Crossrail hotspot for first-time buyers: new starter homes in Slough will be a 34-minute commute from the West End when Elizabeth Line opens

Slough registered the UK’s biggest house price increase last year at 19 per cent with at least six new housing developments under way in the town - making it perfect for first-time-buyers.
From £230,000: apartments at The Coppice have been designed by interior designer Kelly Hoppen
David Spittles17 May 2016

Slough, while unlikely ever to be called a beauty spot, registered the UK’s biggest house price increase last year — 19 per cent — according to the Land Registry, with values boosted by Crossrail.

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This Berkshire M4 corridor town has had a bad press since 1937 when poet John Betjeman protested against its creeping industrialisation when he wrote: “Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough! It isn’t fit for humans now.”

When Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s hit BBC comedy The Office depicted Slough as a soulless wasteland, its reputation was sealed for a further generation.

However, a new Crossrail station is being built and when the line starts operating in 2018, the journey into the West End will take just 34 minutes.

If you are a first-time buyer and can cope with a bit of ribbing from your mates, at least six new housing developments are under way in the town that could give you the last laugh.

These include The Coppice, 30 flats with interiors designed by Kelly Hoppen, and Brickfield Court, with 73 flats. Prices from £230,000. Call 01753 331064.

Meanwhile, King’s Reach has three-bedroom semis priced from £489,995. Call Bellway on 0333 202 5174.