This historic market centre is one of the fastest growing towns in Oxfordshire. Development has been favoured by its proximity to junction 9 of the M40 motorway linking it to London, Birmingham and Banbury. It has good road links to Oxford, Kidlington, Brackley, Buckingham, Aylesbury and Witney, as well as railway stations on two axes; Bicester North and Bicester Village. The historic shopping streets, particularly Sheep Street and Market Square, have a range of local and national brand shops together with cafés, pubs and restaurants. There are popular weekly markets on Fridays in the town centre, along with farmers' markets and an occasional French market.
A £70 million redevelopment of the town centre, since named Pioneer Square, offers a Sainsbury's supermarket, 7 screen Vue Cinemas and many smaller retail units and restaurants such as Nando's and Prezzo. South of Bicester, beyond Pingle Field, is the world renowned designer outlet centre Bicester Village Shopping Centre, and beyond that is Bicester Avenue Home & Garden Centre, one of the largest garden centres in the UK.
Bicester is set to become a “Garden City” on the basis of its distance from the Metropolitan Green Belt and in part to accommodate the demand of commuters to London and Oxford. Up to 13,000 new homes will be built. As the crow flies, Bicester is halfway between Birmingham and London, being 51 miles (82 km) from both cities. Popular with buyers who seek the villages surrounding Bicester given the high forming Grammar Schools on the Buckinghamshire / Oxfordshire boundary. Good independent schools are found in nearby Brackley, Winchester House School, just north in Bloxham namely Bloxham School and for girls only in Banbury, the highly regarded Tudor Hall School.
