Opinion : Is this what you want see while doing your Christmas shopping?

Last Saturday my good self had the misfortune to find myself in Wycombe town centre.

After struggling to get a parking space yours truly made my way to the High Street. Of course this necessitated walking down White Hart Street, or ‘Tramp Alley’ as those of us who live in Wycombe call it.

Usually anyone walking in this part of town is serenaded by gentlemen of the road sitting on the pavement playing their harmonicas. Despite each musician playing a different tune the words of the song are always the same, namely ‘Can you spare some change guv’nor?‘.

With an influx of visitors to the town doing their Christmas shopping at this time of year you would have thought the town would want to put on a good impression wouldn’t you?

However what my good self saw last Saturday shocked even me.

There underneath the sign board outside the bank was an old, dirty duvet with other paraphernalia associated with sleeping rough. It seems a tramp had left their bedding behind.

‘How long has that load of rubbish been there?‘, I thought to myself.

‘Don’t we pay Council Tax to clear the streets of junk like this?‘, was my next thought.

‘Is this really what people visiting Wycombe to do their Christmas shopping want to see?‘, was my next thought.

It seems that rubbish collection in the town centre at weekends is so inefficient the tramps can leave their belongings and possessions beside the road while they nip off to do something else.

Is it any wonder shops are closing down? After all affluent shoppers are unlikely to come back if they are greeted with a tramps old bed plonked in the middle of the pavement.

Ironically the poster on the notice board above the discarded duvet had the headline ‘Don’t give change – support change‘. Considering the tramps can usually be found begging for money under the notice board the message seems a rather pointless one.

If Wycombe is to move forward and thrive economically then surely the town should be creating an environment where people can enjoy spending their hard earned money in a pleasurable way?

Sadly Wycombe seems to have decided to err on the side of the tramps who have free reign to eat, sleep, get drunk and cause trouble wherever they want in the town centre.

Some towns pay the rail fares for the tramps to get them to leave, as well as playing bagpipe music to drive the gentlemen of the road away.

Here in Wycombe the tramps have taken over and even leave their possessions on the pavement until they return.

Things are so bad in Wycombe now that even my good self is losing interest in the town centre shops. After all the tramps seem to have taken over….

What do you think?

Don’t forget my special Christmas Day blog will be published at 3.00pm on Monday 25th December 2017.

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

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