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Last Updated: Sunday, 17 June 2007, 10:11 GMT 11:11 UK
Slough to celebrate its 'beauty'
Brunel roundabout
The town's 'rich architectural heritage' is 'under-appreciated'
A town much derided for its appearance is holding a celebration of its "contemporary and classic" buildings.

To mark National Architecture Week, a photographic exhibition of the best buildings in Slough has been set up.

Roger Kirkham, the borough council's principal planning officer, said he hoped the exhibition would show the town "in a different light".

A council spokeswoman added the Berkshire town's "rich architectural heritage" was often under-appreciated.

The town itself was famously savaged by poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman, who wrote: "Come, friendly bombs, and fall on Slough, it isn't fit for humans now".

Slough station
The town's 19th Century station remains a landmark building

In recent years, the reputation of Slough - blighted by unsympathetic post-war planning - suffered further when Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant chose to set their hit BBC comedy The Office on the Slough Trading Estate.

Mr Kirkham said he hoped the show would be a chance for people to re-evaluate their perceptions of Slough.

"We have some really interesting buildings in the borough but people don't always realise what's on their doorstep," he said.

"I think people who come along to the exhibition will see Slough in a different light," he said.

The show begins on Monday at the town's West Wing arts venue and will feature the work of local photographers and the Slough and District Civic Society.


SEE ALSO
Backing for town's �400m makeover
21 Dec 06 |  Berkshire
Poetic justice at last for Slough
16 Sep 06 |  Berkshire
�17.5m agreed for town's makeover
31 Jan 06 |  Berkshire
New poem praises 'unfit' Slough
27 Apr 05 |  Berkshire

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