So, Is Bracknell Hell's Kitchen?

BrianH

BrianH

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I was reading something in one of the Sundays and when the author of the piece was writing about his early life he wrote:

"When asked where I lived, I replied 'near Windsor' if I wanted to sound posh or 'Bracknell' if I wanted to sound hard."

Bracknell? Hardly the East End, the Gorbals, Moss Side or Liverpool 8, is it?
 
I don't think you would want to buy a house there Brian, even if it is only a few minutes drive from Ascot!
 
Was it always a hard place? Would it be behind Oscar Wilde's choice of Lady Bracknell as the battleaxe in The Importance of Being Earnest?
 
Well, I've been to all the places mentioned above plus a few others including Harlem, South Central LA, Johannesburg and St Petersburg and I think that Bracknell is the one place where I wouldn't be unhappy walking alone at night...

theyareontome.gif
 
I took my three-year-old son to Bracknell to see them dump Basingstoke Town out of the FA Cup last season.

Having lived in London's East End for 18 years, I can't say I found the place particularly threatening, but then both me and my boy were ''well tooled up.'' :lol:
 
I like that emoticon thingy Brian........

My aunt lives somewhere near Bracknell - and says its not that bad..... ( probably explains a lot about my family though , that sentence!! :ph34r: )
 
Trudi, I currently live "near" Bracknell too which might explain a few things to a few people! :ph34r: :D
 
The Bronx!!!! where I live takes a lot of beating? (but no doubt equal to a lot more areas where you actually live by too?) But aint it the demise of most areas in the last 10 yrs or more?

You always had your rough areas IE. Tiger Bay, East end, Gorbles, Toxteth, St
Phillips (Bristol) but now these areas are being superseded or at least there equal? By other areas who are now taking over the mantle, through lack of Policing.

We now see this Labour government say they are going to do wonders in the next 6 months, What I would like to know what happened in the last 7 yrs while they have been in government then?............just a thought. :o
 
The novel solution to the problem in the Gorbals has thus far been to knock it down, rehousing the inhabitants in equally bad areas and redevelop on the lines of a "Riverside View" with hugely inflated house prices.

A more cynical person than me might say that if Easterhouse or Castlemilk or any of the other myriad of dodgy in this beautiful city had been located City Centre on the river, then it would have been these areas which were redeveloped. Rather more of a case of "how can we make more money" than "how can we make social conditions better".

Such a cynical person might also wonder about the involvement that Glasgow City Council had in such a development. Obviously I would never dream of thinking such a thing as I have 100% faith in the integrity of our Socialist council.
 
Brian, you expect me to know Bracknell is a 'new town'? You reckon I care that much about the saaf?

Anyway, I thought new town names were based on older names?

So it's possible the new town was named after the Wilde character and was expected to be a hard place?
 
When I were a lad, I played in the Bracknell & Dist Sunday Football League for a team in Thorpe (nice area). The away games were least looked forward too were in the Great Hollands (Council) Estate in Bracknell.

Allegedly the Tories moved a load of ne'er-do-well's there from the London area in the 70's to try and win the seat, and they are a breed apart from the general populace of the area.

I'm sure Shadow Leader, wherever she may be these days, would have an even stronger view.
 
Cricketfan is right. There were evidently alot of London "characters" moved into Bracknell in the 70's (mainly from Souf London) and they turned parts of Bracknell (mainly the council estates) into, well let's say, not the most pleasant environment to raise ones kiddies or to walk your dog after 7pm.
My boyfriend started a company in Bracknell in the 80's and he was convinced that there was a lot of interbreeding amongst the locals - they just seemed to be a certain "type". He still thinks that about parts of Bracknell nearly 20 years later! :what:
 
While researching Bracknell I came across this from the 1901 census:

Berkshire Workhouses

Abingdon
Bradfield Workhouse
Faringdon
Hungerford
Reading
Wallingford
Wantage

Berkshire Workhouses and Poor Law Unions

The Poor Law Unions classified as being within Berkshire are Abingdon, Bradfield, Cookham, Easthampstead, Faringdon, Hungerford, Newbury, Reading, Wallingford, Wantage, Windsor and Wokingham.

Statistics

Summary of Results.
Workhouses.
Pauper inmates of Workhouse establishments in the Registration County number 902 persons of all ages, 550 Males and 352 Females.
These represent approximately 0.52% of the general population.
At advanced ages the proportion is far higher; at 55 years and upwards the % is 2.22% and at 65 years and upwards is 3.43%.

Prisons
Prisoners in the Female Convict Prison at Aylesbury number 121.

The Blind, Deaf and Dumb
The number of persons returned as Blind is 147, and of these 4 suffer from some other Infirmity also.

Deaf and Dumb persons including 16 returned simply as Dumb, number 96, and of these 9 suffer from some other Infirmity also.

Lunatics
Lunatics number 432, including 5 afflicted with some other Infirmity also; and the Imbecile and Feeble-minded 351, including 6 otherwise afflicted. The total of these classes is 783.

It may be noted that, of the 783 persons returned as mentally deranged, 544 were the inmates of institutions, including 492 in Public and Private Lunatic Asylums, 47 in Workhouses, and 5 in other Institutions, the remaining 239 were residing with relatives or in unlicensed houses.

Of the 47 mentally deranged persons enumerated in Workhouses, 1 was returned as a Lunatic and 46 as Imbecile, or Feeble-minded;
and of the 239 not enumerated in Institutions, 8 were returned as Lunatics and 231 as Imbecile or Feeble-minded.

Source: Statistics submitted by Alan Longbottom
From Census Statistical Volume 1901
County of Buckinghamshire in PP 1903 Vol LXXXV Cd 1,407

I wonder how many lunatics, feeble minded and mentally deranged there are today in the population?
 
It depends... Is the House of Windsor a public or a private lunatic asylum :what: ?

By the way, I love the caption to the second photo... "Old Bracknell consisted of little more than a few houses and shops before New Town status allowed it to expand virtually beyond recognition". It reminds me of the old newsreels.
 
Terry is on a narrow boat I believe.

If you think Bracknell is bad, try Chelmsley Wood in Birmingham.
 
It's not directly connected to Bracknell, but here's an update on one of the Work Houses mentioned by BrianH.

Bradfield Workhouse and grounds has now been turned into luxury housing. It was Wayland Hospital, a mental hospital, for many years before closing in the late 80s and being converted to housing, with the main facade being kept intact.

The road in which Bradfield Workhouse stood was caled Union Road, presumably a link to the aforementioned Poor Law Unions.

Rob
 
I'd re-phrase that as "over priced" housing rather than luxury......they don't have much to commend them, being bloody ugly & having tiny gardens & all over looking each other!!

& yes, Bracknell is a hole........
 
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