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WELL, the build-up to the opening of Eden (as Adam and Eve must have also recalled) was pretty intense and feverish.

I did not attend, as my recollection of such occasions, as a member of the public, has not encouraged me to think that I would find the experience an uplifting one.

If I have a phobia, it is ochlophobia, a pathological aversion to crowds.

But I was diverted to read, in the letters page, complaints about "scantily clad young women" dancing around our streets.

Anyone who has been in Wycombe town centre when the pubs and clubs are in full weekend swing will be used to the sight of inadequately dressed young females cavorting in the streets - most of whom have less to celebrate, and far too much to show, than the troupe of impressively costumed dancers whose exotic images graced the pages of this paper.

Personally, the advent of Eden has not been entirely welcome, but for different reasons than most.

I have four daughters who have descended upon the vastly improved retail opportunities and environment offered by Eden with the same zeal as paparazzi who had discovered that Britney Spears was visiting the place with her friend Prince Harry (Note to BFP photographer - this a joke - it is not real - honest!).

The downside is not just financial, but physical.

Because I was with them on the first trip, I was faced with the choice of standing outside Very Skimpy Clothes R Us', as is the common practice of fathers from shopping-time immemorial, and freezing to death, or actually going into one of these shrines of young fashion and feeling like a Morris Dancer in a Biker's Pub.

That was the one thing about Eden that I had failed to anticipate.

A large section of it is open to the elements and that was particularly relevant on my first visit as the weather was far from pleasant and I had thought I was going to be undercover.

But now I know that, it will no longer be a problem.

The majority of the shops are, understandably, aimed at the market that spends the most money on clothes - young people and women.

The shopping environment is infinitely superior to that which Wycombe has provided hereunto, and I have no doubt that once parking problems have been sorted out Eden will prove an enduring asset for our town.

4:55pm Friday 4th April 2008

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