Thetownend.com

Hi there,


Slight football club rivalry notwithstanding, I'm a Hereford fan thinking of moving to your fair town. Had a drive round Swindon yesterday, and some of it, if I'm honest, looked a bit northern.

Which bits of Swindon would you recommend (i.e. nice bits), and which bits are to be steered clear of? Ideally I'm looking for somewhere within walking distance of the station. In general, is Swindon a nice place to be, or would you move somewhere else if you could? I like that roundabout of yours, anyway.

Many thanks. Best wishes for the rest of the seaon.

Good luck with that

The further out of town you go the better it gets.

East side is probably best.

West side is the best.

just go for anything beginning with a "P" - quality!

Peatmoor and Sparcells are pretty nice, as nice as you're likely to get in Swindon.

Failing that Walcot is a mini venice.

You can get some really decent places in an area called "The Valley"

It's as lovely as it sounds boyo

Great transport network to the Station too (a lot of the people in that area work around the station)

why are you thinking of moving here?

Abby meads/priory vale is really nice too. Not really near the train station though, but it is near a really big asda

For the supurb football of course

You might be best looking a little futher outside of the town for a nice area.  Although the Old Town area is within a 10 minute walk of the station and is nice, not bad bars, restaurants there either.  So if looking centrally have a gander at Old town, if looking on outskirts and maybe use buses to train station St Andrews Ridge, Oakhurst, Haydon Wick...

Cant think of anywhere nice within an easy walk of the station.

Parts of old town are nice. The suburbs on all sides have nice and not so nice parts. The council estates aint pretty but to be honest aint that bad compared to notourious ones in other towns or cities

As for Swindon in general  -meh, its alright i suppose.  Not the most interesting place in the world but high employment levels in the last few decades means crime is relativly low.  There isnt a great deal to do in the town, but its location means its easy to get somewhere else where there is.

Oh and I live nextdoor to a Hereford fan, well he wears his Hereford shirt when you lot win (so I haven't seen much of it this season) and he wears his Man Utd shirt when you don't.  Proper loyal supporter!

covingham,eldene and liden for the eastside massive.all pretty nice and not far from town,coate water,a419 and m4.

Cheers all, I'll have a look at this more closely later, when I've got a map.


I'm moving as I'm starting a job in Gloucester, and my wife works in Reading. Swindon's in a good position, as she can get to Reading on t'train, and I'll be driving the opposite direction. She might have to get a bus to the station, by the looks of things!

Feel free to move in next door to to me :D

sounds like the east or nothern suburbs would suit you- easy access to the A419 to Glosser

It really depends what sort of money you have to spend and what type of house you want.

Personally Id never live in West Swindon or St Andews Ridge or any of the soul less identikit newer housing estates that Swindon has to offer but thats just a personal preference

I used to live on Manchester Road. Close to the Train Station and late night entertainment....

What makes a housing estate "soul less"?  I lived in the town centre for about 5 years and other than my immediate next door neighbours I never really saw/spoke to anyone on my street.  Yet since I've lived in Ashbrake I know a lot of the people who live in my road, regularly go round my neighbours for drinks, loads of kids about to have a kick around after work when it's sunny.  Not sure I'd call it soul less.

I just dont like new houses and new housing estates,like I said its personal preference.Ill have to take your word for it that the people of Ash Brake are jolly smiling folk in and out of each others houses with Pots of Jam as ive never lived there.

I certainly dont invite my neighbours round for drinks but we speak across the fence and keep an eye on the pensioners next door and that sort of thing.

I used to keep an eyeon the pensioner who lived near me.

Then, when he went out, I broke in and nicked his radio and pension book.

It's great for dogging round our way Yeovil!!

Seriously though, I was just interested, I never thought I'd move up to North Swindon when I lived in town, and to a certain extent it'd take quite abit for me to move to Abbey Meads or Oakhurst as I find them a big on the big side tbh.

:tits: :wotjump:

Interesting comment.  I actually heard it before from a Hartlepool fan in a pub up there before a game a few years back.  He thought Swindon was a 'northern town' down south as well, and you may have a point.  Swindon's growth really took off in the 1800s when Brunel sited his works in the town.  I would imagine that the vibe of the place would have been similar to the northern mill towns, which also drew in many thousands of workers at that time.

As the railway works floundered, many of the blue collar jobs have been replaced by white collar ones - but this switch, to my mind, is often overstated.  Employment levels are high but the town is still essentially blue collar (or working class, if you prefer the term).  So it's a comfortable place to live, but not flashy or extravagant.  You won't find much in the way of extreme poverty you might find in towns/cities of a similar size, but neither will you find many high end shops or expensive restaurants.  Swindon draws negative press these days not because it is in any way unusual, but because it's fairly mundane.

On the positive side, you are likely to find decent housing somewhere in the town at a price that is more affordable than you'll find in Bristol, Oxford or Reading.  If being near the station is key, I would agree with others that you should take a look at Old Town.  I lived there myself in the mid/late 1990s and loved the area.

Good luck with your search.

Old Town is ace. Everywhere else near the station is cack.

Pretty much.

Old Town is indeed pleasant, but unfortunately prices reflect a premium as a result (or did last time the missus looked at properties there a few years back). And parking can be an absolute bugger in parts of Old Town - if you've got a car, make sure the place has a driveway or nearby garage

 Depends how much dollar you have, but I know a few people who are need access to Swindon station for work, so have bought apartments, in the block in Sanford Street or in Paramount, and use these as  pieds a terre, and have weekend/holiday property in Herefordshire.

Old Town is one of the nicer parts. What are those flats like over by the Outlet Village? or maybe somewhere between Old Town and the County Ground..Drove Road area. All 15/20 minutes walk from the station

You just dont like the idea of walking further for the pubs.

Theres a cycle path/walkway that runs from the station up through the Hawkesworth industrial estate. Which means you get quite good access to the station from Rodbourne Cheney. Wouldnt particularly recommend the area though. I moved to Bassett and I like it better out here.

Id give a shout to Broome Manor area. Bit of an underrated area.

Swindon is really too big to have just one station. If it were in the south east it would have several.

haha ive been sussed  :D

 Having no more than a five minute walk to a range of decent pubs, is a prerequisite, of civilised living.

 Being able to get from Swindon Town  to Swindon Junction on the loop was also very handy....there was a halt at Rushey Platt, you can still see the remains.

 Stratton used to have a halt on the main line, and of course Highworth had a branch with a halt for Stanton Fitzwarren.

I have a friend who lives in a semi-detached house over by the Outlet Village and I was pleasantly surprised - it's actually really spacious and finished well. Don't really like those new housing estates as they all look the same (i'm talking last 5 years). Other than that it seems like a good place and she seems to get on with all the neighbours.