High Wycombe described as ‘livelier than New York’ and ‘dreadful night out’ in same debate

Councillors on the authority’s High Wycombe Town Committee offered conflicting views of the high street as they discussed regeneration at a Tuesday night meeting.

Councillor Sarfaraz Khan Raja said: “Is there a future of the high street? Because I was born in Wycombe and what I look at in the high street now is really, really bad.”

The Conservative added: “The high street doesn’t exist. There is nothing open there, no nightlife, nothing. There is only a pub, a gambling arcade et cetera. And then when you go around the corner, there’s quite a few chicken places.”

Other issues, he said, included ‘lots of parked cars’ in Frogmoor and a ‘dead’ Eden Shopping Centre in the evening, adding he hoped Wycombe could return to its ‘vibrant’ 1980s heyday.

But the councillor was told by the council’s Charles Brocklehurst, a property and regeneration expert, that his assessment of the town was ‘completely wrong’.

The officer – whose grandfather, George Brocklehurst, was Wycombe mayor in the 1930s – said he had been ‘passionate’ about the town since joining the council 20 years ago.

Rebutting Councillor Raja, Mr Brocklehurst cited Tabletop Republic – where gamers gather to play Yu-Gi-Oh! And Warhammer – and Merletto Lounge, part of a 262-site restaurant and bar chain, as examples of Wycombe’s high street offering.

He told the meeting: “My biggest challenge is to actually try and prevent the properties that we have been acquiring and refurbishing letting to yet more vape shops, nail bars, Turkish barbers – cash only – and phone booths to get the variety of small businesses and independent traders.”

The expert said Wycombe was ‘fine’, although did have issues with homelessness and antisocial behaviour, which he was working to resolve with the council.

He also blamed the Environment Agency for ‘holding up’ Dandara Living’s current planning application to redevelop the near-empty Chilterns Shopping Centre to provide 303 new flats.

Meanwhile, Tory committee chair Paul Turner urged people to visit TeamSport’s ‘brilliant’ new electric go-karting track above Primark.

However, Labour Councillor Melanie Smith told the meeting she never goes out in Wycombe because it is ‘absolutely dreadful’.

She said: “I will only ever go out in Marlow really, occasionally Beaconsfield, because Wycombe is not a great place from a night-time economy point of view and a shopping perspective.”

But Councillor Julia Wassell disagreed Wycombe lacked vibrancy, telling the meeting there was more of a buzz at Wycombe’s Christmas lights switch-on than in New York City, where she recently visited.

She said: “I don’t know whether Charles hired film extras or something like that, but it was livelier than New York and it showed it can be done.”

The Wycombe Independent described Merletto Lounge as ‘fabulous’ and also highlighted Olive Tree and Eat Thai as among the town’s other top restaurants.

Review websites often credit Wycombe for its range and wide number of different country pubs.