Slough….Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!

Not every town achieves fame by being thought of as unlovely, but that is exactly the case with Slough, the Berkshire town, whose most famous landmark is probably ….a roundabout! To be precise, the Brunel Bridge roundabout, immortalised in the opening titles of ‘The Office’, the hugely popular TV comedy spoof documentary.

Of course the negative perception of Slough didn’t start there. John Betjeman really got the ball rolling with his famous ode to the town, straightforwardly entitled ‘Slough’ …. The first line gives you a clear idea as to the poet’s opinion.
Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!

So is all this fair? How unlovely is Slough really? Well, to redress the balance here is a more positive view of the town.

Slough, since the twenties has been a significant business centre in the South East of England. Its excellent rail and road links to London and close proximity to Heathrow Airport has meant that it has always been viewed as a great place to locate or re-locate a factory or head office. Literally hundreds of major companies from all over the world have sited their factories or offices in Slough, mostly within the famous Slough Trading Estate, whose origin dates back to the twenties.

Posted by Max Loach on Aug 24 2010. Filed under Explore the UK. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry