Nightlife

By day it fades effortlessly into the landscape of shops, banks and cafes, but by night it takes on a life of its own.

Swindon Town Centre is the place of choice for the town's partying tendency, and its undisputed epicentre is Bridge Street.

Older generations may have got into the habit of calling this area 'the bottom of town', but it's now much more appropriate to think of it in terms of any earlier name, which was The Centre. As far as Swindon's party animals are concerned, this is where it happens.

Venues with names such as The Lava Lounge tempt the revelers, along with the expensively refurbished Liquid & Envy. Generations of local folk came to love this as The Brunel Rooms, but since it was born again, Liquid & Envy has come to symbolise a new era in after-dark excitement - where being young is celebrated in a way that only those who are young know how.

The excitement spills out of Bridge Street into Fleet Street and beyond, where hugely popular pubs go hand-in-hand with lively eating places - and people of all ages congregate to soak up the atmosphere.