Modern Aylesbury
The town's population has doubled since the 1960s due to new housing developments, including many London overspill housing estates, built to ease pressure on the capital, and to move people from crowded inner city slums to more favourable locations. Indeed Aylesbury, to a greater extent than many English market towns, saw substantial areas of its own heart demolished in the 1950s/1960s as 16th-18th century houses (many in good repair) were pulled down to make way for commercial developments.
Aylesbury's population was expected to increase between 2003 and 2005 with a new housing estate designed to cater for eight thousand people on the north side of the town, sandwiched between the A41 (Akeman Street) and the A413, and the expansion of Fairford Leys village.
Housing estates in the modern Aylesbury include: Bedgrove, Broughton, Elm Farm, Elmhurst, Fairford Leys, Haydon Hill, Hawkslade Farm, Meadowcroft, Prebendal Farm, Quarrendon, Queens Park, Southcourt, Stoke Grange, Walton Court, Watermead and the Willows. Aylesbury has also been extended to completely surround the former hamlets or farms at Bedgrove, California, New Zealand, Prebendal Farm, Quarrendon, Turnfurlong and Walton. If plans to increase the size of the town by twenty thousand people go ahead, suburban Aylesbury could well meet up with the neighbouring villages of Bierton, Hartwell, Stoke Mandeville, Stone, Sedrup and Weston Turville. Areas most popular in the town are the Conservation Area around St. Mary's church and Queens Park, particularly facing onto the canal. These anticipated developments are expected to raise the urban population of Aylesbury from its current approximation of 75,000 to around 100,000 within the next 15–20 years.
The town centre has many pubs and bars, along with some nightclubs, and Friday and Saturday nights can be lively.
The local newspaper is the Bucks Herald. The local radio station is Mix 96. One of the more prominent buildings in Aylesbury is the "Blue Leanie" office block, home to Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS). When first built it was thought to be a potential hazard to passing motorists, due to the sun reflecting off its large mirrored surface. As a result a line of mature trees was planted alongside the main road to prevent dazzling.
The town is served by Aylesbury railway station and Aylesbury Vale Parkway railway station, the latter of which is the present terminus of passenger services from London Marylebone.
Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, a new £42 million theatre, with 1,200 seat auditorium, opened in October 2010. In addition to this, the surrounding area is being redeveloped as part of the £100 million Waterside project. When this is completed, originally planned for June 2010, there will be 260,000 sq ft (24,000 m2) of new retail floor space and 1,100 new jobs created, although when this will be completed now is unclear.
The Bourg Walk Bridge (also called the Southcourt Bridge or the Roberts Bridge after a local councillor) opened in March 2009 connecting Southcourt to Aylesbury town centre. The focus of the footbridge is a central concrete pillar with four suspension cables supporting the structure. This bridge forms a central part of the Aylesbury Hub project. Bourg Walk was nominated and won the Engineering Excellence Award 2009 awarded by the Institution of Civil Engineers - South East England branch .
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