"I would say Waitrose is more middle class than John Lewis but that is an argument for another thread!"
I wouldn't disagree with you at all on this point - generally speaking. Which is why I've always been amazed that there is such a large store here (although not in the top 10 or anything).
The surrounding villages are very "naice" indeed and there are also smaller Waitrose stores in two market towns around 12 miles away.
But to return, at least vaguely, to the topic of this thread. Whenever the name of this city is mentioned in the Property section there is always a whole raft of posters who claim that this is the worst city in the country and that they would never live here.
This is very much at odds with my experience of living here. OK, the schools are certainly not the best in the country (although one did get into The Times best schools list) and there are very high numbers of people working in areas like distribution and manufacturing rather than very middle class jobs.
But, even so, the area has some very nice houses that are very affordable and is within a reasonable distance of London to make commuting very viable.
Perhaps they don't like diversity so much, (this city is rather more diverse than the average local authority area)?
The median local authority area in England & Wales has around 86% white British residents. For example, these are areas like Mansfield, York, Doncaster, East Cambridgeshire, Mid Sussex, South Gloucestershire, South Oxfordshire, Bath, Sevenoaks, West Berkshire, Tunbridge Wells etc.
The city I live in has around 59%. This is in line with places like Bradford, Coventry, Blackburn, Nottingham, Sutton etc.
So, overall, really not middle class at all but, for whatever reason, Waitrose seem to be doing reasonably well here.