'Slough of despair': UK techies go to town on 'IT heartland'

The UK IT sector has hit out at Slough - the oft-criticised Berkshire town at the very heart of the M4 corridor, along which many of the country's leading technology companies are based.

While the town was perhaps onto a loser from the moment it was named (Slough: meaning swamp, mire or depression) it did enjoy a change of fortune during the seventies, eighties and nineties as high-tech investment in Berkshire, largely around Newbury and Reading encompassed Slough in a property boom.

And now Slough is home to Acer, Amazon, Computer Associates, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Motorola, Network Associates, and Sun Microsystems to name just a few of the hundreds of high-tech firms boasting an SL postcode.

But it appears the UK IT sector is now tiring of its image crisis and its association with the Thames-side town, which has been lambasted by all and sundry - from poet John Betjeman to BBC comedy series The Office.

To gauge the extent of this disenfranchisement, in last week's Weekly Round-Up silicon.com asked the question 'what's so wrong with Slough?'

silicon.com reader Michael Johnson replied, simply "everything".

"I work there and can't stand the place. In fact I do everything in my power to stay away from it. It's grey and miserable," he added.

Another reader, Rob Nolan, even chose to re-word the question. "How about what's right with Slough?" he asked.

But struggling to find anything of note, he went on to recount "the ongoing need to look over your shoulder when walking to your car, for fear of attack" as just one instance of the crime problem within the town. He also cited the mix of "sewage wafts" and "sickly smells from the Mars factory" which make the Slough air "a pleasure" to take in.

In fact a high level of crime, and poor personal safety was something which many respondents brought up. According to police figures for 2001/2002, car crime in Slough was almost double the national average with 9.3 car thefts per 1,000 population compared to a national average of 5.0.

The figures for car crime may be boosted by the experiences of one man alone. silicon.com reader Simon Brown appears to have had a particularly bad run of luck - so much so he is leaving the town altogether.

"I'm moving out of Slough. I've had enough of being a victim of crime. Three break-ins, one car stolen, two cars broken into. All in four years."

The figure for burglaries paints a very bleak image with 3.5 per 1,000 - more than double the national average of 1.5.

However, not all voices were dissenting. Pritam Chakravorti made a virtue of the town's undoubted business credentials.

He told us: "As a resident of Slough for over 25 years, I can confirm to you that there is nothing wrong with Slough, known as an industrial town boasting the biggest trading estate in Europe and also rated as the Entrepreneurial Capital of the UK."

Others also cited the town's proximity to Heathrow Airport as a definite bonus - though some admitted this was merely because it enables a quick getaway, with others echoing this sentiment, saying Slough looks best when seen in a rear view mirror.

But surely Slough isn't all bad... is it? Hundreds of technology firms can't be wrong...

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