h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Swindon, Wiltshire, UK - A409015
Author: Stark - U147321

I feel I have to respond to the Guide entry on Swindon - there are a lot of fair comments in the article Swindon, but the overall impression given is extremely one-sided and contains a large number of inaccuracies!

Swindon is not exactly the most exciting place in the world, but there are an awful lot of worse places in England, with higher unemployment and high crime. In fact, Swindon has one of the lowest crime rates in the country, quite remarkable for a town so large.

The two main leisure centres which are discussed in the article, are not, as we are led to believe, crumbling and earmarked for demolition. The Link Centre building is one of the more interesting and unusual buildings in Swindon, and I have never seen any 'banks of flashing lights' in the area! Yes, the Oasis is getting on now, but when it opened people travelled from far and wide because it was actually one of the best centres in the whole of the country! It may be dated but it's certainly not third-rate. And anyway, I think it's positive that we HAVE an ice-rink, which is surely better than a load of other towns which don't have one at all!

On the town centre: well, I live there, and can report at first hand how the area is improving all the time. Since this article has been written, the area has been transformed into a lively Saturday-night scene, with new trendy late-night bars and clubs. There is even an over 25s jazz club opening next month. Furthermore, plans are in the pipeline to spend £130 million on a new shopping centre, complete with multi-screen cinema and restaurants. I think in 5 years time the area will be unrecognisable, and Swindon will have some of the best facilities in the country!

On the so-called Swindon 'yuppies'. Well, I have a degree, I own a trendy apartment in Swindon centre, and I'm staying put to reap the benefits of urban regeneration. There ARE people in Swindon who are intelligent and have money, they just don't frequent the sorts of bars that your researcher obviously went to when he wrote the article! House prices in Swindon are a bargain compared with nearby Reading (just as soul-less if not more so) and Bristol, and I expect to be rewarded handsomely for not getting 'as far away as possible' like your researcher assumes we all do.

There is also the rise of the University of Bath in Swindon, which within a few years time will bring 8000 students to the town, and provide much-needed young blood into the area.

Also, I think the comment about Swindonians being badly dressed is a very cheap shot, considering that most of the people who go to the Outlet Village are tourists! That's the sort of comment that reveals the blatant bias and narrow-minded aspect of this article - like any centre the quality of the goods there is mixed but if you have good taste then there are bargains to be had! Tell me, do any of these other towns like Reading, Slough, Basingstoke etc etc have anything that even comes close? Exactly. By all means criticise, but don't make sweeping statements about our town! As you can probably tell, many Swindonians ARE actually quite proud of the good aspects to Swindon!

In short, I would challenge your researcher to re-visit the town, and see how things are changing. I bet they'd have a good night out, and recognise that things are not nearly as bad as was made out in this article!

Hello highflyer_77

Two weeks since you dropped this into PR and no replies yet! It happens sometimes - things get busy around here.

I couldn't quite work out what was going on at first, but now I think I've got a handle on it. If you have a comment to make about an entry, what you should do is to leave your comments in the forum for that entry, which I see that you've already done. All the stuff you've said here you should post in that forum - why not start your own thread there?

......

Scouts, as this entry has already been edited and therefore been through PR once, I propose a move from PR to... er, entry I guess. Perhaps it could be moved to the edited entry rather than the original, which is the one that's been submitted up there ^ Does that make sense?

Any seconders?

Well, the established procedure is to take an Edited Entry, copy it and amend it as necessary, stick it into PR for a while and then post it to the h2g2 Update HQ. However, as the posting above doesn't give the new wording for (parts of) the entry, there's not much to be reviewed here and I'd say a move back to the entry would be in order.

Seconded/thirded whatever. It needs a bit more work, methinks (no mention of the greatest band that never was, XTC, for instance).