Opinion : Church Street stabbing marks a new low point in the history of High Wycombe

The awful news that a man was murdered in Church Street last weekend was a shock to me, however it came as no surprise.

What has our town come to? A man killed so close to the Parish Church in the shadow of the house of God.

And what’s more it’s just a few feet from the bench (pictured above) where my good self sits to eat my sandwiches at lunchtime.

Now, I don’t want to dwell on the particulars surrounding the incident of the poor man who lost his life last Saturday, lets leave that to the police.

However I feel something needs to be done to reclaim the town centre for the respectable people in the evenings.

Sadly, these days there appears to be an undercurrent of crime and violence in the historic market town of High Wycombe. Indeed just three weekends ago four people were assaulted outside a fast food restaurant in the High Street.

Add to that all the other trouble that take place in the town namely the drunks who are left to do what they will unchecked and the prostitutes in Desborough Road and one is hardly likely to look forward to spending a nice Saturday evening out in the town centre.

A while back Wycombe was awarded a ‘purple flag’ for standards of excellence in managing the evening and night-time economy. If you ask me it would be more appropriate to take down the purple flag on the Guild Hall and hoist up a Jolly Roger.

Even at lunchtime there are youngsters on skate boards and bicycles causing havoc to innocent passers by. Only the other day yours truly nearly came a cropper when a youngster doing a wheelie on a bicycle almost ran into me.

The vast majority of people, like my good self, prefer to stay indoors during the evenings at weekends rather than spend their hard earned money in the town centre.

I think it’s about time something was done to clean up the town so the respectable people with families can partake in an evening out.

So what needs to be done? What is dragging the town down?

Well, there are far too many public houses in the town centre selling the liquid of Lucifer. Then of course there are the fast food restaurants and burger trailers that infiltrate the town after dusk, many of which are rated as ‘Major Improvement Necessary’ on the Food Standards Agency website.

I fear drastic action needs to be taken to reclaim our town centre.

Cut the number of pubs, flood the town centre with police, close the food outlets that have poor hygiene standards and then perhaps the trouble makers will go away so the decent people, who incidentally are the ones with the money that can bolster the town’s economy, will return.

Perhaps there could even be some summer evening concerts organised on Frogmoor. Yes, install a stage and lets have some plays by Shakespeare, music concerts or poetry recitals.

I wonder how many more people will be assaulted or lose their lives before action is taken to clean up Wycombe and force the troublemakers away?

What do you think?

*My blogs are published every Tuesday and Friday evening around 8.00pm here on the WycombeToday.com website.

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