As we continue to celebrate the Adver’s 160th anniversary we are pleased to present 160 reasons why we love Swindon.

No-one is saying Swindon is perfect and our town has sometimes been criticised for allegedly lacking history, character, heritage and culture.

In the next few stories you will find 160 examples of why the Adver thinks Swindon and the surrounding area has all of these and more.

We celebrate the festivals, institutions, achievements, facilities and environmental aspects that – in the opinion of the newspaper that has served Swindon since 1854 – make this town and its environs a colourful, multi-faceted and community-spirited place to live and work.

11 THE BEEHIVE: In 1988 the Prospect Hill pub put Swindon on the global map when manager Noel Reilly hired the world’s first resident pub philosopher, Czech dissident Dr Julius Tomin. The story went around the world. Other “high culture” events there have included a two hour rendition of Handel’s Messiah by the Swindon Choral Society.

12 BEER FESTIVAL: Launched by real ale fan and local historian Dave Backhouse, the Swindon Beer Festival, organised by the town’s CAMRA branch, has become an eagerly anticipated annual event among beer buffs that has taken place at a variety of venues – from a church to a museum – since 1976.

13 BIG SCREEN: Six years ago the West’s first public news screen flickered into life at Wharf Green, creating an unmistakable town centre focal point. As well as covering news and sports the Swindon Big Screen has relayed a string of major live events ranging from Covent Garden opera to Last Night of the Proms.

14 BISHOPSTONE: The Borough of Swindon’s very own “village that time forgot.” With its duck pond, ancient chalk stone and thatched cottages, haphazard lanes and general absence of street lamps, pavements and kerbs the chocolate box village has hardly changed over the past 200 years.

15 BROOME MANOR GOLF: Swindon boasts a championship standard, 18-hole golf course which also includes a nine-hole course and 34-bay, two-tiered driving range. One of its members, local golfer David Howell twice helped Europe beat the Americans to take the much coveted Ryder Cup.

16 BRUDDEL WOOD: Adjoining The Lawn in Old Town, Swindon’s pocket sized woodland can be found on maps dating from 1600. The four-acre site is home to a myriad of wildlife, from oyster mushrooms to woodpeckers, as well as acting as a corridor for badgers, foxes and hedgehogs.

17 BRUNEL: One of the greatest mechanical minds and civil engineers the world has ever known, the man whose vision revolutionised public transport is inextricably linked to the Great Western Railway that he masterminded, and thus to the history of modern Swindon.

18 CENTRAL LIBRARY: After decades of making do with an embarrassing collection of huts Swindon acquired a custom-built £10 million award winning, energy efficient Central Library in 2008. Council leader Rod Bluh said: "Swindon now has one of the best public libraries in the country.” He wasn’t kidding.

19 CHARLOTTE CORDAY SCULPTURE: One of Swindon’s most beautiful works of art can be found at the former Town Hall in Regent’s Circus… a 19th Century marble sculpture by Pasquale Miglioretti depicting the woman who in 1793 infamously stabbed French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat as he was taking a bath.

20 CHISELDON CAULDRONS: In a muddy field in November, 2004 metal detectorist Peter Hyams unearthed something that the British Museum later described as “gob-smackingly unique” – an unprecedented hoard of a dozen large Celtic ceremonial vessels around 2,000 years old.  A meticulous reconstruction can be found at Chiseldon Museum.  

More to follow