Eden Shopping Centre has helped High Wycombe ride the recession rollercoaster

It’s been almost two years since Eden Shopping Centre opened its doors (figuratively speaking) to the public. What followed was an unbelievable amount of criticism in the local media by letter writers, bloggers and disappointed visitors. It’s too cold. It’s too windy. It will kill the High Street. We don’t need two cinemas. There’s not going to be enough parking spaces. The parking spaces are too tight. The road infrastructure is too weak. The floors are too slippery. We heard it all. Some were valid and some, well, not so valid. One common theme though, was that Eden Shopping Centre opened at precisely the wrong time, the start of the credit crunch.

We are often forgetful though. It’s all too easy to not think back to what we had before Eden. A decaying, damp and gloomy bus station. A poor welcome for visitors, using public transport, to High Wycombe.

The development of Eden Shopping Centre must be recorded as one of the most successful policies followed through by Wycombe District Council. Eden has helped the town’s shopping district to ride through the recession in better condition than many other towns. Shoppers that previously went further afield to Slough; Watford; Maidenhead and Reading are now attracted by what Wycombe has to offer. There is now a greater diversity of stores than ever before, from House of Fraser to Primark, Wycombe caters for the affluent households in the area and also those of us on tight budgets.

Eden has also changed Wycombe beyond recognition. The shopping core of the town has shifted away from the High Street for the first time in history. This is not necessarily bad news for the High Street, the historic market still operates there three times a week drawing shoppers to that side of town and there is still private sector investment in the permanent units on the street. Current construction in Church Square is testament to this. What the High Street offers shoppers after the recession will be a very different experience to 4 years ago, but because of Eden there is enough confidence in the private to invest in this historic side of town. Chiltern Railways willingness to finance redevelopment of Wycombe Railway Station, to provide greater parking and to restore Brunel’s Goods Shed is a fine example of private sector confidence in High Wycombe’s economy.

Yesterday I visited Maidenhead for the first time in almost a year and was shocked by what I saw. It was like a ghost town, I passed shop fronts which have closed their doors and are now redirecting their customers to Wycombe.

Maidenhead is a pleasant enough town, and I may have caught on a bad day and I'm not blind to the fact that January is the most difficult trading months for retailers. But this could and would have Wycombe without the courage of the council to follow through on such an ambitious town centre regeneration policy. I’m not claiming Eden has made Wycombe recession proof, but the change in dynamic of Wycombe’s town centre and positive multiplier effect created by Eden is a good thing.