The Knowhere Guide

Best and Worst in Bracknell, Berkshire*

Bracknell, Berkshire Triumphs and Tragedies

Favourite Building

• South Hill Park.... Only bloody decent one.
• none of them
• Soth Hill Park. This has everything in an old mansion. Great place to chill-out or get slaughtered at the three bars.
• hmmm..... well there are lots of 60's monstrocities to choose from
• South Hill Park (NO TOWNIES ALLOWED)
• St Michaels Church, Easthampstead
• you'll have to go at least 4 miles from bracknell's town centre to find a nice building.
• coppid beach hotel it is full of lovely italians ready 2 chat up the first new employee
• ?? south hill parks pretty nice, they're doing it all up.
• Got to be Lilly Hill House.Situated at the far end of the rugby club/back of lilly hill woods.Nice old building needs to be shown off a bit more!!!!
• The Golden Farmer pub in Easthampstead.
• Point
• The beautiful little thatched cottage situated near the Oak Pub on the London Road, its hidden away from the general crappy buildings that personifies Bracknell!
• Point Royal. Bracknells only residential tower block. South Hill Park, St MIchaels Church
• The haunted Easthamstead Park with its earie 1/4 mile driveway.
• new dell office by the john nike centre. nice !
• South Hill Park

Demolish It Now Building

• Point-Townie capital of england
• the residential costrophobic council estates & the great & all mighty tower looming over the easthampstead plains!
• 3M... and the rest of Bracknell preferably.
• The entire centre of 'racknell
• i would love to see Brakenhale so flatted its such a shithole it needs refershing badly
• enid wood house & the whole of notorious bullbrook.
• F L A T T E N TRIPEY POINT ROYAL. ITS SICK!
• I WOULD ADVISE EVERYONE 2 GET IN TOUCH WITH A DEMOLITION AGENCY & WATCH THEM DESTROY THE SHIT OUT OF BRACKNELL'S CONCRETE SLUMS!
• A CERTAIN RUFF HIGH RISE CRUELY DOMINATES DA CENTRAL ESTATES OF BRACKNELL'S SKYLINE. ITS CALLED POINT ROYAL! ITS FULL OF HEROIN DEALERS & SLAGS WHO DRAG U UP DA STAIRS 4 A QUICKIE!!!
• I'd love to see the 3M building flattend. It's been there for about 25 years and it's a horrible Brown-ish 70's colour...looks foul. Oh and if they demolish it, put all the kids who have bad attitudes and listen to Garage music, in the building.....So that's most of Bracknell actually..
• POINT ROYAL- THE SICK TOWER BLOCK! IT'S EXTREMELY CRIME RIDDEN!! ALSO DEMOLISH GARTH ESTATE COS IT'S SKANKY!!!
• BOYD COURT, it's a crime ridden block of ugly flats which are extremely long & the council need to do something quick about it. I'ts also got massive black stains on the front of it. The walkways which join the flats up are falling apart.
• In a few years, I will get an atomic bomb and place it on the ugly 3m building and then there won't be anymore Bracknell. Success!
• The urban concrete city called great hollands, with rows and rows of concil houses, plus all of the 3 storey flats on wordsworth. The 3m building and the grange hotel have to be knocked down before they fall down!
• point royal is an eyesore.
• that hexagon thing in easthampstead gross
• the whole of the town centre??! na, the point looks nasty.
• 3M GET RID OF IT,IT IS OLD DATED AND UGLY DO WE NEED THAT WHEN WE ARE GETTING THE REST OF THE TOWN REVAMPED????IF WE HAVE TO HAVE THE BUILDING GIVE IT A LICK OF PAINT!!!!PLEASE!!!!
• The dirty-brown looking Oracle building that has been for sale for at least 2 years...
• Bracknell!
• The William Twigg pub in Great hollands.
• Jubilee court
• Bracknell
• Princess Square - what is the point of moving Argos? Will we now have another useless cheapie shop selling all things plastic and tacky in its place - that's what usually happens? A fortune has been spent on revamping the area near Bentalls and what is there? - nothing just a long corridor which is perfect for all the young tea-leafs who roam the town to make a quick getaway! Serves you right!
• The Town Centre, in one go if possible!!
• 3M before I jump off it.
• point royal and campion house. they smell of piss.
• Bracknell Town Centre
• The Oracle Building, who on Bracknell Forest Borough Council got the back-hander for that eyesore!!!!!
• Met Office.
• Mount Pleasant Flats at the top of town. Small, damp, expensive, noisy, cold, skanky, smegy rabbit hutches. I lived there for seven long years. Also the flats right in town opposite the banks and mothercare. Even smaller and full of drug dealers. One more place, Waitrose head office and warehouses. Managers treat you like sh*t and the pay doesn't pay. Flatten it!
• The old honeywell building, derelict for years.
• The town centre could do with a refurb, maybe a little less concrete this time guys.
• Try the whole of Bracknell, It's a concrete waste ground any way.
• 3M building. Actually, I believe they are planning to lose this eyesore soon.

The Best Things

• Caesar's Camp. No Pikies, limited chance of theft, peace and quiet!
• Er...
• Leaving
• moving house
• The bus out of town.
• well,nothing really, cos its a ruff loada shit!
• What can be better than living in a crime ridden concrete jungle?
• The m3 and m4 are within easy reach so when you are on it , you can say bye bye to the concrete experimental disaster!
• having fun at laughing at all the mucky estates eg:birch hill, great hollands,hanworth,priestwood(council), bullbrook and easthampstead(council) and last but definitely not least bullbrook.
• knowing as soon as i finish school i am leaving all you losers behind!!!
• the alcohol that you can buy? the train station that takes you to nice places??!
• The fact that you know no matter how long you are away you will always be able to call Bracknell home and never ever get lost in the dark!!!!Even if you do just find another roundabout and turn around!!!!That and with the exception to a few well chosen people everyone is friendly!!!!
• having so much to do within one town: ten pin bowling, cinema, ice skating, dry slope skiing, sports, coral reef, i moved here from london 9 years ago and wouldn't change back!
• Driving iout of Bracknell
• Bracknell Sports Centre, its been in Bracknell donkey's years and is excellent, or so my grand-daughter of 3 years tells me, the "whoosh" park there is ace!
• The M3 & M4 will get you away very quickly. It's still perfectly acceptable to wear white socks and stone washed denin jeans for a troll round the town centre on a Saturday afternoon
• It's cheap - theres nothing to spend your money on.
• Laughing like a drain at all the people who bought houses on Martin's Heron and who are now complaining about the smell from the sewage teatment works - serves you right, it never used to smell when it was a forest and the trees helped stop the smell from spreading! and wait until they all start subsiding - they are all built on underground streams, much like most of Birch Hill/Roman Wood, ask some of the residents there how they felt when a lot of the properties started to subside due to being built on underground streams ha ha ha!!!!
• The fact that I have just got a job the other side of Reading so don't have to ever come to bracknell again!
• the john nike centre getting a mention in the ali g video out just before last xmas.
• At least it keeps all the jacked up little shits in their " mega cool " Nova, Fiesta, Escort, Capri in one place
• The best thing about Bracknell is not living there. Knowing that you can drive straight through it - as fast as possible
• Leaving.
• South Hill Park has to be it.
• Loads and Loads and Loads of little Slappers (Where Protection)
• The Ice rink, the Superleague ice Hockey team (Bracknell Bees) who I would recommend anyone to go and see at least a couple of times. Loads of leisure activities.
• They're due to re-build the whole town centre soon!
• Best thing: Partnership with Leverkusen, Germany
• It's not far from loads of countryside (Binfield/Twyford/Shurlock Row/Winkfield etc.)
• The small fountain outside McDonalds/the Bull when someone fills it with Fairy Liquid.
• There's loads of lovely young girlies strutting around the town centre in short skirts and tight tops in the summer, and on nice warm evenings at South Hill Park (not that I look at all).
• It's easy to get anywhere from Bracknell - M3, M4, M40, M25, Gatwick, Heathrow are all within flobbing distance, and it's on the main line to Waterloo train station.
• The best thing about Bracknell is being about 12-16. There are loads of things which that age group are most likely to enjoy, such as ice-skating ten-pin bowling, multiscreen cinema, McDonalds etc. For the older or more discerning person Southill Park might have the odd interesting thing, otherwise nowt!
• The best thing about Bracknell is my mobile disco. I cater for all ages and occasions and charge very competitive prices. (Can I have a free plug? Yes: Mail Dave Ruddle at druddle@pyra.co.uk)
• The new fountain in Charles Square shopping area has been useful in the hot weather, and is quite fun. But basically, I'm not surprised that there's so little info on your Bracknell page - it is a bit of a non-event as a town...
• Walking 'round town, seeing all the people makes you think "Yes I am normal!!"
• Not being there!
• Major HQ's for large companies i.e. 3M
• Bracknell is a 'handy' town to live in i.e. close to the countryside, close to other centres and only 40 mins on the train to London - the great escape!!
• Best thing about Bracknell: well signposted, so it's easy to get out of. I was born and brought up in Bracknell, but fled when I was 18. It's flat, unfriendly and is great if you like vast areas of concrete. The only decent thing I can think of about Bracknell is that it has a superb arts centre - South Hill Park. Unfortunately, lots of local residents are busy campaigning to prevent the council subsidising it, in the hope that it shuts down.

The Worst Things

• Traffic, no good shops, bus station, train station
• A V O I D GREAT HOLLANDS!
• Bracknell is full of townies who beat u up for looking at them, kevs & shazzas. Goths are growing by the thousand and soon everyone in that dump will be one of those slipknot worshiping, black nailvarnish wearing,freaks.It has a HUGE population of sluts and teenage mums.I was walking down charles walk in the town and i saw about 20 teenage mums with prams while they were smoking which probably intoxicated theyre babies. It has it's fair share of freaks who go round acting sad.Don't forget it's dealers who go round saying "do u wanna eighth of puff for a tenner mush?". Don't get personal with these people because 60% of bracknell lives in dodgy council houses.
• Mount pleasant flats.Theyr'e not pleasant because the walkways underneath the flats are dark and they smell of piss.I also saw a sleeping bed in a trolley there,(obviously belonging to a homeless person.
• The 7 storey town-centre flats.It's an eysore and the lower windows on it have wire mesh on it to protect the thugs from smashing it.I've entered it and i had to dodge the used needles on the floor and the used condoms.
• Unfortunately, i got stuck in a lift in point royal.I'm not going in a lift again as i'm traumatised by this plus there were junkies in the lift doing heroin.The fire brigade managed to rescue us 30 mins later and some shits nicked my metro when i returned.As i got the bus home i saw kids vandalising flats on wildridings and they threw eggs at the bus.
• i got terrorised on the easthampstead estate because i got followed by an old junkie who cried "Berkshire born, Berkshire bred, soft in the arm and soft in the head".He had a joint in his mouth and he was heading in the direction of the tower block.
• it's a 60's & 70's catastrophe. The town centre is ridiculosly ugly with all of it's 60's style panneling on most of the buildings. It's got the most pregnant 15 year olds in the world. The charles centre is really bad along with a badly planned town centre. The ring, it's a one way crappy ring road with ugly service yards dotted along it.
• the concrete metropolis called great hollands and it's run-down shopping area.
• the demented teenagers situated on green hill every night they swarm there like vultures to disturb the neighbours they are mouthy little shits.
• Has to be said....the drugs scene!!!!Not the best way to head in to a new Bracknell the police need to do something about it and fast!!!!Also lack of entertainment for people over 18.(unless you are very sad and frequent the ice rink on a friday nite or masqueraddes.!!!!)
• The price of car parking. Twin Bridges roundabout, which is quite possibly the worst designed roundabout in history and easily the most congested one in the UK.
• Honeywell Control Systems Ltd. The company which likes to say go. On a downward slide since 1995. Run by accountants who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. Protect the bottom line at all times. Reduce cost (resource) don't worry about the poor sods who buckle under the stress.Give the customer little or nothing. A great short term strategy. Keep up the good work Colin (if you have survived). How are you Bobykins, still licking arse? Honeywell murged with Allied Signal.The Chief Executive Officer of Honeywell Inc. and his Italian sidekick are being investigated by the American authorities with reference too insider dealing. So much for preaching ethics. Now the whole concern is about to be gobbled up by General Electric. Is this in the interest of the people?
• The unmarried mothers age 14 - 25 who seem to think everyone owes them a living, and why does the council plonk them in decent residential areas? Wouldn't they all be better on one estate, that way at least social services would be able to keep to budgets, saving on petrol etc., and all the poor "at risk" babies would be easier to access. This will keep the rest of us that work for a living, away from the fights, drug-taking, children out of control, parties all night every night, drug pushing. The "old Bill" would also know where to look for stolen goods being fenced! Worth a thought!
• That its okay to wear stone washed denim jeans and white socks on a Saturday afternoon shopping. That even after moving away (10 years)i can still meet people from school who have been nowhere and done nothing and dont care!!
• The town centre is in a crisis and drastically needs redeveloping and if it takes as long as six years the inhabitants would have all moved elsewher by then.
• Why oh Why is Bracknell Forest Council advocating getting everyone out of their cars and onto cycles? In the past year I have been run over twice whilst walking to work along Larges Lane - once by a silly old git with a saddle bag and he didn't even say sorry and again by a soppy kid of approximately 13 who was on a bike too big for her, with brakes that were so stiff she couldn't pull them and a soppy hard hat which, when she did come to a halt she head butted me with!!!! come on BFBC sort it out... if you want people on bikes then provide cycle paths immediately..... and educate parents and kids that doing 30 mph on a mountain bike on a footpath will one day cost you a smack in the mush!!
• Bracknell is the single teenage mum capital of Britain and it's estimated that by the year 2010 the average age of a grandparent in the area will be 28.4 years. Having to keep quiet in the office in front of Bracknellites who think it's a tremendous place.
• the water treatment plant is between the warren and martins heron. dont buy a house there cos it stinks. forest park is far enough away to be safe from the stench.
• The amount of boy racers tearing up and down the Harmans Water Road every weekend all night! Where are "Old Bill????????
• The afore mentioned little shits go anywhere they can to lay their hands on parts for their "ultra cool " cars - namely multi storey car parks or your driveway.
• Is it really necessary to have 64 000 bloody roundabouts in 1 town ?!!
• Trying to find somewhere to live for less than £300pcm. Even a cardboard box is more than that in Bracknell.
• The whole place is a bit soul-less. It's a bit like Stevenage (only much nicer).
• The strange smell from Forest Park sewage treatment plant that hits you on warm evenings (somebody light a match).
• The "Ring"
• The smell from the 'water treatment plant' that is in Forest Park or one of those other estates. On warm, late-summer evenings the aroma is distinctive and only vaguely nauseating. Well done Bracknell - another thing to be proud of. At least I didn't buy a house there.
• Parties at the Bracknell Police Station Social Club. Bag 'O' Shite.
• The speed camera that has sprung up right outside Simpsons on the ring-road (tucked neatly behind a road sign).
• It's a windy place.
• The thieving little bastard who nicked my sister's car stereo from off the drive of our house.
• If you're over 15, you're not a criminal, it takes more than dull Hollywood movies to entertain you, and drinking with Sharon and Kev down the local doesn't appeal: there's absolutely nothing to do.
• Nowhere nice to eat. Used to be only the Berni Inn, and then that closed, so now there's only a Pizza Hut.

The Knowhere Guide started out as a list of places to skateboard in the UK. It is a compilation of (unedited) information and views supplied by users like yourself. It is not a conventional tourist guide!

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Credits

Last updated: 2007-12-16