Locale Uxbridge
Uxbridge. The Town At The End Of The Metropolitan Line...
What to say about Uxbridge? Well, it has that same odd air of most end-of-the-tube-line towns. I can talk with some authority about it, having grown up there and still living in the vicinity. So, whats it like?
Being comutersville, houses are expensive. At the moment (June 2003) ridiculously so. Don't even think about buying here unless youve got a fair few quid. Not that you'd really want to anyway..
The town has 2 shopping malls, one old and getting ignored - The Pavilions. You can tell this by the fact that all the big name shops have buggered off accross the road to the bigger and newer Chimes, and been replaced by Pound Shops or sports shops that hold a 12 month long "Closing Down Sale! Everything half price!"
The Chimes is just like every other mall you've been to. Starbucks, Debenhams, Books Etc. It does have a multiplex Odeon. It also has a little precinct where there are some passable eateries... Nando's. Pizza Express and a mediocre-to-good French place called Auberge.
Of a Friday night, Uxbridge fills up with youths from along the Met line. They pile in from Ruislip, Ickenham etc... It can be quite amusing watching teenage pimply faced youths, pissed up on Merrydown Cider trying to chat up the short skirted and blotchy legged females before heading into that pit of hell that is the pub The Crown and Sceptre... just don't go there OK? It's on the High Street opposite Tesoc. Do, however, go to Uxbridge Kebabs along the road. They do kebabs that you want to eat whilst sober.... there's a result.
Other pubs to try are the Three Tuns (opposite the tube station). Full of office types during the day, but they do keep a good pint of beer, even if the staff are a little eager to empty your ashtray.
The Metropolitan (Windsor St) has had more facelifts than Joan Collins, but has at long last shed the fake Oirish theme and gone back to being a pub. If you get there early enough, you can secure a little nook and have a chat and a pint. Gets noisy later though.
The Old Bill (Windsor St) is in the old Police station (Geddit?). Full of trendy people, expensive booze and loud loud music.
The Olde Ostler is the local alcoholics' favourite local...
A bit further out along the Oxford Road you have the Crown and Treaty. Very nice pub, tends to be a bit quieter due to its location.
Your options for after pub amusement are limited. Well, not so much limited, as non existent. You have the only nightclub in town, Royales. Go there for women with purple blotches on their legs and blokes in slip on shoes and white socks. And a fight. You've been warned.
Uxbridge isn't the worst of towns... but it is surrounded by some real holes. Take West Drayton for example.... a place where if you shop at Aldi's, you get called a snob... or Hayes, which is just crap until you reach Southall, which is pretty cool actually.