Overview of Basingstoke

Basingstoke is a town in northeast Hampshire, in south central England. It lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon. It is 48 miles (77 km) southwest of London, 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Southampton, 16 miles (26 km) southwest of Reading and 19 miles (31 km) northeast of the county town, Winchester. In 2008 it had an estimated population of 82,913. It is part of the borough of Basingstoke and Deane and part of the parliamentary constituency of Basingstoke. Basingstoke is often nicknamed "Doughnut City" or "Roundabout City" because of the number of roundabouts. Often mistaken for a new town, Basingstoke is an old market town expanded in the 1960s as part of a tripartite agreement between London County Council, Hampshire County Council and Basingstoke Borough Council. It was developed rapidly, along with Andover and Tadley, to accommodate part of the London 'overspill' as perceived under the Greater London Plan, 1944. Basingstoke market was mentioned in the Domesday Book and Basingstoke remained a small market town until the 1950s. It still has a regular market, but is now bigger than Hampshire County Council's definition of a market town. Basingstoke is an economic centre, and is the location of the UK headquarters of De La Rue, Sun Life Financial of Canada, The Automobile Association, ST Ericsson, Huawei Technologies, GAME, Motorola, Barracuda Networks, BNP PARIBAS Lease Group UK, the leasing arm of BNP Paribas in the UK, and Sony Professional Solutions (Europe). Other industries include drug manufacture, IT, communications, insurance and electronics.