Geographical Location

Swindon’s location and its industrial heritage are inextricably linked. Positioned along the Great Western Railway line, Isambard Kingdom Brunel famously ‘threw a sandwich’ from the hill overlooking the proposed route. Where the sandwich fell, the railway works and world famous locomotive yards, were built.

Perfect Business Location

Over 150 years later Swindon, still owes much of its continued prosperity to its accessibility and transport links. Sitting to the north of the M4 at junctions 15 and 16, Swindon has become very adept at attracting people and businesses from the major cities because it offers space and growth.

Since the M4 was built in the 1960’s a corridor of opportunity and enterprise has grown up, with Swindon being a key location in the chain from London to South Wales via Reading and Bristol. However, it is far enough from the London and the South East to have maintained an identity of its own.

An Urban Place In Open Space

The Borough of Swindon is a unitary authority with a population of 180,000 that is growing. Population is predicted to rise to nearer 250,000 by 2026. Swindon is a young town in many ways and has a dominant demographic group of young families.

But despite its recognition as a major urban hub, more than two-thirds of the Borough of Swindon is classed as rural, with towns and villages remaining distinctly so. It is also surrounded by rural neighbours, namely Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and West Berkshire.

It sits between three great Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty – the North Wessex Downs to the south, the Cotswolds to the north and west and the Chilterns further to the east. Each offers spectacular open countryside, an agricultural landscape and secluded villages tucked into the chalk and limestone backdrop.