Stow-on-the-Wold is poorly connected for anyone without a car, a laptop or both. The railway left long ago. Buses run about once an hour at peak. Gigabit broadband reaches only about one home in seven. Nearly half of working residents drive, and close to a third don't commute at all.
Stow had its own station from 1881 until 1962, and the town has carried on without one ever since. At the 2021 Census, none of its working residents went to work by train and only about 1% took the bus, even though there are 19 bus stops in and around the town. The stops are used mainly by people who aren't going to work.
The way Stow actually gets to work is by car or not at all. About 47% of working residents drove at the 2021 Census and about 29% worked from home. Another 16% walked, which in a town this compact means they work in it, and cycling was about 1%. About 38% of households have two or more cars, while about a fifth have none. Those two kinds of household live a few doors apart and have very different weeks.
Bus timetables are current, unlike the modelled journey times below. At the 11 stops with timetable data, the average stop sees about 11 departures on a weekday and roughly one an hour at peak, and 10 of the 11 have some weekend service. That is enough to get to the shops and back, and not enough to plan a working day around.
The Department for Transport's modelled journey times put the nearest town centre about six minutes away by car, by public transport or on foot, and seven by bike. For most people the town centre is Stow itself, so the trip is the walk to the square.
The same 2019 model has a GP about seven minutes away by car, nine on foot and nine by public transport, and a food shop seven minutes away on foot or by car. A hospital is about 36 minutes by car, nearly an hour by public transport and about two hours on foot. Employment centres are seven minutes by car and about 36 by public transport. Distances to fixed places don't change, but the public transport times were modelled before recent service cuts, so they are the figures most likely to look optimistic now. The gap between seven minutes and 36 to reach work is the whole case for the second car.
Superfast broadband reaches about 99% of premises, and no address falls below the legal minimum. Gigabit and ultrafast both stop at about 15%. Gigabit cover depends on the street, so put the exact address into a broadband availability checker. On mobile, every postcode gets a 4G or 5G signal from at least one network and about 96% get one from all of them, which is a better deal than the fibre.
Every one of Stow's postcodes is close to road noise at or above 65 decibels, the level at which official noise mapping treats it as significant, and the loudest band recorded reaches 75 decibels or more. Rail noise doesn't register at all. The town was built where main roads meet so it could trade with the traffic, and the traffic is still there to hear.
Stow has two public charge points with four connectors between them, and none are rapid. Charging an electric car here is something you do overnight at home, not while you pop into the shops.
Stow is badly connected for commuting and only does well for people who drive or work at home. Anyone who needs a train or a frequent bus will find it a hard place to live.