The most typical place in Britain is Basildon
The Economist has crunched the numbers to find the most median spot in the country
Basildon, a town about 40km to the east of London, was supposed to be a Utopia. In 1948 Lewis Silkin, the then minister for town-and-country planning, proclaimed that “Basildon will become a city which people from all over the world will want to visit”. Seventy-five years later those hoped-for visitors from around the globe have failed to arrive—and standing in the town centre on a windy and wet October day, it is hard to imagine why any would choose to come here.
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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Magic town”
Britain October 28th 2023
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From the October 28th 2023 edition
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