Awayday Report: Swindon Town
29.07.26, 00:00 Updated 05.08.26, 10:29 4 Minute Read
Herman Wang
Swindon the town doesn’t make the best first impression on a tourist, particularly one arriving by train.
The railway station is dominated by an abandoned 1970s office high rise built over the ticket hall, one of several boarded up buildings in and around the town centre.
Wikipedia informs me that Swindon, the home of the Great Western Rail’s former engineering works, now preserved as the fantastic Steam Museum, reinvented itself in the 21st century by diversifying its economy into insurance and financial services, pharmaceuticals and energy, amongst other industries.
There is scant evidence of this in the heart of the city, with its hanging-on-a-thread retail arcades made only slightly less moribund on this Tuesday by the presence of a shouting street preacher next to the Brunel shopping centre.
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Herman Wang Herman previously ran the Leyton Laureate blog and is a season ticket holder in the North Stand. In addition to writing and editing for the Orientear, he is a RainbOs committee member. In his day job, he is a business journalist and began his career as a sports reporter in the U.S.