Era at an end for bus station

Construction is complete at the curved building in Brunel Way, which will take over from the Wellington Street station as the town's bus hub.

The only part of the new station left to go up is the `tail' extension to Wellington Street, which will be installed after the old station is torn down to create southern access and three office blocks.

A new path has been created running east-west to Brunel Way in the meantime.

Route 81 to Hounslow is the last scheduled service leaving the old station, at 12.16am tomorrow, as well as the first to depart the new one, at 4.48am.

Cllr James Swindlehurst, commissioner for regeneration and renewal, said he was incredibly pleased with the completed station as a landmark for the Heart of Slough redevelopment.

He said: "In Heart of Slough, one of the main drivers for us was to get better public facilities. We worked very hard to make sure that is what got delivered, no matter what.

"People were starting to stop me in the street and saying `nothing's being done', so it's personally satisfying to see it finished." Demolition of the old bus station, expected to take two to three months, will begin next month, but Cllr Swindlehurst wishes he could get rid of it faster.

He added: "I've been wanting to bring it down since I first arrived in Slough 12 years ago.

"Even at the height of 1960s brutalism, I can't believe it was ever fashionable." The new station includes a cafe, newsagent and waiting areas, along with offices for bus operators First Group.

Alison Brown, operations manager at First Group in Slough, said: "With the works that will be happening in the forecourt of the train station, this station should benefit everyone." Slough's bus drivers have been training at the new station for the past two-and-a-half weeks, as it uses a drive in, reverse out (DIRO) system instead of the previous drive in, drive out setup.

Ms Brown said: "There have been a lot of questions about that, but I think almost everyone has driven through it."