Value |
Scarborough |
High Wycombe |
Where? |
North Yorkshire |
Buckinghamshire, in south-east England |
History |
Middle Ages: royal castle on headland and natural harbour for trade. 6-week Scarborough Fair that ran for almost 500 years. 1627 - notable for medicinal spring water, which resulted in the Scarborough Spa, which attracted high-class Londoners, becoming the first seaside resort in Britain. 1640s - English Civil War devastated much of the town. 18-19th Century - health benefits of fresh sea air and sun bathing boosted its reputation as a spa town, with the accessibility augmented by the Scarborough-York railway. The influx of visitors caused the construction of the Grand Hotel, one of the largest hotels globally at the time. 20th Century - landslides caused part of Holbeck Hall Hotel and its gardens to fall into the sea in 1993, which made global headlines. |
Mediaeval-Tudor: mill town manufacturing lace and linene. 17-18th century: paper industry - Wye water rich in chalk for bleaching pulp. 19th century - furniture industry (particularly Windsor chairs) (1875 - 4,700 chairs made p.a.) Dominated socially and economically by the chair industry. 20th century: 1920s decay into slums 1930s slum clearance scheme initiated by councils, demolishing and rehousing areas (Newham declared unfit for human habitation - sewage system burst.) 1960s regeneration, two new shopping centres. Deinstrialisation caused severe umemployment and economic problems. |
Current population |
61,000 |
125,000 |
Modern |
Fishing industry still alive, but has severely declined Still a tourism destination, but has now become for cheap, short-stay visits Won Britain's Most Enterprising Town in 2008 due to growth of creative industries. |
Verco and Stewart Linford furniture manufacturers still do business; others have declined and shut down over time, such as Chippy Heath Buckinghamshire New University 2007 2008 Eden Centre completed 2007 GMB Union Survey - Wycombe district 4th dirtiest in South East and 26th in the UK. Castleford, Micklefield, Terriers and Totteridge have high levels of deprivation. 1992 - Wycombe Swan theatre opens |
Accessibility |
Car - A64 (connects to North and West Yorkshire, linking Leeds, York and Scarborough) A165 (links Scarborough Hull) and A170 and A171 which link it to other parts of North Yorkshire. Not on any motorways. Bus connections with local towns and cities (York, Leeds, Hull) Scarborough Railway Station runs services to York, Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool on the North TransPennine Express route. Air - Humberside airport is the nearest, though it is two hours drive away. |
Car - M40 connects London to Birmingham. Near to the M4 corridor, which is the preferred location for hi-tech industry in the UK. Bus services to Reading, Slough, Aylesbury, Heathrow Airport and Maidenhead. Rail - High Wycombe railway on the Chiltern Main Line (which connects to London Marylebone, Aylesbury, Oxford, Birmingham) Air - Heathrow airport is 4 minutes away. |
Regeneration |
Westborough Shopping Centre (South Bay)- Brunswick Shopping Centre acts as an anchor, using national popular shops (Topshop, Debenhams) to attract visitors to the area. Surrounding it, there is a Poundland and coffee shops like Costa at the top of the high street. Further down are more traditional seaside shops and pubs, which leads onto the seafront where there are souvenir shops and arcades. This offers many options for different types of visitors, however there is obvious decline with many shops closing down. Rotunda Musuem (SB) - one of the UK's oldest purpose-built museums still in use, displaying fossils found on East Yorkshire's Dinosaur Coast and Gristhorpe Man, the skeleton and coffin of a Bronze Age man. It underwent a multi-million pound development, reopening in 2008 to become a national centre for geology. Open Air Theatre (North Bay) - outdoor theatre built in 1932, and was recently restored and reopened by the Queen in 2010. The Futurist Theatre (SB) - closed in 2014 when the operator's lease expired and he was unable to keep the business open. The owner of Flamingo Land, which attracts over 1.5 million guests annually, plans to build a roller coaster, botanical gardens and 55 m lighthouse structure in its place called 'Flamingo Land Coast' to attract children and families. The Sands Apartments and Beach Huts (NB) - apartments on the seafront, behind the beach, combined with aesthetically pleasing colourful beach huts to encourage longer-stay visits. It capitalises on the sea view to attract tourists. Sea Life Centre and Alphamare Waterpark (NB) - attract children and families to the area, with the sea views and hotel nearby. Market Hall (SB) - recently undergone a £2.7 million refurbishment creating a fresh and modern market whilst still maintaining the authentic character and feel of a traditional market in an attractive, historic building. The refurbishment has added a gallery floor and food court with a choice of eateries along with a range of unique shops selling bespoke goods, handmade jewellery, art, cakes, honey and handmade soap. Provides a choice of butchers and greengrocers, a delicatessen as well as men, women's and children's clothing. Casual Trader Stalls sells a variety of products (jewellery, slate art, crocheted blankets and art photography.) |
Ruskin River Homes Development - original Victorian factory has been rebuilt as 12 contemporary 2 bedroom apartments. Leigh Street - earmarked for development to create a 'thriving and vibrant new business and residential community'. It was awarded planning consent by Wycombe District Council in October 2017. Eden Centre - multi-million pound programme of investment that opened in March 2008 to transform the town with a shopping and entertainment complex and a new multi-storey car park built to connect with the existing Newlands Car Park and the refurbished old part. The new bus station was built alongside the shopping centre, with direct access to shops from the bus station. The local newspaper, the Bucks Free Press, received many complaints about the design of the shopping centre, especially about how there is not a proper roof, resulting in the centre being compared to a 'wind tunnel'. In addition, it has deprived the shops on the high street, which is now dominated by charity shops and banks. Shops like M&S moved from the high street to the centre. This is growing into a zone of assimilation, whilst the high street is becoming a zone of discard. The Chiltern shopping centre has also declined, with only Wilko, Primark and Cats' Protection left, the other shops and post office having closed. Primark - the Irish clothing and accessories company replaced the M&S in 2008, which is viewed as an anchor shop that helped attract and draw shoppers into the area. This has not helped the spiral of decline of the high street and Frogmore. Wycombe Leisure Centre - the leisure facility includes a gym, sports hall, swimming pool, squash courts, classes, swimming lessons, indoor climbing wall, with a Waitrose next door. This has allowing the companies to draw visitors from one another and lead to the success of both. |
Education |
There are 4 main secondary schools, (2 inadequate, 2 good) and a campus of Coventry University. |
In Buckinghamshire which still has the selective education system, allowing children who pass the 11+ into a Grammar School. There are 16 Primary schools, 6 secondary schools of which 3 is rated outstanding and 3 good. There are also 4 independent schools, including Wycombe Abbey, one of the best in the country. There is also a college and Buckinghamshire New University. |
Image |
The Holbeck Hall landslide was globally broadcast, giving the town a bad reputation. There is the obvious spiral of decline with unemployment rates and shops closing has damaged the original appeal of the town. It is now seen as a cheap-short stay alternative for lower-income families, with few employment opportunities for working aged people and very little appeal for retired people due to its limited accessibility. It is plagued by crime and drug abuse, with violent crime in Yorkshire recently hitting a 10 year high after rising by 29%. There were 769 crimes in March 2018. |
Surveys indicate that people visit for shopping activities, and believe that there needs to be regeneration. Primrose Hill is the neighbourhood joint 3th most likely to be burgled in England and Wales. It made national headlines after a nurse was killed in an acid attack in April 2018. There were There were 1362 crimes in the area in March 2018. The many broadcasted attacks and violence have created a bad image for the town, making it seem dangerous for young people. This can discourage visitors, especially families. However the regeneration attempts and new shopping centre has attempted to combat this. |