THE mayor of Swindon has slammed a magazine author for describing Swindon as the "ugliest and most soul destroying town" in England.

Councillor Michael Barnes (Lab, Western), said it was appalling anyone would take a swipe at Swindon as people in the town are proud of their heritage.

Dylan Jones, editor of GQ magazine, made the comments during a Mail on Sunday article.

He was speaking about his experience in the town after getting lost en route to somewhere else.

During his diatribe he initially set his sights on Swindon's infrastructure, suggesting the town be renamed Roundaboutland.

He also questioned why Swindon has become a metaphor for all things naff' after referring to the Swindon lot' immortalised in the sitcom The Office.

He said: "I can say for the record that on first impressions Swindon in all its Pebbledash and Anaglypta glory has to be the ugliest and most soul destroying place in England.

"The place is so drab you think this must be the place where NCP car parks come to die.

"After driving around Swindon for about 40 minutes I began to wonder whether the town had been turned into some sort of roundabout theme park."

However, Mr Jones does warm up to the town later on in the piece where he recognises that Swindon is the second safest place to live in England and has a collective and ingrained sense of self-deprecation'.

Mr Barnes, who extended an invitation to the columnist in order to show him the real Swindon, believes the town has a lot to be proud of.

He said: "I would first of all like to invite him for a tour so that he can make an informed judgement on the town.

"Swindon is a very tolerant and peaceful place to live, we have a lot of diverse comm-unities and we do a great job of getting along.

"Although he does say a few good things, I would say that the borough has a lot more to offer than that.

"I would dispute that it is the ugliest town in England.

"And it is far from soul destroying, it is a terrific place to live, the people are what make this town great and they are proud of where they come from."

Mr Jones says the article was written so that the people of Swindon would stand-up for themselves.

He said: "The article was totally tongue in cheek and was written to draw attention to the fact that Swindon is unfairly demonised.

"The piece was absolutely not written as a slight, it was written to achieve the opposite effect.

"Swindon should stand up for itself a bit more!"