Recently updated…..
When looking at this question it is really important to realise that Slough has a really strong International reputation. After all when you look at the number of Head Offices in Slough it is easy to see that many massive companies have invested extensively in the town (city of Slough).
This question came up in a meeting recently when representatives from the Slough Council, local developers and Segro (the Slough Trading Estate owners) attended. The question was put to the panel from someone who had recently moved into Slough to work. They remembered the poem by Sir John Betjeman CBE and the Office by Ricky Gervais, neither of which give Slough a good name. But when we started to discuss this in just a little more detail we realise that to the young and upcoming (Millennials) they don’t really know much about these two individuals and even if they do they are fairly unaware of what they have said about Slough. So how can this outdated reputation continue to be a Nationally recognised thing?
I think it is very much in part due to the National Press who love to keep this story going. Is it a press obsession to bash Slough? An easy target perhaps?
What the press like to forget is the recent news on Slough being a great place to live and work. This is what the younger generation see and what we locals should be promoting. It really is time we all took our role in this and helped to show what a great place Slough really is!
2020 update
Slough is going into the consultation stages for the new shopping centre where they intend to combine the two existing shopping centres into one, adding some office space, housing and green open spaces. The first phase of this consultation is getting public ideas on what the outline proposals are.
From what I have seen it is moving in the right direction with emphasis on the different areas that will engage the young in Slough as well as trying to make it future proof. What really needs to happen is to get something moving as fast as possible!