Basingstoke

United Kingdom / England / Basingstoke /
Basingstoke is a town in northeast Hampshire, England. It lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon. The town is 77 km (48 miles) southwest of London and 48 km (30 miles) north of Southampton. Basingstoke had an estimated population of 80,477 in 2006 and is part of the borough of Basingstoke and Deane. It is the birthplace of Burberry and home of the AA (Automobile Association).

Basingstoke is often mistaken for a new town. In fact, it appeared in the Domesday Book, and grew as a small market town. During the Civil War, and the seige of Basing House between 1643 and 1645, the town played host to large numbers of Parliamentarians. Basingstoke remains a town and still has a regular market. The town became industrial during the Victorian Era, and the railway was built. It later saw the arrival of breweries and Thornycroft, the freight vehicle manufacturers.

In the late-1960s, Basingstoke town centre was completely rebuilt. At this time many buildings of historic interest were replaced by a large red brick shopping centre and concrete multi-storey car park. However, the new Festival Place regeneration work has done a lot of good for the town.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basingstoke
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   51°15'43"N   1°5'34"W

Comments

  • I disagree. It's a good town, has everything.
  • There are plenty of worse places. Believe me I've been north of Oxford.
  • C'mon guys, i'm here now on a business trip, and it's definitely not that bad as they describe it! Friendly atmosphere, (pretty quiet) and nice! Both the town and <especially> the people! The city centre has got some cosy pedestrian zone streets \(unfortunately you can't drink alcohol in those streets unless you pay £500 to police :-))) and there's everything you'd need for business and fun here. I'll try to mark the proper places to visit in the wikimapia maps - at least what we have visited.
  • It's also the Automobile Association that is based here, not the Alcoholics Anonymous.
  • I live in this town and stood up for it, and I'm glad to say it's changed - and still is changing. Large parts of the brick fortress (called a 'shopping centre' by the misguided '60s planners) have been developed with more modern places and numerous shops - nearly every chain store expected in a major city exists here. The south of the town is historic with many independant shops, a farmers market, a museum and cosy pedestrianised streets - this town has history. Go to Old Basing and it gets even better. Many concerts and music events going on tour of the UK also stop at The Anvil Concert Hall, so you don't have to travel far to watch them. The eastern entrance road passes some of the concrete monstrosities of Basing View - but behind the concrete is lots of employment and opertunities giving the town a high standard of living and making it prosperous. There is plenty of cheap housing although many problem areas from the '60s still exist - but so do many more upmarket and modern estates. The road system is 40 years old but still works very effectively. The train station offers a 45-minute journey to London Waterloo for commuters and good links to elsewhere in Hampshire and the surrounding counties. Even if it isn't Cornwall, York or Alnwick, it still has enough to keep you entertained - and you don't have to go far to see more.
  • There's not need to put the county by its name unless it could be seriously mixed up (e.g. Newport).
  • Most of the main roads have been added now, way before other major towns in the area!
  • Basingstoke is a very nice English city.
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This article was last modified 14 years ago