What's wrong with High Wycombe?

[NatEdwards76]

Hi There, we currently live in Hillingdon and are looking to relocate slightly further up the M40. We've been looking at Flackwell Heath, Wooburn Green, Farnham Common, Hazlemere, Chesham and High Wycombe. We want a house with a nice view in a nice friendly neighbourhood and within reasonable reach of St Michael's Catholic School in South High Wycombe - which we hear would be a good school choice for our 8 year old boy. I work in Uxbridge and my hubby works in Wembley Park so the commute needs to be easy. We've been into the centre of High Wycombe today and it all seems quite nice. We've driven around a few streets, very hilly - but all quite civilized! Why does it get such a bad reputation? I didn't see anything to be concerned about - are we missing something? The house prices seem reasonable - can someone please tell me if there are areas to avoid (and why?) Would be so grateful for any helpful advice!
Many thanks indeed! :-)

There is nothing wrong with High Wycombe as such. I would just say that there are nicer places around High Wycombe to live. I think Flackwell Heath is the best bet for people moving to the area. Do you already have a place at St Michaels? I think the main problem with High Wycombe are the catchment areas which is why I chose a village with a very definite catchment area.

I would avoid actual high wycombe it's self, go for a village just outside such as flackwell heath or Wooburn green is nice but the Bourne End end not Loudwater end! Bourne End is really nice too but a little more pricey as closer to the river.
Or have you looked at Downley Village? School is good. It's more West wycombe and would be easy access to m40.
Hope this helps x

I think High Wycombe has an undeserved reputation based on some very specific parts of it. All the places you've mentioned (and the others) are fine. Perhaps avoid places like Totteridge...

I am also in the same situation NatEdwards. We currently live in SE London with our 3yr old and 20mth old. I just want to move somewhere nice with good schools that allows my husband to commute to London Victoria.

I was thrilled after viewing a house on Hamilton road in high wycombe recently. But whenever I research high wycombe online I feel a sense of doom!

I don't really know the area - is Hamilton road bad?

Is flack well Heath wooburn green and other nice areas served by buses to train stations?

I've noticed there is a bus service between high wycombe and hazelmere holmer green and amersham.

Thanking you in advance for any help.

Hi Bucks Wannabee,

Welcome to Wycombe! My husband and I picked Wycombe 2 years ago because we could buy a lovely house and be close to family and London, Oxford and pretty countryside for the weekends without the high price tag and semi detached housing that comes with living around Wycombe. It's definitely on the up and becoming 'gentrified' as people start looking for affordable family homes outside of London.

How did your search for schools etc. go? My first is due in three weeks so I'm doing the rounds visiting local nurseries. Bit concerned about primary schools so would love to chat about those if you've been looking too. We live in Booker but would be in the catchment area for Sands, Cressex etc too.

I think that will be our plan as well, but hopefully in 5 years time primary schools in Wycombe will be just that bit better. Still waiting on baby, any day now!

Education, transport links and town centre shopping are brilliant.

Tho in HW town centre there are not any decent restaurants or pubs worth going to and it there is not a chattering classes pre-school yummy mummy cafe culture. (usual chains Wagamamas, Pizza Express etc in town)

But all you would have to do is pop down the hill 3-5 miles in any direction to Marlow, Beaconsfield, Penn, West Wycombe, Old Amersham etc for a taste of that lifestyle - incredible countryside, picture-postcard villages, stunning restaurants and chi-chi shops....BUT there is amazing period character housing stock for peanuts in HW - and this is not an option in the out-lying villages ....

I think "Horrible High Wycombe" is pure snobbery from people who can afford £1-2m properties in surrounding villages. Fine for them -- but as said before sad for those in the up to 500k bracket who choose to avoid HW to live in hideous 60's miniature shoe boxes outside of the town.

I think it is like any big town - (Watford? Croyden?) - perfectly acceptable but not chi chi

What parts of the town do you see as up for gentrification Bucks and why?

Baby's here now and we see signs of money being put into town - the new Next in Booker is going to be a flagship store including garden and homewares, and the development by the Handy Cross and Leisure Centre looks impressive and on a big scale. Just about everyone knows the Waitrose effect (where they build a Waitrose house prices will improve as it's a sign of becoming affluent)and there will be one there.

Are they building a Waitrose in HW? Big out of town retail park does not say gentrification to me - says industrialization - this will have zero impact on residential property.

I've lived here (villages and for a bit in town) on and off my whole life, for my sins.

I'm not sure how building a Waitrose on the Junction for the M40 will help bring house prices up? Not a criticism or anything, I just don't see how it could? John Lewis didn't have that impact... If anything, I would say that the increase in traffic on Junction 4 will knock them down!

Knowing WDC, they would use any subsequent traffic problems as a way to justify the new entry/exit slip on to the M40 as that's what they really want. That will send the prices near to the slip road plummeting, along with reducing the villages around it into even worse commuter rat runs than they already are.

If WDC put as much thought into developing the town centre properly, as they do into the out of town shopping areas (which isn't a lot, tbh) then the High Street would not be in the sorry state it is now.

I don't think High Wycombe is becoming 'gentrified'. The 'worse' areas of HW are still just as bad as they ever were and the infrastructure cannot support the number of houses. It has always been a commuter town, that's nothing new and is the reason that the villages are as expensive as they are.

In fact, I would say that the opposite is true of High Wycombe. I find it quite sad to see. I feel like the town centre is slowly collapsing in on itself and that the town is a mess of ill thought through, rash planning department decisions. Sorry! Though the shops in Eden are better than they used to be in the Octagon/Chilterns

That said, if someone wants to try and convince me otherwise then I willing to listen. I live in hope that this place will improve! It's probably hard to be objective when you've been somewhere for a long time...

That wasn't meant to be such an essay

Imiss - spot on - exactly my angle fleshed out in detail. I have lived nearby and have used HW daily for the last 20 years. I see no evidence of gentrification of residential areas -- just expanding industrialization around retail (for benefit those outside of the town - which as you say will have probably a negative impact on house prices). I think it will soon be like Watford - retail parks, roads etc - chopping up the original residential communities.

I don't think anyone wants house prices to go up any further, we are already in an area where the average house price is 20 times the average local salary. The only place in the country to have such a ratio. We were just responding to cherrygirl's Waitrose effect comment (or I was, anyway).

I was simply disagreeing with the gentrification that you have seen. I don't think it's any different now to how it's always been. Wycombe has always been full of people who work in London or the surrounding areas and choose to live in the suburbs. It's always been a commuter town, this is no different. As for these 'middle class amenities', what are these that we've been missing all these years? I'd love to know.

Gosh, I hope I will manage to cope once these rich people come and live here .

Bucks....it looked to me that YOU were the one rubbing your hands in anticipation of gentrification of HW = raised house prices from your post in Wednesday. I am still interested in which of the neighbours in HW you believe is in the up?

Thank you all for your input, I really appreciate the time and effort you have all put in and it's sparked some interesting discussion. I've not been put off at all. I've been shopping a couple of times to High Wycombe and I like it. I'm keeping an eye on the housing market and just waiting for the right property to come up.

I said it before and I'll say it again. The problem with High Wycombe is the schools. If you can get in to one of the good schools then fine. But, for instance, Booker is affordable but the school isn't great.

The grammar school system also causes problems. Fine if your child passes but if not then the catchment school is Cressex, again, not great at the moment.

I live 8 miles from HW and use it all the time but I wouldn't live there for that reason.

If you can afford it then choose Flackwell Heath or the like. 15 minutes to parked and on the train with a 25 minute train to Marylebone. Two good schools. Nice place.

High Wycombe and gentrified ain't ever gonna happen.

Google the following:

Child sexual exploitation - High Wycombe
Human trafficking - High Wycombe
Terrorism - High Wycombe

• not sure if this is reflective of the average situation in the average town.....

Somethingtodo are you trying to bring house prices down with those suggestions??!

Like anywhere, there are good and bad parts. If you've lived in greater London then High Wycombe is pretty similar, it just looks worse by being surrounded by Gerrards X, Beaconsfield, Marlow and all the smaller posh towns.

Some of the housing stock in the older parts of Wycombe are just lovely, Amersham Road and London Road have fabulous houses, it's just a shame that they are located on such busy routes - part of being a commuter town I suppose.