Inside the town that keeps being named the ugliest in the UK

Slough is often named the ugliest municipality successful the UK (Image: Jonathan Buckmaster)

Berkshire is known for its stunning countryside, idyllic villages, awesome royal residences... and Slough, the ugliest municipality successful the UK.

Or astatine slightest that's according to the Telegraph, which precocious published a database of towns they judge to beryllium ugliest, with Slough being fig 1, followed by Telford successful Shropshire.

It's not the archetypal clip Slough has been crowned the "ugliest" municipality successful Britain, pursuing a important diminution implicit the past 10 years. Residents accidental it has go a hub of “vacant properties, chickenhearted shops and lb shops” arsenic the assembly failed to put successful the municipality centre.

This unflattering moniker stems mostly from lingering stereotypes and media portrayals, astir notably successful Ricky Gervais's The Office.

The fig of bare properties successful the municipality centre of Slough has much than doubled successful a decade, information from consultancy JDM Retail shows.

With betting shops, currency converters, pawn shops and vape shops among the stores dominating the section streets, the opposition betwixt Slough and its neighbouring municipality of Windsor is stark.

"Slough is the butt of a batch of jokes astir crap towns and boring places," Reddit idiosyncratic Train-ing Day wrote. "The municipality centre is much oregon little a concern parkland with the astir disturbingly ample Tesco arsenic soon arsenic you travel retired the station.

"Made celebrated by Betjeman’s poem that opens with the enactment ‘Come, affable bombs, and autumn connected Slough!’ and for being the soulless mounting of the UK office. Ironically conscionable crossed the M4 is Eton and Windsor, contrastingly considered immoderate of the poshest places successful the country."

But beneath the aboveground lies a municipality of affluent history, divers culture, and a singular capableness for reinvention.

While the Slough Trading Estate has been slammed by locals and visitors alike owed to its Brutalist architecture, it holds a captious relation successful the town's development.

It is successful information the UK’s largest trading property successful azygous ownership, which has continuously adapted to shifting concern landscapes.

Managed by SEGRO, the property has been a cornerstone of the section economy, providing jobs and opportunities for generations.

Its expansive web of businesses and warehouses spans implicit 250 acres and remains a cardinal operator of Slough’s economical prosperity.

Dexter Smith, the town's assembly leader, recalls however the estate’s value grew done the decades.

“The trading property began successful the 1920s, astatine a clip erstwhile Slough was transitioning from a tiny marketplace municipality to an concern hub,” helium explains.

It was initially established to accommodate a assortment of industries, peculiarly during the interwar play erstwhile the town's system was diversifying.

At this time, it welcomed workers from Wales, galore of whom had been displaced by the diminution of the ember mining industry.

This influx of workers marked the opening of Slough's displacement from agriculture to industrialization.

During the Second World War, the property played a pivotal relation successful Britain’s wartime economy.

Factories connected the property produced captious wartime supplies, including craft and munitions, contributing importantly to the warfare effort.

This laid the instauration for Slough's estimation arsenic a tract of concern productivity and innovation.

After the war, the municipality continued to pull big-name companies, and the property expanded further, supporting divers industries specified arsenic manufacturing, electronics, and logistics.

Slough's trading property is the largest concern property successful azygous backstage ownership successful Europe (Image: Lewis Clarke)

By the 1980s and 1990s, arsenic accepted manufacturing industries began to diminution crossed the UK, Slough’s system erstwhile again evolved, embracing caller sectors specified arsenic exertion and distribution.

Today, the Slough Trading Estate hosts a wide scope of industries, including aviation, logistics, high-tech manufacturing, and cutting-edge tech firms.

The estate's adaptability ensured that Slough remained applicable arsenic an employment hub, portion its proximity to London made it an charismatic determination for businesses seeking to link with planetary markets.

As businesses proceed to innovate, the property has besides embraced modern commercialized existent property trends, with redevelopment projects and high-quality bureau spaces catering to the increasing request for technology-driven industries.

The slope subdivision is astatine 123 High Street (Image: Jaggery)

After racking up a staggering £670million of debt, Slough Borough Council efficaciously declared bankruptcy successful 2021. The Labour-run assembly was recovered to person engaged successful “several years of mismanagement” which led to the authorities intervening and drafting a rescue plan.

Cuts were past made to areas crossed the municipality with spot assets offloaded and playgrounds disappearing.

The Conservatives person since taken implicit power of the municipality and anticipation to rise wealth by imposing caller velocity limits and parking.

Mr Smith says the caller changes volition guarantee the municipality tin go self-sufficient implicit the adjacent 2 years.

While Slough is chiefly known arsenic a working-class municipality owed to its economical focus, it has a scope of affluent pockets that opposition with its concern core.

As Beresford, a erstwhile resident, explains, determination are areas specified arsenic Stoke Poges and Eton, conscionable a stone’s propulsion from Slough, that connection a glimpse into a different, much affluent lifestyle.

“You tin locomotion a mile and find yourself successful places wherever nationalist schoolhouse boys live, oregon successful areas similar Eton, wherever the different fractional reside,” Beresford says.

This proximity to wealthiness highlights an intriguing juxtaposition betwixt the gritty, industrious quality of Slough and the much upscale areas nearby, offering an accidental for upward mobility for those who take to settee determination long-term.

The photography writer besides speaks of Slough’s resilience successful the look of socio-economic challenges: "If you enactment hard successful Slough, you tin determination to these areas that were traditionally reserved for the wealthy," helium notes.

The mean play wage successful Slough is £606, which is supra the UK average. (Image: Doyle of London)

In caller years, Slough has undergone important transformation, overmuch of it aimed astatine embracing its vibrant, multicultural identity.

The town’s nutrient country is simply a premier illustration of this, with its bustling array of cuisines reflective of the divers communities that telephone it home.

“The regeneration of Slough should beryllium based connected this bustle of cuisines,” says Mr Smith.

The redevelopment of the iconic Horlicks mill into modern flats, known arsenic the Horlicks Quarter, showcases however Slough balances its humanities practice with modern demands.

Nearby, the recently refurbished Adelphi Theatre—a venue wherever legends similar The Beatles and Rolling Stones erstwhile performed—adds a interaction of nostalgia and taste prestige to the town.

New houses are connected the emergence successful Slough - Are you acceptable to springiness the municipality a chance? (Image: Getty)

For residents similar Ruchira Ankireddy, a 22-year-old caller graduate, Slough is much than the caricature often depicted successful the media.

"Living present has its ups and downs, but it’s a spot wherever you tin find your footing," she shares. "The diverseness is incredible, and it’s ever changing for the better."

Ruchira moved to Slough successful 2007, having antecedently lived successful India and the United States.

With 17 years spent successful the town, she has seen firsthand however Slough’s multicultural quality and dynamic assemblage marque it unique.

“Slough is similar a location distant from location for galore immigrants,” she says, reflecting connected however her ain acquisition has shaped her presumption of the town.

Growing up successful Slough, she fondly remembers going to the section Polish bakery and visiting overseas supermarkets with her mother, wherever they could find caller ingredients from India. For families caller to the UK, places similar this connection a consciousness of comfortableness and transportation to their heritage.

Ruchira, who studied PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) astatine the University of Warwick and present works arsenic a consultant, describes the municipality arsenic a spot of evolution—constantly reinventing itself portion staying rooted successful its taste richness.

"I deliberation it's a municipality that's truly peculiar successful however it blends antithetic cultures. Whether it’s done the nutrient oregon events, it has a vibrancy that makes it consciousness alive."

The legendary British band, The Beatles, began their archetypal British circuit successful Slough successful 1963. (Image: Getty)

Slough’s detractors mightiness constituent to its factual precocious streets oregon concern roots, but whether it’s the hidden humanities gems, the multicultural vibrancy, oregon its economical backbone, Slough offers much than meets the eye.

Mr Smith says: “Slough is perpetually evolving and has immoderate precise bully features. People should travel and justice it for themselves.”