week. I thought it couldn't possibly be as bad as I remember.

It is just as unpleasant as I remember.

Twyford is nice, good trains and brilliant value compared to the surrounding area. Reading if you want somewhere busier. Or Marlow, but that might be too expensive. Never got on with Maidenhead, but you could do worse.

[another20]

Whats your budget OP? Is this property just for the working week -- do you have another property in Wiltshire where you live your life every weekend? Did you want this Slough property to be an investment? How far are you both prepared to commute during the week and is this by road or rail?