Swindon is a large town located in Wiltshire in the South West of England. The town is approximately midway between Bristol (64 km / 40 miles west) and Reading (64 km / 40 miles east) and about 130 km (81 miles) west of London. It is located on the main rail line between London and Bristol, and has one main train station which was refurbished in 2005. It was designated an 'Expanded' Town under the Town Development Act 1952, which led to an increase in the population of the town. It is in the borough of Swindon, which has been a unitary authority independent of Wiltshire since 1998. In the 2001 census the population of the Swindon urban area was 155,432, whilst around 184,000 lived in the Borough, which includes the satellite towns of Highworth and Wroughton. A resident of Swindon is known as a Swindonian. Swindon's motto is "Salubritas et Industria" (Health and Industry). Major employers include the Honda car production plant at South Marston, BMW/Mini in Stratton, mobile phone company Motorola, Dolby Labs and retailer W H Smith which has its distribution centre and headquarters in Swindon. The computer company Intel has its European head office on the south side of the town and Alcatel-Lucent Technologies head office is on the west side. Insurance and financial services companies such as Nationwide Building Society and Zurich Financial Services, and pharmaceutical companies such as Canada's Patheon and the US-based Cardinal Health's have their UK divisions headquartered in the town. Several of the UK's Science Research Councils have their head offices in Polaris House, near the rail station. Swindon is also the location of two Tyco Electronics (a division of Tyco International) sites, based in Dorcan and Cheney Manor. The household products division of consumer goods supplier Reckitt Benckiser – best known for dishwasher detergents, disinfectants and cold remedies has its headquarters in Swindon. More on Swindon 

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