Things to do in Swindon
- Thread starter TopCat
- Start date
planetgeli
There's no future in England's dreaming
Not very interesting fact of the day.
Swindon is twinned with Disneyworld, based on a roundabout and a tea cup ride.
That's all anyone should need to know.
Swindon is twinned with Disneyworld, based on a roundabout and a tea cup ride.
That's all anyone should need to know.
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
Did anyone ever go to the Brunel Rooms? There was this one time when a friend of mine tried to sleep with one half of himself on the dancefloor and the other half on the revolving circular bar floor which didn't go so well.
Here are a few things to do in Swindon:
1) Walk up the hill a mile south of the town centre to Swindon Old Town. This was the centre before the arrival of the railway, so it still retains its old-time Wiltshire market town architecture and atmosphere. There is also a collection of very good micropubs - The Hop Kettle, The Little Hop, and The Hop Inn.
2) Take a stroll around the railway cottages, a workers' village built on a grid by Brunel for the GWR workers at the railway works. Obviously not as grand as Saltaire, Bournville or Port Sunlight, but still worth taking a look.
3) The Glue Pot pub is an old street-corner pub in the Brunel village, and probably the best pub in Swindon. Tied to the Hop Back Brewery of Salisbury, it also seems to be one of the few of their pubs that always keeps their excellent Entire Stout on draught. Only a five minute-or-so walk from the railway station.
4) The STEAM museum, with plenty of GWR and Brunel history.
5) I wouldn't normally recommend a shopping centre, but the Swindon Designer Outlet is built in the old GWR railway works and has an impressive chunk of Brunel's seven-foot gauge on show.
6) Take a walk around the Penhill housing estate. Its where Andy Partridge and XTC are from. In fact, why not message Andy Partridge and offer to buy him lunch... He still lives in Swindon, is a top bloke, and is still one of this country's greatest songwriters.
7) If you really do want to get out of Swindon, catch a bus a couple of miles out to Wroughton and walk up onto The Ridgeway to Barbury Hill. The Ridgeway is one of Britain's oldest roads, and Barbury Castle is one of the largest and most unspoilt of the many prehistoric earthworks in the area. Fantastic views from the top.
8) Even if Swindon town centre is really ugly, the surrounding countryside is some of the prettiest in Britain. Plenty of buses run from Swindon to Marlborough, Devizes, Malmesbury, Lechlade, Shrivenham, Avebury and other places nearby.
9) Take the eleven minute train journey to Kemble and visit the source of the River Thames.
10) Go and watch Swindon Town FC - a proper local club at an old fashioned town centre ground that still retains its old corner floodlight pylons.
1) Walk up the hill a mile south of the town centre to Swindon Old Town. This was the centre before the arrival of the railway, so it still retains its old-time Wiltshire market town architecture and atmosphere. There is also a collection of very good micropubs - The Hop Kettle, The Little Hop, and The Hop Inn.
2) Take a stroll around the railway cottages, a workers' village built on a grid by Brunel for the GWR workers at the railway works. Obviously not as grand as Saltaire, Bournville or Port Sunlight, but still worth taking a look.
3) The Glue Pot pub is an old street-corner pub in the Brunel village, and probably the best pub in Swindon. Tied to the Hop Back Brewery of Salisbury, it also seems to be one of the few of their pubs that always keeps their excellent Entire Stout on draught. Only a five minute-or-so walk from the railway station.
4) The STEAM museum, with plenty of GWR and Brunel history.
5) I wouldn't normally recommend a shopping centre, but the Swindon Designer Outlet is built in the old GWR railway works and has an impressive chunk of Brunel's seven-foot gauge on show.
6) Take a walk around the Penhill housing estate. Its where Andy Partridge and XTC are from. In fact, why not message Andy Partridge and offer to buy him lunch... He still lives in Swindon, is a top bloke, and is still one of this country's greatest songwriters.
7) If you really do want to get out of Swindon, catch a bus a couple of miles out to Wroughton and walk up onto The Ridgeway to Barbury Hill. The Ridgeway is one of Britain's oldest roads, and Barbury Castle is one of the largest and most unspoilt of the many prehistoric earthworks in the area. Fantastic views from the top.
8) Even if Swindon town centre is really ugly, the surrounding countryside is some of the prettiest in Britain. Plenty of buses run from Swindon to Marlborough, Devizes, Malmesbury, Lechlade, Shrivenham, Avebury and other places nearby.
9) Take the eleven minute train journey to Kemble and visit the source of the River Thames.
10) Go and watch Swindon Town FC - a proper local club at an old fashioned town centre ground that still retains its old corner floodlight pylons.
Last edited:
Bus Honeygun
This week the score draws are plentiful
I went to Swindon last year to visit the Swindon & Cricklade Railway (there's another thing to do).
Had to get a taxi there becauase my train just missed a bus connection and I couldn't be arsed to wait another 40 minutes or whatever it was.
The taxi driver was chatty in a fucking sweary kind of fucking way. Asked me why I was fucking visiting Swindon and I said the railway and we got chatting about the fucking railway history of the town. Turns out he had a job when he was younger at the fucking railway works before it fucking closed down thanks to fucking Thatcher. We had a chat about the old days and unprompted he says, "Yeah, it was all fucking different back then, but I didn't kill anyone."
"Err..."
He then went on to tell me all about how he was essentially at least part-responsible for this bloke's death, although the 'part' bit is my interpretation. Sounded like there were a lot of assumptions and some very casual communication made when dealing with some very dangerous machinery (the good old days before H&S ruined everything, eh?). "Everyone agreed he was a fucking nutter and there was nothing I could fucking do about it." He kept his job after an investigation, but despite all the bravado and reassurances, it obviously weighed heavily on his mind.
We also went past that leisure centre that Oasis named themselves after.
Had to get a taxi there becauase my train just missed a bus connection and I couldn't be arsed to wait another 40 minutes or whatever it was.
The taxi driver was chatty in a fucking sweary kind of fucking way. Asked me why I was fucking visiting Swindon and I said the railway and we got chatting about the fucking railway history of the town. Turns out he had a job when he was younger at the fucking railway works before it fucking closed down thanks to fucking Thatcher. We had a chat about the old days and unprompted he says, "Yeah, it was all fucking different back then, but I didn't kill anyone."
"Err..."
He then went on to tell me all about how he was essentially at least part-responsible for this bloke's death, although the 'part' bit is my interpretation. Sounded like there were a lot of assumptions and some very casual communication made when dealing with some very dangerous machinery (the good old days before H&S ruined everything, eh?). "Everyone agreed he was a fucking nutter and there was nothing I could fucking do about it." He kept his job after an investigation, but despite all the bravado and reassurances, it obviously weighed heavily on his mind.
We also went past that leisure centre that Oasis named themselves after.
Steel Icarus
ersatz maven
The Gallagher Leisure Centre?
