Wow, some memories. My family lived in the area for years. I went to the Royal Grammar School then Bucks college of Technology and Art. A group of friends used to go to the cafe on the top floor of Murrays. How it has changed since I moved to Devon in 1997.
I was stationed at USAF High Wycombe from 1967-1970 for those who don't know it was on Daws hill and is now an expensive housing estate. Great times once married we lived in Hughenden
I have lived around High Wycombe since I was six, I am now seventy two. Wycombe was a working town, principally driven by both furniture making and engineering. I would never pretend Wycombe was exactly beautiful, but it had both character and a soul, above all we felt at home in it. It has been destroyed by moronic councilors acting in concert with builders who have destroyed the very heart and soul of the town. I walked round the town center yesterday and was appalled at what has become of the place.I can think of no reason to visit the town center but for dental treatment.
That's a shame Chris. I was born here in 67. Shrubbery Road. I loved Wycombe up until about the 90s. Mum and dad moved to Tylers Green in 1959. Like you, but in my case I only visit for the bank and now I've gone online for that. Happy memories of the shops there in 70s and 80s.
I remember in 60's driving a London Country 441 bus on the way to Staines, stopped at the lights at the bottom os Marlow Hill when a loaded tipper with air brakes gone thundered across the front of the bus! If the lights had changed a few seconds earlier it would have gone right through the bus!
Oh! How I remember the runaway vehicles down Amersham hill. There was a tar tanker laden with hot tar that ran away and overturned on the X- roads. The tar spilled out al over the road and pavement, people were treading some of it into the shops, what a mess. Then another day I was walking over the railway bridge on the station side of the road, when a small sports car came down Amersham Hill out of control, horn blearing, on the wrong side of the road. The pavement was quite narrow there, it just missed me, continued down the hill, and hit another vehicle outside The Flint Cottage pub. The driver got out, he was covered in broken eggs, the back of the car had been stacked with trays of eggs ! Another right mess. Both of those probably in the 50s, well before the escape lane was built.
Good video thanks. I spent time in Wycombe in the early 90's. I'd come from the north, so to me it was so clean and pleasant.Yet the closer I looked, I saw the Swan Theater, the car parks and incongruous supermarkets. Could and should have been planned much better. As for the Bus Station?
Could easily have been titled A River Ran Through It. How different Wycombe could have been today if the stretch of the river through town had been maintained and enhanced. It might have been the Bourton on the Water of the Chilterns. It seems that from the post-war period to the present day this town has endured town planners who are as unimaginative as they are aloof to the needs of the town’s people. A case in point; Homebase on the London Rd will be another Lidl supermarket and not a walk-in doctor’s surgery which is what we need. It is a sorry story repeated countless times across our country. OUR country! What a laugh!
I only ever hear it if I'm in the Falcon having a coffee during the day, the olduns chatting and moaning like proper Wycombers do, most of my lot are gone now, miss being called "boy" , usually attached to end of most sentences.
@@lilbratleah A ya bein B? You can still hear proper Wycombe in The Falcon? You amaze me! Last time I was in Wycombe I don't recall hearing anyone speaking English, let alone with a Wycombe accent. It's just about clinging on in certain pubs in Downley, Naphill and West Wycombe.
@@ullscarf yeh I know what you mean, quite a few of my older family members came from the outlying villages and some are still there in Naphill and Lane End , agreed you'd have to go out of Wycombe to hear any proper Bucks , all the Uni kids typically sound pretty generic , like yeh like, like like OMG 😆😆
Walking down to the Rye myself with a model sailing boat under my arm and 2 mates in tow an old lady leans over her gate and says. " Be you boys a boatin of" this was in 1949, have always remember that lovely observation and statement in her Wycombe accent, magic.
How many places share the story of High Wycombe? Our heritage flattened by the planner and the schemer. The word 'robbed' comes to mind when considering the loss of these great historical livelihoods.
I moved away in 1966 to the west country just as the world leaders decided that we must accept diversity to all and become third world citizens. It's a bit slower down here so I have about another 10 years left but I do worry about my children, grand children and great grand children in the melting pot.
Wycombe was such a lovely vibrant town a real sense of community it’s been torn to pieces and is now a very sad a place full of chicken shops
Gommes, Parker Knoll, Ercol, Brome & Wades, Harrisons 😢
Must be getting old I remember all of it, spooky I can telleport my mind back to those times
Wow, some memories. My family lived in the area for years. I went to the Royal Grammar School then Bucks college of Technology and Art. A group of friends used to go to the cafe on the top floor of Murrays. How it has changed since I moved to Devon in 1997.
Great memories of Murrays! With the moving clock and Father Christmas 😊
What a lovely film. I'm sad this has gone.😢
My dear nan and grandad had that same accent.
That accent brings back memories. I had an uncle with that accent. Good video.
It is shameful the way Wycombe has been ruined .😢
And after ruining a beautiful town the planners and council have now turned their attention to messing up the surrounding villages.
There’s still the Royal Grammar School. Been there for 108 years now, same building
Bucks college swan theatre
Cressex business park and the west Wycombe road
its not the same anymore
The Bucks accents are interesting.
I was stationed at USAF High Wycombe from 1967-1970 for those who don't know it was on Daws hill and is now an expensive housing estate. Great times once married we lived in Hughenden
🇬🇧🤝🇺🇸
My home town... Absolutly brilliant.
Those old accents of Wycombe make us sound like farmers, no one has that accent these days in Wycombe.
The accent you hear there is urban Wycombe. The farmers had a different accent and even Downley was different to Wycombe - more rural Bucks.
In 68 I lived at a house at 27 Priory Rd. Wonder if its still there.
Hey Mate, if you type the address into google, you can see the house is still there (on the corner of Priory Rd and Benjamin Rd).
I have lived around High Wycombe since I was six, I am now seventy two. Wycombe was a working town, principally driven by both furniture making and engineering. I would never pretend Wycombe was exactly beautiful, but it had both character and a soul, above all we felt at home in it. It has been destroyed by moronic councilors acting in concert with builders who have destroyed the very heart and soul of the town. I walked round the town center yesterday and was appalled at what has become of the place.I can think of no reason to visit the town center but for dental treatment.
That's a shame Chris. I was born here in 67. Shrubbery Road. I loved Wycombe up until about the 90s. Mum and dad moved to Tylers Green in 1959. Like you, but in my case I only visit for the bank and now I've gone online for that. Happy memories of the shops there in 70s and 80s.
Love it
NO DEVOCE KING
MR AKIF
AMI
Excellent stuff,interesting,informative and passionate
Wow history of my born town of high Wycombe, Buckinghamshire,England, UK
I remember in 60's driving a London Country 441 bus on the way to Staines, stopped at the lights at the bottom os Marlow Hill when a loaded tipper with air brakes gone thundered across the front of the bus! If the lights had changed a few seconds earlier it would have gone right through the bus!
Oh! How I remember the runaway vehicles down Amersham hill. There was a tar tanker laden with hot tar that ran away and overturned on the X- roads. The tar spilled out al over the road and pavement, people were treading some of it into the shops, what a mess. Then another day I was walking over the railway bridge on the station side of the road, when a small sports car came down Amersham Hill out of control, horn blearing, on the wrong side of the road. The pavement was quite narrow there, it just missed me, continued down the hill, and hit another vehicle outside The Flint Cottage pub. The driver got out, he was covered in broken eggs, the back of the car had been stacked with trays of eggs ! Another right mess. Both of those probably in the 50s, well before the escape lane was built.
What a lovely little film 😌
Thank you for this! An amazing oral history of an important town.
Good video thanks. I spent time in Wycombe in the early 90's. I'd come from the north, so to me it was so clean and pleasant.Yet the closer I looked, I saw the Swan Theater, the car parks and incongruous supermarkets. Could and should have been planned much better. As for the Bus Station?
Could easily have been titled A River Ran Through It. How different Wycombe could have been today if the stretch of the river through town had been maintained and enhanced. It might have been the Bourton on the Water of the Chilterns. It seems that from the post-war period to the present day this town has endured town planners who are as unimaginative as they are aloof to the needs of the town’s people. A case in point; Homebase on the London Rd will be another Lidl supermarket and not a walk-in doctor’s surgery which is what we need. It is a sorry story repeated countless times across our country. OUR country! What a laugh!
Good to hear the proper Wycombe accent - just the way I remembers it.
I only ever hear it if I'm in the Falcon having a coffee during the day, the olduns chatting and moaning like proper Wycombers do, most of my lot are gone now, miss being called "boy" , usually attached to end of most sentences.
@@lilbratleah A ya bein B? You can still hear proper Wycombe in The Falcon? You amaze me! Last time I was in Wycombe I don't recall hearing anyone speaking English, let alone with a Wycombe accent. It's just about clinging on in certain pubs in Downley, Naphill and West Wycombe.
@@ullscarf yeh I know what you mean, quite a few of my older family members came from the outlying villages and some are still there in Naphill and Lane End , agreed you'd have to go out of Wycombe to hear any proper Bucks , all the Uni kids typically sound pretty generic , like yeh like, like like OMG 😆😆
Walking down to the Rye myself with a model sailing boat under my arm and 2 mates in tow an old lady leans over her gate and says. " Be you boys a boatin of" this was in 1949, have always remember that lovely observation and statement in her Wycombe accent, magic.
@@roycurtis3073 You b'aint gonna start a babbin now be ya?
How many places share the story of High Wycombe? Our heritage flattened by the planner and the schemer. The word 'robbed' comes to mind when considering the loss of these great historical livelihoods.
There’s still the Royal Grammar School
High Wycombe......beautiful town destroyed by the council planners and immigration
And flatpack furniture.
mainly mass immigration
Michael George I hated seeing my home town get turned to shit. I moved to Arizona where I’m blissfully happy. 😄
I moved away in 1966 to the west country just as the world leaders decided that we must accept diversity to all and become third world citizens. It's a bit slower down here so I have about another 10 years left but I do worry about my children, grand children and great grand children in the melting pot.
That last sentance would have been much better if it ended after the word planners.
I wish I had taken photos when I was young, they have ripped the heart out of High Wycombe