Opinions on Banbury please?

[Leafy2018]

We went for a look around Banbury and surrounding villages today. I felt it was neither awful nor really lovely. Some nice bits, some grottier bits, good facilities and clearly growing and being invested in (sports centre, regeneration by canal etc) It's very well connected train wise. I love the surrounding countryside - we are keen walkers.

What are people's opinions? We would want to get our children into The Warriner School so would probably have to live just outside to be in catchment.

Thank you!

Kings Sutton is a nice village with a train station which could help with commute.

It's Northamptonshire and catchment is Chenderit school (similar to Warriner).

Live in a surrounding village, as we wanted to be within 15 mins of Banbury. Like shopping there, castle quay and the retail parks have my simple fashion needs covered! All the supermarkets except asda and lidl. Lots of local events on like Canal Day, Banbury and district show. If you have a toddler there's Baby bounce (effectively soft play) for up to 5 years old at Spiceball, it's cheap and cheerful. Also Rugrats which is a big soft play centre. Lots of nice toddler groups in surrounding areas.

I'm not actually Caucasian British and I have never experienced racism or such like in Banbury. Yes it may be pro-Brexit but I find people friendly, warm and it's a positive place to be. All towns have grotty areas.

Do your research on warriner. My children arent secondary school aged but I've heard it has become enormous, not sure if that's affected standards.

Feel free to PM me if you need any more info!

Moved to a village just outside Banbury from London a couple of years back and am glad we did. Brexity locals...well you get that anywhere. Vote was pretty close here so you can work it out from that.

Have found it to be a reasonably friendly small town that's good for everyday shopping, with enough to do and good rail links to Birmingham and London for the things that small towns don't offer.
There are thriving independent shops, a disproportionate number of bookshops for a town of its size (including two charity bookshops). More diverse than some small towns too, which I like. Don't know if you moved here or not, but be interested to know how you found it.