Basingstoke is a town in northeast Hampshire, England. It lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon. It is 48 miles southwest of London, 30 miles northeast of Southampton, 16 miles southwest of Reading, and 19 miles northeast of the county town, Winchester.

Part of the borough of Basingstoke and Deane and part of the parliamentary constituency of Basingstoke.

Basingstoke is often nicknamed “Doughnut City” or “Roundabout City” due to the number of roundabouts.

Often mistaken for a new town, Basingstoke is an old market town expanded in the 1960s as part of a tripartite agreement between London County Council, Hampshire County Council and Basingstoke Borough Council. It was developed rapidly, along with Andover and Tadley, to accommodate part of the London ‘overspill’ as perceived under the Greater London Plan, 1944.