To consider moving to Bracknell?

[Gingerspice21]

I’m thinking about moving to Bracknell. I’ve found a place I like about a mile from the town centre, but I’m a bit concerned that it doesn’t seem possible to avoid underpasses unless I drive in. This is really worrying and is totally putting me off! Am I being unreasonable here? Are there any Bracknell residents on here to share their thoughts?

Bracknell is pretty much full of roundabouts and underpasses but I imagine you'd get used to them. It's not as grubby as it used to be!

It’s a good place, well connected nd the underpasses are generally fine, wouldn’t want to use at 2 am but wouldn’t anywhere

It’s a good place, well connected and the underpasses are generally fine, wouldn’t want to use at 2 am but wouldn’t anywhere.

A place where nothing ever happens

Bracknell resident here. Underpasses are fine. Avoid very late but they’re generally fine. And you can avoid them if you really want to!

Bracknell has good amenities, good transport links and jobs.

Just to be clear, I’m not saying that the underpasses in Bracknell are any more dangerous than elsewhere. It’s more that it seems like you can’t avoid them in Bracknell and I was wondering how people who live there feel about it?

If you love roundabouts, you’ll love it! It’s a bit of a “nothing” place: why are you thinking of moving there?

I've not lived there for 20 odd years, but the underpasses are absolutely fine. You don't realise what a fantastic set of cycle paths there are there until you move away.

Name changed as outing …

I live in Bracknell, it’s actually a really nice place to live! I’ve never thought twice about underpasses tbh, seems like an odd thing to be worried about? You can easily avoid most of them though and walk on the main roads if you really want to.

I live in Bracknell. The underpasses are great: you can get from 1 side of Bracknell to the other without ever crossing a road! I would not want to use at night on my own but there’s lots of places I wouldn’t want to go on my own at night.
I do a lot of running and it’s great for running as no need to stop and start.

I really like living in Bracknell, it’s easy to get anywhere and there’s always something going on to get involved with. Loads always on for kids and clubs to join. It’s very family friendly.

The underpasses are well used during the day as there isn’t really any option. At night I would be more wary of using them.

I agree with this one! It's great for casual cycling. Commuter town generally but there's lots to do around, brilliant shops now the regeneration is done

Bracknell is surprisingly lovely these days. Great new shopping and eating in town centre. Lovely countryside just outside. And great transport links for motorways. Loads for young people to do within easy reach by train.

Yes, cycling is great! So many places to cycle and it’s brilliant with young kids as you don’t have to go on roads at all so much safer for them. We can cycle from our house up to Swinley Forest without going onto a main road (just have to cross one to get into the forest) and then you’ve got the awesome tracks there.

Despite it’s reputation as being full of roundabouts, underpasses and not much else, there’s actually tons of green space and it’s all well maintained. Absolutely loads of good parks for kids.

Why have you chosen Bracknell?!

@DrunkSquirrelsyou say you can avoid the underpasses if you want to so maybe I’m missing something obvious. say I wanted to walk from Deepfield road to the bars in the town center in the evening, how would I walk avoiding the underpass without having to try to jump a railing?

I'd cross the Met Office roundabout, at surface level, one road at a time, then slip down by Weatherspoons I think

You can’t really go one road at a time around the roundabout at surface level as there are railings up to the roads edges.

I chose Bracknell as I like the town center, lots of good shops and a couple of options for food and drink with further developments on the way, plenty of green space, it’s well placed for potential jobs in London and Reading and the house prices are reasonable.

Sultan of Brunei lives down the road,can't be that bad!

You can if you walk down each side road a bit can't you? It's how I used to walk from Warfield Road, then down the duel carriageway, across the road just before the station roundabout, cross the grass before the bus station then onto the rail station. That's when I wasn't using the underpass... Actually, I never crossed the road to Weatherspoons so you may be right

You can walk to the Met office roundabout and then cross the roads to go down Millennium Way and there is a path just before the camp Avenue car park entrance that goes into town without using underpasses

You'll get sooo much stick about Bracknell but the truth is that it's actually an amazing place to live. I've lived in Portsmouth, West London, Bath, Dorset, Cardiff, Chichester and a couple of other places but in terms of "easy life", value for money housing and lifestyle I'd say that Bracknell has been my favourite place so far.

There's a proper community vibe in the various estates, and you can walk nearly anywhere without crossing a road. If you're coming into town from met office direction the underpass by the Manor is absolutely fine you don't need to avoid it- there's always a lot of people there as it's right next to the college. If you're coming from priestwood direction then you can walk through Arlington square and go in past the point/up through McDonalds.

I have to admit that around Bracknell my guard is often way, way lower than it is in other places. The "low level nastiness" you get in big anonymous towns just isn't there. Yes some of the kids are dicks, but generally everyone is just... Nice. It's becoming more multicultural too which is lovely, it was a bit of a gammon stronghold for a while.

If you've got a family check out the red and yellow routes around town. They're traffic free routes that take you through the town centre and past all the way from Jocks Lane at one end to Swinley forest (my end of town... I did live in Binfield road for a bit but I prefer it over this side because the forest is amazing, you can walk for hours!!) at the other. There's something like 25 playgrounds on the route.

The design of the estates is pretty cool- lots of the residential roads are non-through routes which cuts down on traffic/speeding near houses. A lot of them are alphabetised so you can find your bearings (for eg. all the A roads are next to each other- Appledore, Aysgarth, Ashbourne so it's dead easy to navigate). You also find that quite often the foot and road networks are independent of each other so you aren't as exposed to pollution while walking around.

Each estate generally has a little shopping precinct with a shop, takeaway or two, a doctor's, and a pub. There's a 3 or 4 children's centres, and they run some lovely groups for <5s, mostly free or nominal fee. The local libraries are an absolute gem in the town too, lots of events, authors and kids stuff going on. If you're on your own then there's a couple of "Social prescribers" which is a council run initiative which points people in the direction of community groups or hobby groups which is nice.

The We Love Bracknell Facebook group is a good place to start to see what's going on (although there's the usual local moaners!) as is People Help the People. There's always some event or other going on.

People that describe it as "nothing place" or "full of roundabouts" are likely people who have driven through from M3 to M4 without stopping. It does look shit from the road, but that's because the older part of the town at least is designed so that the major roads and the housing/parks/pedestrian routes are separate.