Portal:Hampshire/Selected article/9
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Basingstoke is a large town and third largest settlement in the county of Hampshire in the South East England region of the UK (after the cities of Southampton and Portsmouth). It is situated 77 km (48 miles) southwest of London and 48 km (30 miles) north of Southampton.
Often mistaken as a new town, Basingstoke market was mentioned in the Domesday Book and it remained a market town until the 1950s when it was very rapidly developed to accommodate what was then called the London 'overspill'. Basingstoke is a prosperous town with an above-average standard of living and low unemployment. It is an economic centre, and the location of the UK headquarters of Sun Life Financial of Canada (not to be confused with AXA Sun Life) and of the Automobile Association (which moved to Farnborough and then back again). Other industries include drug manufacture, IT, Communications, insurance and electronics.
