Uxbridge

Uxbridge is where the Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines both run out of London and stop, and the town has built a career on being the last stop for people who meant to go further. Charles I came here to negotiate an end to the Civil War, spent the talks in a pub and left without a deal; centuries later the borough put its Civic Centre on the High Street with a council chamber that still struggles to be heard, so the tradition of talks nobody can follow is in safe hands. Under the office blocks full of fizzy-drink and chocolate companies is the bunker that ran the Battle of Britain, which means the most decisive thing ever done in Uxbridge happened underground, well away from the shops.