IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Wilson Road, SWINDON, SN25 4YN

The retail park is totally deserted today. I imagine 24 hours earlier this would have total mayhem with last-minute shoppers at the nearby Asda Walmart hyperstore loading up their cars and abandoning their trolleys where they will. The houses in the trees are in Viking Close, north of Thamesdown Drive.

As the town of Swindon has continued its growth to the west and the north, the Borough Council has ensured that provision is made for new public houses to serve the new communities. Thus Swindon probably has had more new pubs in its suburban estates in the last two decades, than any other place of comparable size. Some of these pubs have been converted from farmhouses, others have been new build. The Blunsdon Arms in the north of Swindon is an example of the latter. It belongs to the Ember Inns chain and is the first time they have built a entirely new pub. Although of a traditional design, the pub has an attractive appearance, and seems to be gaining customers since it opened around 2006. As well as stocking several real ales, the pub has a restaurant. Although the pub's address is Thamesdown Drive, its access is from Lady Lane (the B4534). Like all Ember Inns, children under 14 are not admitted, and those 14 or over are only admitted if dining with an adult.

This branch is a large part of a retail park. The car park is huge; so much so that I took the precaution of waymarking where I'd left the car.

Lady Lane is an old country road leading to the village of Blunsdon, which has now been engulfed for much of its length, by the ongoing massive northern expansion of Swindon. Here it is about to plough through some new residential estates. The roundabout is at the junction of Lady Lane with Sandstone Road, and Pennine Way. On the pillars are 20 mph speed restriction signs. These are frequently found in Swindon's new residential areas, and probably will eventually become the norm everywhere.

One of several new pubs built to serve the incoming population of north Swindon.

Nando's is in an unusual triangular building with a sloping roof.

Better known as the Orbital Shopping Park. In addition to all the usual suspects, the park is home to North Swindon branch library. The park has 16 units totalling 212,000 square feet, 990 car parks and claims a footfall of 5 million per annum.

This thoroughfare is between the two main buildings and is reserved for buses. The small blue panels on the left tell the story of the aircraft industry which used to be here.

The central thoroughfare is for buses only. It wasn't particularly deserted here today, but it's a big place so it takes more to get crowded than some of these places.