Britain’s ‘ugliest town’ once had a thriving high street before it became filled with ‘drug dealers, prostitutes and sometimes human poo’, fed-up locals have revealed.
Over the past decade, more and more shops in Slough have become boarded up, with it slowly turning into a ‘ghost town’ as figures released this week reveal one in five units now vacant.
The depressing shopping scene has forced many locals from the Berkshire town to turn their back on the once beloved high street – instead, opting to carry out errands in nearby leafy Windsor, Uxbridge or even making a two-hour drive to Stratford.
And while it is a well-known fact that high streets up and down Britain are struggling to compete with the onslaught of online shops, Slough’s high street has become particularly neglected with some locals claiming it’s ‘impossible to buy a pair of work trousers’.
The town, which shares a postcode with regal Windsor has long been the butt of jokes.
Shortly before the blitz of World War II the former poet laureate Sir John Betjeman wrote a verse about it which began: ‘Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough! It isn’t fit for humans now, there isn’t grass to graze a cow.’
Later Ricky Gervais set his bleak breakthrough sitcom The Office in the town – and then had his character David Brent write a song about Slough, which began: ‘More convenient than a Tesco Express/Close to Windsor but the property’s less. It keeps the businesses of Britain great/It’s got Europe’s biggest trading estate.’
Sandra Edwards, 64, who now lives in Windsor, told MailOnline: ‘It’s a ghost town. It has died a death. It used to be absolutely amazing; it used to have an outdoor market, it used to have a club where everyone would come dancing – even celebrities.
‘Now there is nothing here. It just smells of drugs. You have to watch your purse, your bags. There is a lot of shoplifting here – you see people running out the shops, but the staff can’t do anything about it.
‘I could cry, I’ve got really good memories of the town but it is so different now. Where has this wonderful town gone?’
Colin White, a real estate agent in the area added: ‘It has all got a bit rubbish. It seems to attract a lot of crackheads and druggies, prostitutes, things like that.
The depressing shopping scene has forced many locals from the Berkshire town to turn their back on the once beloved high street
While it is a well-known fact that high streets up and down Britain are struggling to compete with the onslaught of online shops, Slough’s high street has become particularly neglected with some locals claiming it’s ‘impossible to buy a pair of work trousers’
Sandra Edwards, 64, who now lives in Windsor, told MailOnline: ‘It’s a ghost town. It has died a death. It used to be absolutely amazing; it used to have an outdoor market, it used to have a club where everyone would come dancing – even celebrities’
‘You can’t buy a pair of work trousers here, so we go to Uxbridge or Bracknell or Reading to do our shopping.
‘I don’t think the blame can lie with online shopping because it works for other high streets and sectors elsewhere. And it is very easy to blame the council, but they say they are bankrupt, so I don’t know what the solution is.’
According to data from JDM Retail, over the past decade Slough has seen a serious decline with 20 per cent of shops units being vacant – higher than the national average of 14 per cent.
Years ago, Slough’s high street was filled with well-known chains from Debenhams to British Home Stores as well as M&S and Next.
Now, those household names have departed and what’s left are dozens of small cafes and eateries, lots of pound-shops and countless numbers of mobile phone repair stores.
The cinema in the town has closed and the Queensmere Observatory shopping centres are set to be demolished and replaced with new homes, offices and some shops.
Postie Carol Clowes, who grew up in Slough and still works here each day said: ‘It’s terrible. There are no shops you can actually shop in, drug dealers, I stepped in human poo earlier.
‘I grew up in Slough and in the 1970s, 80s, 90s, it was a fantastic town. People used to come from miles to shop here but not now.
Colin White, a real estate agent in the area said: ‘It has all got a bit rubbish. It seems to attract a lot of crackheads and druggies, prostitutes, things like that’
‘They had everything: Woolworths, British Home Stores, all proper shops but now you can’t buy any clothes here.’
Clifford Hutton, 84, who moved to Slough when he was just one year old in 1937 added: ‘Slough in the 50s and 60s used to be a decent shopping area. All the Teddy boys used to gather in the cafeteria down the road, we used to have suit shops and all that.
‘At that time it was well worth coming to Slough no matter where you lived. They would even come in from London. The old Slough was pretty good where you could go anywhere and talk to anybody but now you can’t.
‘Now it is rubbish, absolutely rubbish and diabolical. Unlike in my day, teenagers have nowhere to go so they are just hanging out on the streets.’
The picture in Slough is starkly different from two miles down the road on Windsor high street, which is located next to the Royal Family’s Berkshire residence.
According to data from JDM Retail, first reported by the Telegraph, unlike Slough, the number of vacant shops in Windsor is above the national average, with just seven per cent of the units lying vacant.
Only 6.5 per cent of shops in Windsor are counted as ‘undesirable’ – once again lower than the national average of 9.3 per cent and much lower than Slough’s at 14 per cent.
Examples of such undesirable shops include cash convertors, vape shops and betting shops. Unsurprisingly, all of these types of retail make an appearance in Slough.
Clifford Hutton, 84, who moved to Slough when he was just one year old in 1937 said: ‘Slough in the 50s and 60s used to be a decent shopping area. All the Teddy boys used to gather in the cafeteria down the road, we used to have suit shops and all that’
Only 6.5 per cent of shops in Windsor are counted as ‘undesirable’ – once again lower than the national average of 9.3 per cent and much lower than Slough’s at 14 per cent
Over the past decade, more and more shops in Slough have become boarded up, with it slowly turning into a ‘ghost town’
The cinema in the town has closed and the Queensmere Observatory shopping centres are set to be demolished and replaced with new homes, offices and some shops
Jonathan de Mello, chief of JDM retail explained: ‘Despite a less than 10-minute drive between them, Windsor’s high street is attractive and has high visitation rates from residents as well as tourists.
‘Where high streets all over the country have changed – generally for the worse – Windsor has stayed remarkably consistent. In contrast, Slough has struggled with a loss of occupiers across the board.’
Ms Edwards added: ‘Everyone says the best places to live are places like Windsor and the worst places to live are here [in Slough].
‘At one point, the stars used to come and perform here. The Beatles played in the bingo hall and Jimmy Hendrix also played a gig.
‘Now you have a lot of alcoholics and homeless people coming up begging for change. There are so many professional criminals who knock you and the next minute your phone is gone.’
An elderly woman, who asked to remain anonymous added: ‘I have lived here since 1968 and you used to be able to get everything here.
‘It was lovely here and I am very sorry to say that it has gone downhill. It was a lovely place to shop, it had cafes, restaurants, Woolworths, all the big high street brands.
‘And that’s what we have lost because people either shop on the internet or can get everything in a supermarket. It is a shame. In a way, and I am ashamed to say this, you don’t need the individual shops anymore, as long as you have supermarkets.’
Household names have departed and what’s left are dozens of small cafes and eateries, lots of pound-shops and countless numbers of mobile phone repair stores
Locals have questioned whether the local authority could have done more to save the town’s high street before it was too late
To make matters in the town worse, Slough’s council declared itself bankrupt in 2021, racking up debt of £760million.
An independent review later found the then Labour-run council had made the blackhole through ‘several years of mismanagement of funds’.
It has meant the now Conservative-run council is looking at further budget cuts which could affect local services.
Despite this, locals have questioned whether the local authority could have done more to save the town’s high street before it was too late.
Alexandra McKinnon, 74, added: ‘The council have gone bankrupt and they do what they can do but they have taken the heart of Slough away to retail parks, moving the shops there, and the community has gone with it.
‘Now there is nothing here, it is dead and it’s just going to continue to go downhill fast. This place used to be bustling and look at it now.
‘Nothing comes back here. The only thing that opens is a chicken shop, a kebab shop.
To make matters in the town worse, Slough’s council declared itself bankrupt in 2021, racking up debt of £760million
The now Conservative-run council is looking at further budget cuts which could affect local services after the then-Labour-run council left a blackhole in finances
‘It is not as nice as it was years ago’, another woman added. ‘The whole country are losing their high streets so I can’t blame the council, but it would help if we had more money.’
Sinead, who works with Colin in real estate added: ‘The shops that we have here don’t attract a particular clientele, they just attract people who want to pop in and do some bits. You’ve mostly got pound shops, pop-up shops and food shops.
‘If they [the council] invested in the town centre itself and you get the right shops here it would help attract the right people.’
