Lived there for a bit. Not my cuppa tea, but will say transport links are decent (can get into Oxford, London and Birmingham pretty quickly and easily esp. on the trains). It’s got a high street (of sorts) and a few supermarkets to pick from.

Weather is alright as a rule - benefits from being far enough south and east to not rain every other day whilst still being pretty temperate.

Can be a tad chavtastic in places of the town, but hey, where isn’t these days?

I would say that it felt pretty darned expensive for what you get housing-wise, but I’m a cheap *. The OX postcode probably doesn’t help. You can go very slightly further north (basically 300yds across the county border) and it’s notably cheaper so maybe worth considering. Depends on what you’re prioritising really.

Worth making a list of things he’s looking for - things he won’t give up, might give up the right trade-off, and stuff he doesn’t care about. Then list what he can get in various towns/cities and how much it would cost. Breaking it down can make it easier to at least bin off some places and then you’re only picking between 2-3 locations rather than “everywhere”.