Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...

Hatch Warren Hatch Warren is a district and ward of Basingstoke in Hampshire, England. The population of the appropriate ward called Hatch Warren and Beggarwood was 9,284 at the 2011 Census. It is situated west of the town centre and neighbouring housing ...

Viables Viables is a district of Basingstoke, England, that was formed around 1970 as part of the Basingstoke Town Centre Development Plan. The area is mostly made up of industry such as crafting centres,Cranbourne area. The area to the east is a lot older than Brighton Hill itself. The M3 motorway runs in a straight line to the south of the area, directly next to the southern ebb of Brighton Hill, which sometimes is referred to as Old Hatchwarren.

Origin of the name

The earliest mention of the Brighton Hill name found so far was on a map dated 1877. However, this seems to relate to a cottage or some other building, situated just over halfway between Hatch Warren Farm (at the rear of the 'Portsmouth Arms' public house) and where the then Hatch Warren Lane and Winchester Road (now the A30) joined at a crossroads. An excerpt of map is shown here: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/mapsheet.aspx?compid=55119&sheetid=3770&ox=2671&oy=2821&zm=1&czm=1&x=363&y=235 The place marked as Brighton Hill on the 1877 map would roughly at the rear of Hatchwarren School, at the junction between the footpaths. As the map shows, one such footpath was the original Hatch Warren Lane in the area, the other links Brighton Hill with Hatch Warren.

Original layout

Before the estate was built, the area was almost entirely farmland. The current Hatchwarren Lane, and Beggarwood Lane runs on the site of the original country lanes, which crossed the

Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway The Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway was opened in 1901, by the London and South Western Railway. It was the first English railway authorised under Light Railway legislation. It ran through unpromising, lightly populated terrain, and was prob ...

where Viables Roundabout is today. A section of track lies in the middle of the roundabout, as a permanent reminder of the railway. Cranbourne Lane carried on into Basingstoke Town Centre, passing many agricultural nurseries on the way. At the railway crossing, there was a junction with a road, now known as The Harrow Way but in times gone by, The Basingstoke Bypass. This road stretched from the junction with the road to

Alton Alton may refer to: People *Alton (given name) *Alton (surname) Places Australia *Alton National Park, Queensland * Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne Canada * Alton, Ontario *Alton, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Alton, New Zealand, ...

(now A339) from Hackwood Lane, to the

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

Road ( A30). The A30 route from Basingstoke Town Centre runs to a very similar alignment today, the main difference being a diversion behind Brighton Hill Community School, to allow for building of a retail park. The only real housing in the area was in a street known as Cumberland Avenue, at the time completely surrounded by fields. The road exists today and is a very unusual place in Brighton Hill. The Willis Museum features many articles relating to the history of Basingstoke and its suburbs; visit the website at: https://web.archive.org/web/20071209194451/http://www3.hants.gov.uk/museum/willis-museum/local-studies-willis.htm .

Housing growth

The first section of Brighton Hill to be completed was the Quilter Road area, with much of the ex — council housing from Haydn Road in the west, to Wagner Close in the east following soon after. Part of this development was a number of medium-sized tower blocks, namely in Verdi Close, Mozart Close and Schubert Road. These had been demolished by the early 1990s and replaced with more modern houses. One large development was the private sector housing, stretching from Handel Close in the west, to Porter Road to the east. This was completed by the mid 1970s and filled in all the former farmland in the Hatchwarren Lane/Harrow Way/Winchester Road square. The remainder of the space adjacent to Winchester Road was occupied by Brighton Hill School — now known as Brighton Hill Community College. Many new roads were constructed, Brighton Way and Gershwin Road being very important feeder roads to the new housing. It is important not to forget the development on the south west side of the estate, consisting of Bach Close and Novello Close. Later additions included the

Guinness Trust The Guinness Partnership is one of the largest providers of affordable housing and care in England. Founded as a charitable trust in 1890, it is now a Community Benefit Society with eight members. Bloomberg classify it as a real estate owner an ...

development, from Beecham Berry in the south to Boyce Close and Copland Close in the north. This development filled more of the gaps left, with Boyce Close and Copland Close in quite close proximity to the A30 Winchester Road. Tallis Gardens was created from part of the Chalk Ridge Primary School playing field in around 1990, and at a similar time a housing development took place on Gershwin Road, in addition to a new school, Hatchwarren Junior and Infant School. Numerous small developments were also added, such as Vivaldi Close and Gershwin Court, a

sheltered housing Sheltered housing is a term covering a wide range of rented housing for older and/or disabled or other vulnerable people. In the United Kingdom most commonly it refers to grouped housing such as a block or "scheme" of flats or bungalows with a sch ...

area.

Education

Brighton Hill was eventually provided with no less than one secondary school, and four rimaryschools. The secondary school is now known as Brighton Hill Community School, opening in 1975 and the primary schools are Manorfield School, Chalk Ridge School and Hatchwarren School. Beechdown School which was largely destroyed by fire in November 2000, and now remains closed. The area has now been redeveloped with housing, Brighton Hill pre-School uses part of what remained from the old Beechdown School. Queen Mary's College is around a 20-minute walk from Brighton Hill, nearby to the Town Centre. Transport links have always been provided for those in further education. The town's

technical college An institute of technology (also referred to as: technological university, technical university, university of technology, technological educational institute, technical college, polytechnic university or just polytechnic) is an institution of te ...

is also near to

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...

Town Centre.

Leisure and entertainment

One popular destination for many of Brighton Hill's residents was the Pig and Whistle public house, sited near the junction with Chopin Road and Brighton Way. This was closed in 2000 (after many years of public order problems) in preparation for the clearance of the former shopping precinct. No replacement was provided. The last owners were the

Scottish & Newcastle Scottish & Newcastle plc was a brewing company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, which expanded from its home base to become an international business with beer volumes growing almost tenfold. The company was listed on the London Stock Exc ...

brewery. One very popular attraction was the Davies Snooker Centre, which was at first floor level in the place now occupied by the Girlzone Gym. This become known as Premiers, and then as Cosys before finally closing. One of the Davies Snooker Centre's former tables, table five, now resides in the Kestrel

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

in

Kempshott Kempshott is a ward of Basingstoke on the western edge of the town, to the south of Pack Lane (part of the Harrow Way)and north of Winchester Road. The population of the ward at the 2011 Census was 6,827. History The manor of Kempshott belonged t ...

.

Eric Bristow Eric John Bristow, (25 April 1957 – 5 April 2018), nicknamed "The Crafty Cockney", was an English professional darts player. He was ranked World No. 1 by the World Darts Federation a record five times, in 1980, 1981 and 1983–1985. He was ...

is reputed to have practiced his skills at the DSC on occasion. While under the Premiers label, a large

Scalextric Scalextric is a brand of slot car racing sets which first appeared in the late 1950s. The Scalextric were first invented by engineer B. Fred Francis, when he added an electric motor to the ''Scalex'' tin cars that were produced by Minimodels Lt ...

track was built, with regulars racing the model cars round the vast track. This was featured in the ''

Basingstoke Gazette The ''Basingstoke Gazette'' is a local newspaper for Basingstoke, Hampshire, England. The newspaper is published once a week, on a Thursday. A Wednesday edition branded as the ''Basingstoke Extra'', distributed free of charge, ceased to be publis ...

'' when new. The main drinking establishment currently remaining on the estate is the Brighton Hill Community Association. This is a place that requires membership, in the same way as many others, such as working men's clubs. The building is used in the daytime by a play school, and normally opens at 1900 every day. Exceptions are Fridays and weekends. The former Stag and Hounds public house is nearby to Brighton Hill, being situated by the Brighton Hill Roundabout on the former A30. The later diversion of the road passes behind the building. his has long been taken over by the Harvester chain, and a ''Travelodge'' Inn has been built nearby. A similar establishment is nearby to the A30, opposite to the

Guinness Trust The Guinness Partnership is one of the largest providers of affordable housing and care in England. Founded as a charitable trust in 1890, it is now a Community Benefit Society with eight members. Bloomberg classify it as a real estate owner an ...

development, at Down Grange. For those seeking other forms of leisure, Brighton Hill was supplied with plentiful green spaces and open areas. There is a lot of land used as playing fields in the area. An adventure playground exists in the large green area near the M3 motorway, at the southern end of Hatchwarren Lane. Many

playgrounds A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people w ...

were provided in residential areas, but most have been removed amid safety fears. Viables Craft Centre is near to the estate, with regular runnings on the

miniature railway A ridable miniature railway (US: riding railroad or grand scale railroad) is a large scale, usually ground-level railway that hauls passengers using locomotives that are often models of full-sized railway locomotives (powered by diesel or petrol ...

line and

craft fairs A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale prod ...

.

Brighton Hill Centre and retail areas

Brighton Hill Centre was built along with much of the housing development in the area. This consisted of shops and a supermarket, along with the Pig and Whistle

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

. Plentiful car parking was provided, and in years gone by Brighton Hill Centre had a traditional greengrocer and a butcher's shop, a council office and the

Unwins Unwins was a Kent-based chain of 381 off-licences selling alcoholic beverages, with outlets focused on London and the South East. Unwins was founded in 1843, and went insolvent on 19 December 2005. 200 of the former Unwin stores were subsequent ...

off licence Off or OFF may refer to: Art and entertainment *Off (video game), ''Off'' (video game), a video game by Mortis Ghost. *Sven Väth, German DJ and singer who uses the pseudonym OFF *Off (album), ''Off'' (album), by Ciwan Haco, 2006 *Off! (album), ' ...

. These are now long gone. When the supermarket was first opened,

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company wa ...

traded there, closing the store when the Hatch Warren branch opened in 1988. Hatch Warren is a much bigger store, and provides more range than the Brighton Hill one did. After Sainsbury's moved on, the building was empty for 18 months until Robert Greig opened there in May 1990. Robert Greig remained there for just over 8 years, until its closure in July 1998. After this, the building was left empty until its demolition. The local doctors surgery, the Gillies Health Centre, was provided within the centre complex, and the original building was demolished in 2002. Surgery continued in a temporary Portakabin structure until the new surgery was opened in 2004. The new one is on the site of the original and is also the base for The Life Right Centre for Good Health & Wellbeing, Life Right Wellbeing Retreats and The Life Right Foundation, Basingstoke's only dedicated children's charity, providing grants to disadvantaged children who have suffered abuse, neglect or trauma. The supermarket is open to 10:00 PM from 07:00 AM Monday to Saturday, Sunday it is open from 10:00 AM to 04:00 PM. A Post Office had always been provided at Brighton Hill Centre until its closure in June 2008.Restructuring

Public toilets A public toilet, restroom, public bathroom or washroom is a room or small building with toilets (or urinals) and sinks for use by the general public. The facilities are available to customers, travelers, employees of a business, school pupils ...

were provided adjacent to the doctors surgery, but these fell into disrepair and were taken out of use in the late 1980s. At present there are only eleven public conveniences in the

Basingstoke and Deane Basingstoke and Deane is a local government district and borough in Hampshire, England. Its primary settlement is Basingstoke. Other settlements include Bramley, Tadley, Kingsclere, Overton, Oakley, Whitchurch and the village of Deane, some ...

area, and a considerable number are outside of the town. Misselbrook and Weston opened a shop on Stanford Road in the 1980s, this is now under the

One Stop Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

brand. Much retail development has taken around the estate, with the area by Brighton Hill Roundabout seeing much change. The former Smiths Industries site has become a

retail park A retail park is a type of shopping centre found on the fringes of most large towns and cities in the United Kingdom and other European countries. They form a key aspect of European retail geographies, alongside indoor shopping centres, standalo ...

, featuring some quite large units. The largest is the

Toys R Us A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include Toy block, toy blocks, Board game, board games, and Doll, dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed sp ...

shop, and

Harveys Furniture Harveys Furniture was a British retail chain, specialising in living room and dining room furniture, and was once the largest furniture specialist in the United Kingdom, with over 150 stores. History Harveys Furniture was established in the U ...

in large units. Staples, Carpet Right and a Currys PC World Superstore are also at the site. There is also a

Pizza Hut Pizza Hut is an American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney. They serve their signature pan pizza and other dishes including pasta, breadsticks and dessert at d ...

and a

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

at the retail park. Nearby a development has taken place by the A30 Winchester Road, with

Homebase Homebase is a British home improvement retailer and garden centre with stores across the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. Founded by Sainsbury's and GB-Inno-BM in 1979, the company was owned by Home Retail Group from October 2006, unti ...

, Hobby Craft, Axminster, Home Bargains & a Harvester and Travelodge as prominent features.

Public transport

Bus transport for many years was provided by the National Bus Company, under the Hampshire Bus name. Long ago public transport along the A30 was provided by the

Hants and Dorset Hants & Dorset Motor Services was a stage carriage bus service operator in southern England between 1920 and 1983. Early history In 1916, the British Automobile Traction Company and others formed the Bournemouth & District Motor Services Limi ...

bus company, but this predates much development in the area. After the

privatisation Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

of the bus industry, services are run in the area by

Stagecoach South Stagecoach South is a bus operator providing services in South East England. It is a subsidiary of Stagecoach. It operates services in Hampshire, Surrey, and Sussex with some routes extending into Brighton and Wiltshire. It operates 487 buses fr ...

. Former notable bus routes were the 39, 40, 50 and 59, although much of this network was considerably altered in the year 2000. Bus routes for the estate are now served by routes 1 and 12, the former serving Brighton Hill at a twelve minute frequency for most of the time. Exceptions are on Sundays/Bank Holidays and in evenings. Route 12 operates hourly. Of the two routes, route 1 is seen as the more popular route for the Town Centre, operating direct via Winchester Road, whereas the 12 runs via Cranbourne before reaching the Town Centre.

Decline

After the closure of the local supermarket the shopping precinct became run down and vandalised. Some shops closed down over this period. Many residents did not feel safe using the area, particularly at night.

All change

In the early 2000s there were rumours of a complete overhaul of the Brighton Hill Centre, and surrounding areas. Many residents were

sceptical Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the pe ...

and morale at the time was low. For what seemed like a very long time, Brighton Hill was missing out on many basic features, one example is the lack of cashpoint in the area, the nearest being around two miles away. Provisions in the

convenience stores A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...

in the area were a lot more expensive than those in the supermarket, particularly affecting the elderly and disabled who found it harder to travel further than the estate. The general atmosphere in the area did not do much to lift residents' spirits at this stage in time. However, in 2002 the demolition of the former supermarket began. This involved digging up car parking and also demolition of the Pig and Whistle public house, by this time closed. The work also involved filling in of 'subways' under roads in the immediate area and new crossings provided. This was as the former subways were often inhabited by youths and were seen by residents as intimidating places. Additional footpaths were built, particularly in the green area behind the precinct and also a new playground built at a higher level than the previous one. Bus stops nearby were lengthened to accommodate two buses easily and two new roundabouts constructed, adding to the 'Doughnut City' label

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...

has already. Much of the site has been taken over by the

Asda Asda Stores Ltd. () (often styled as ASDA) is a British supermarket chain. It is headquartered in Leeds, England. The company was founded in 1949 when the Asquith family merged their retail business with the Associated Dairies company of York ...

supermarket and associated parking spaces.

Brighton Hill today

Brighton Hill Centre is now a busy and thriving place, with much trade passing through the Asda supermarket, which opened in June 2003. The redevelopment seen in the early part of the 2000s has brightened up the shopping area immensely, and improved much morale in the surrounding area. With good shopping facilities, private healthcare centre (Life Right Centre for Good Health & Wellbeing) and good transport links, Brighton Hill has much to offer. There are many food outlets and variety in the different premises at the centre. Also general upkeep and maintenance is done to a high standard by the local council.

Local government

Despite Basingstoke having a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

MP, Maria Miller, Brighton Hill is a

Liberal Democrat Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties ...

and

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

-run ward. The ward is split into two areas, Brighton Hill South and Brighton Hill North. The Southern part of the ward has John Barnes (

Liberal Democrat Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties ...

) and David Eyre (

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

) as local

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

. The North part of the ward has Brian Gurden (

Liberal Democrat Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties ...

) and Carolyn Wooldridge (

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

) as local

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

. The boundary is generally along Quilter Road and Brighton Way. Links to local government figures are provided below: https://web.archive.org/web/20071030125320/http://www.mariamiller.co.uk/type2.asp?id=59&type=2 – the page for Maria Miller MP https://web.archive.org/web/20070823193629/http://councillor.basingstoke.gov.uk/JohnBarnes/ — the page for Cllr Barnes https://web.archive.org/web/20120513055033/http://councillor.basingstoke.gov.uk/briangurden — the page for Cllr Gurden

Notable people

* Ashna Rabheru, actress

References

{{Basingstoke and Deane Areas of Basingstoke