30 Things You May Not Know About Basingstoke

Whether you live or work in the Basingstoke & Deane area already or not, here are a few things you might not know:

1. Basingstoke is the 12th best place to live in the country (2007 data).
   
2. Council Tax in Basingstoke and Deane is the 7th lowest of all district councils in the country.
3. 30% of residents regularly volunteer.
4. Festival Place was featured by Jeremy Clarkson in BBC’s Top Gear TV show in November 2008.
5. Basingstoke is just 45 minutes from the centre of London via train to London Waterloo.
6. 84% of Basingstoke residents agree it’s a great place to live.
7. In the first six months of 2007/08, crime in the Borough fell by just under 10% compared with corresponding period in 2006/07.
   
8. Basingstoke has been identified as a diamond for growth giving it access to substantial Government funds.
9. Fanum House (the AA) is the tallest building between London and New York.
10. Basingstoke canal is home to Britain's largest bat colony.
11. Basingstoke's banana ripening warehouse is the largest in Europe.
12. The longest residential thatch in the country is at Freefolk.
    
13. Basingstoke features in Shakespeare’s King Henry IV (Part II).
14. Basingstoke or Basingestoches is mentioned in the Domesday Book.
    
15. Nearly 79% employment rate, one of the highest in the region.
16. Home to one of top wine merchants in the country.
17. Basing House, in its time, was larger and greater than any of the king’s palaces.
18. Jane Austen was born in Steventon in 1775. She wrote Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey while at Steventon.
19. Thomas Hardy referred to Basingstoke in his novel Jude the Obscure under the  pseudonym Stoke-Barehills.
    
20. Richard Adams' novel, Watership Down is set on the area of the same name close to Kingsclere.
21. Basingstoke is within 45 minutes drive of Heathrow, one hour drive from Gatwick and the major sea ports.
22. There are 6,400 businesses in Basingstoke & Deane employing 75,000 people.
23. 30 of Hampshire’s top companies are based in Basingstoke.
24. 30% of residents are educated to degree level.
25. Lead sectors in Telecoms, Finance, Pharmaceutical, IT and other business activities.
26. High employee retention rates with 67% of residents working in the Borough.
27. Basingstoke has some of the lowest commercial property rents in the region.
28. Festival Place has won many awards, among them the prestigious 'Loo of the Year' Award.
29. Basingstoke and Deane won a Silver Gilt Award at the South & South East's 'In Bloom' Awards 2007 and 2008.
30. 75% of residents describe their health as 'good' - higher that regional or national averages.