An international publication has branded a Wiltshire town as ‘properly gorgeous’ amid a campaign to restore a direct rail link to the capital.
Time Out Magazine has branded Trowbridge a ‘beautiful town’ alongside its west Wiltshire conurbation Bradford on Avon as it picks up coverage of the campaign to bring back the axed south west Wiltshire to London train service.
The story was reported in this paper in early July, but Time Out’s more recent coverage has now brought this local issue to national attention – and also made it clear on a national stage what Wiltshire’s county town has to offer, especially to curious Londoners.
Opening the discussion with the county at large, and then ticking off the usual Wiltshire bucket list of stone circles and white horses, the article’s author writes: “But did you know that this area of southwest England is also home to some properly gorgeous old towns?
“And two of them could be about to get much easier for Londoners to visit. Local campaigners have called for direct rail links from the capital to Trowbridge and Bradford-on-Avon to be reinstated.”
The author continues: “Historic weavers' cottages pepper Bradford-on-Avon, which is full of Georgian architecture. Its riverbank is lined with 19th-century former cloth mills, and beyond historical sites, it’s also home to a wealth of independent shops, restaurants, bars and cafés.
“Trowbridge, once known for its thriving woollen cloth industry, boasts big green spaces and a museum dedicated to textiles and 1,000 years of local history housed inside a former mill.”
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— Wiltshire Times (@wiltshiretimes) April 13, 2026
As reported in this paper in 2021, the Department for Transport had agreed to South Western Railway’s (SWR) proposals to cut direct trains from Bristol, Keynsham, Bath, Bradford-on-Avon and Trowbridge to London Waterloo via Salisbury in December of that year.
This summer, a swathe of prominent local figures and campaigners called for its reinstatement.
They argue that there would be no large costs associated with getting the direct service up and running again, and that there will be a tangible economic benefit to attracting quality employers to the region with stronger links to the capital.
South West Wiltshire MP Dr Andrew Murrison was among those calling for the return of the direct link, telling this paper: “Trowbridge needs to attract high quality employers and compete with areas that this government is more interested in. My TechTrowbridge campaign aims to do that.
“It would be so much easier to attract the businesses of the future if the county town had a fast, reliable, preferably direct, service to the capital.”
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