WH SMITH is currently being helped by the borough council to find a new Swindon HQ.

Its familiar Greenbridge distribution centre and warehouse complex has been described as no longer fit for purpose, and more than 130 homes could eventually be built on the site.

This week 51 years ago, though, the building was so new that it was merely a futuristic architect’s model. The structure itself wouldn’t be completed until 1967.

In early February of 1965 we wrote: “A new £2m warehouse and office block, with possible jobs for hundreds of people, is being built in Swindon by WH Smith and Son Ltd.

“The firm, Britain’s leading newspaper, periodical and book distributor, announced today that it is moving from London to open its new distributing headquarters in Swindon.”

In those days, even the spelling of the planned location had yet to be formally settled on.

“The new headquarters,” we said, “will be built in Drakes Way-Dorcan Way on the Green Bridge industrial estate. The main building will have 240,000 square feet of floor space.

“The decision to come to Swindon was made after the existing distributing centre in Bridge House, London, became almost impossible to operate because of increasing traffic chaos and congestion.

“Smiths feel that in Swindon they have found the perfect answer. The town was chosen because of its central location and the easy access to all parts of the country.”

Although the firm expected to employ a lot of local people, it also invited its 1,000 Bridge House workers to consider moving. They were issued with a 20-page brochure called The Move to Swindon.

If a Rewind reader has a copy, we’d be delighted to see it.

Turning from a planned modern building to one which was nearly complete, there was worrying news from elsewhere in the town.

We reported: “Swindon’s multi-million pound Princess Margaret Hospital has hit a ‘chilly’ snag which could hold up its completion for another three months.

“Most of the windows in the £1 ½ m Stage Two block are fitting badly and as a result patients cannot be moved in as planned.

“Apart from the problem of the windows, Stage Two is almost two years behind in construction, Mr WJ Lewis, secretary of the Swindon Hospital Management committee, told an Advertiser reporter today.”

We added: “The draughty windows were discovered when the Men’s Orthopaedic department moved into the new block. A howling gale the same day had nurses and staff attempting to stop up half-inch gaps around 20ft and 8ft windows.”

Architects Powell and Moya, whose CV included the iconic Skylon at the 1951 Festival of Britain, said a sub-contractor had taken responsibility for the defective windows.

Princess Margaret Hospital would barely see out the end of the century, and its eventual appointment with the wrecking ball would go largely unmourned. Today the site is occupied by the houses of Angel Ridge.

Yet another story involving architecture we ran that week was of a different kind altogether.

It is rightly taken for granted now that new buildings should be accessible and useable by all, but on 1965 the concept was still novel.

“It cost thousands of pounds to build, we said, but to a young Haydon Wick couple it is a dream come true,” we wrote.

We explained that a bungalow in High Street, occupied by a Mr and Mrs Selman, was a home with difference, although it didn’t seem so from the outside.

Then, using terminology in common use at the time although jaw-dropping by today’s standards, we said: “Inside, the difference is soon noticeable, for 28-year-old Alan and his wife Doreen are cripples.”

The old Highworth Rural Council built the bespoke home for the couple, both wheelchair users, following consultations with an organisation called the Central Council for the Care of Cripples.

Features included light switches fixed below and wall sockets fixed above the usual height and lowered work surfaces. A double garage was able to hold two Invacars, the baby blue three-wheeled deathtraps which used to be the only vehicle available to most people with disabilities.

The couple were delighted by their new home, the first of five of its kind planned by the rural council.

“I have been inside and think it’s just the job,” said Mr Selman. “Doreen thinks it is marvellous. It will make things a lot easier.”

Attitudes toward people with disabilities weren’t the only ones which seem strange from the vantage point of 2016.

This week in 1965, commercial breaks still featured adverts for cigarettes. Amid fears that this encouraged young people to take up what was increasingly being recognised as a dangerous habit, a ban on those commercials had been announced which would become law later in the year.

The health issues surrounding smoking were only just becoming common knowledge.

We asked some young smokers for their views.

“I don’t think the ban will have the slightest effect,” said Susan Gosling, 17, of Croft Road. She was a non-smoker but her view was shared by young smokers.

Nobody we spoke to said they were tempted by adverts, but many said they had begun smoking because that was simply what a person did as they grew older.

Friends David Liles, 16, from Upper Stratton, and David Turner, also 16, from Penhill, said friends and family had invited them to try their first cigarettes.