Opinion : After 6 years Wycombe is still a town divided
Friday was a lovely autumn day indeed I could not wait to get out in the fresh air at lunchtime and eat my sandwiches.
As yours truly walked down the High Street the market was in full swing.
Traders were busy plying their goods to passers by from tarpaulin covered stalls and everyone was happy. You can get so many things from Wycombe market including copies of The Big Issue from the homeless people who sit beside the pavement.
As I strolled down the High Street the occasional ‘freeman of Wycombe’ (as we refer to them in Wycombe or tramp as most people call them) staggered by me carrying a tin of beer in their hand.
After eating my sandwiches on a bench in the grounds of the Parish Church I made my way around to Frogmoor.
The filled in remains of the defunct fountain are still visible, pigeons were walking around on the ground and people were passing through as quickly as they could in order to leave the concrete wasteland as fast as possible and find nicer surroundings.
Then I made my way towards the new shopping complex. When I say ‘new’ shopping complex we must remember that it’s six years old now so it’s not really ‘new’ any more however it’s the newest part of Wycombe town centre.
In the complex smart fashionable people were walking around in their designer clothes going from shop to shop in their quest to purchase even more designer clothes. Expensive jewellery was being displayed in shop windows all ready for the trendy ones to buy. As the shoppers mingled private security guards were watching over just to make sure everything went to plan.
What a contrast it is in the shopping complex to the High Street. You can’t purchase a copy of The Big Issue in the complex just as you can’t buy a £3,000 diamond ring in the High Street.
Wycombe is most definitely still a town of two halves. The new half is modern, posh and trendy while the High Street area is old and forgotten.
When the shopping complex opened six years ago our town was divided and sadly nothing has been done to bring the two halves together again. This I find a real shame.
Sadly there are still many empty shops in the old part of town. Vacated by retailers who abandoned the historic town centre in favour of the bright lights of the new part of town, the empty and derelict shops have become a symbol of the stagnation that has gripped the old part of Wycombe in recent years.
Still to this very day the magnificent old Library building in Queen Victoria Road is empty. With paint peeling from the window frames the building has literally been left to rot.
Isn’t is about time the two halves of Wycombe were united and our town became one again?
What do you think?
*My next blog will be published on Tuesday evening around 8pm here on the WycombeToday.com website.
sad but true.
would like to know more about the freemen of Wycombe. maybe you could write a blog to tell us all about them?
Re the comments of Carfax at 11:38pm on October 31, 2014
Indeed I fear it is very sad that Wycombe has been divided in such a terrible way. What’s even worse is that six years after things went so terribly wrong many of the problems still exist.
Thank you for your suggestion for a future blog, I will endeavour to write a blog on the subject.