It’s hard not to feel for the good folk of Slough. For a long time the town has been inextricably linked in the minds of most Brits with one of the most famous poems in the British language.

Call me ignorant or a foolhardy romantic but when I think of poetry I usually think of quaint conceits and flowery language but late poet laureate Sir John Betjeman certainly didn’t have these things in mind when he composed his ode to the town.

His poem begins, “Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!/ It isn't fit for humans now,/ There isn't grass to graze a cow./ Swarm over, Death!”


Oh well, at least there’s a reference in Shakespeare to cheer the town up – or not, with it’s single reference describing it as a “mire”. Not quite like being compared to a summer’s day that.

And things have hardly got better recently with the release of a study which shows Slough to be in the bottom five of the list of the UK’s car friendliest towns.

And there is bad news cheap car insurance hopefuls in the town. The same survey revealed that Slough was also in the bottom five for vehicle theft.

But before I drop another news bomb on the town, I think I should let it speak for itself.

A local councilor comments, "It is a shame a survey like this concentrates only on issues which involve the expenses incurred by car drivers rather than the whole experience of driving.

"In Slough we have invested time and money in our road network ensuring the road surface is of a high quality, potholes are filled quickly and our roads are safer for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists."

Labels: cheap car insurance, potholes, road network