Basingstoke in the 1960s

In the early 1960s there was a plan for the LCC (and then the GLC) to build a new town in Hampshire, in Hook. It was intended to be a super-modern new town in the style of Cumbernauld in Scotland. When plans for it were thrown out, nearby Basingstoke was granted permission to expand instead.

Because of this Basingstoke became one of those towns, like Croydon and Birmingham, that became synonymous with the sixties concrete of postwar planning. By the mid-sixties there were almost 5,000 people a year moving to the ancient market town, which had until recently housed just 33,000. And so facilities were urgently needed alongside all the new homes that were being built. These days nearly 85,000 people live there.

Here is a great little bit of home movie film of Basingstoke from the late 1960s. It captures the shopping centre, the skyline and the architecture of the period perfectly.