What's Bicester actually like?

What's Bicester actually like?

Author
Discussion

seiben

Original Poster:

2,367 posts

141 months

Friday 9th June 2017
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Just curious really - I've stumbled across a house that I like the look of and it happens to be in Bicester. Period property, south side of the town (looks like the old part), between Bicester Village train station and the hospital. I like the idea of having stuff within walking distance - any decent pubs/restaurants? Bicester Village doesn't really interest me.

Presume it's the cheap(er) part of Oxfordshire for a reason? Being walking distance to a mainline station is pretty tempting, but not if the rest of the place is really grotty! Or am I being unfair?

bitchstewie

55,182 posts

217 months

Friday 9th June 2017
quotequote all
seiben said:
Just curious really - I've stumbled across a house that I like the look of and it happens to be in Bicester. Period property, south side of the town (looks like the old part), between Bicester Village train station and the hospital. I like the idea of having stuff within walking distance - any decent pubs/restaurants? Bicester Village doesn't really interest me.

Presume it's the cheap(er) part of Oxfordshire for a reason? Being walking distance to a mainline station is pretty tempting, but not if the rest of the place is really grotty! Or am I being unfair?
Every time I go to Bicester all I think is "Glad I don't live her because of the traffic for the village".

Maybe I'm being unfair and it's a seasonal thing and living there is totally different but the last few times I've been it's just seemed swamped with traffic.

seiben

Original Poster:

2,367 posts

141 months

Friday 9th June 2017
quotequote all
Yeah, that's what I was worried about. I'd be interested to know what the knock-on effect of Bicester Village traffic is on the rest of the town during typical rush-hour time etc. When I'm not on the train or travelling around the country I'd typically be commuting down the M40.

V41LEY

2,937 posts

245 months

Friday 9th June 2017
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What was once a charming market town is now a town centre blighted by poor planning and shortsightedness. The dominance of Bicester Village which drags thousands of people into the outskirts of town and the siting of large out of town shops has turned the town centre into a charity shop haven - sadly. There are a few independents left but for how long. The other negative is the massive population growth caused by new builds everywhere when the local infrastructure can't cope. No good pubs or restaurants in my opinion and being a garrison town some evenings can be a bit punchy. On the plus side - good access to the motorway networks (M40) and train to London (40 mins) and Birmingham.

seiben

Original Poster:

2,367 posts

141 months

Friday 9th June 2017
quotequote all
Yeah, you're not really selling it hehe

bitchstewie

55,182 posts

217 months

Friday 9th June 2017
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Go there tomorrow and see what it's like.

I don't know the area well enough to know if there are rat-runs that the locals use but the last time I went, when I was leaving the traffic coming to the village was stretched back to the motorway.

Hopefully there is an alternative way in but if not, yuck frown

Panthro

695 posts

225 months

Wednesday 14th June 2017
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I really like Bicester; very quaint and plenty of surrounding countryside and it will soon have an excellent rail link to London. Loads of new builds though so unsure if the infrastructure can cope. Also the Village traffic on weekends is horrendous, so definitely worth taking into account depending on which side of Bicester you'd be living in and going in and out from.

CocoPops

466 posts

238 months

Thursday 22nd June 2017
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Dormitory town.
Lived there for 18months, 10yrs ago and it's got worse since then. People sleep there, then commute to Oxford, Birmingham or London.

Mr Tidy

24,348 posts

134 months

Thursday 29th June 2017
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I went to that part of the world on Sunday for the Flywheels festival - it seemed far too built up for what should be a sleepy Oxfordshire town (IMHO).