Gorse Hill
Swindon 010 · 4 sub-areas · 7,617 residents
Swindon 010 is a mixed residential area within Swindon, home to around 7,600 people. A typical two-bedroom home rents for about £974 a month — noticeably below the UK median for a 2-bed — making it one of the more affordable corners of a town that already sits well under London prices. The commuter rail link puts central London roughly an hour away.
Gorse Hill is a commuter neighbourhood within Swindon — train into Bristol runs in around 42 minutes, and the rhythm of weekday mornings is shaped by it.
Overview
What's it like to live in Gorse Hill?
2 parks and 1 playgrounds are within five minutes' walk, so greenspace is reliably close at hand; Crime sits around the national average — neither a notable concern nor a notable selling point; Public transport is genuinely strong; most errands and a fair share of social life don't need a car; rents are roughly in line with the national norm, at around £1,082 a month for a typical home; gigabit broadband is effectively universal.
Generated from the latest May 2026 data · refreshed automatically
Figures are aggregated across 4 sub-areas — population-weighted means for rates, sums for counts. Sources cited beneath each section.
Gorse Hill in Swindon
Living in Gorse Hill
This part of Swindon sits in the lower-to-mid range of the town's rental market, and that affordability is the defining thing about it. You're not in the most polished corner of the South West, but you get solid space for your money and a genuinely mixed community around you.
Rents here rose around 3.3% over the past year — moderate by recent UK standards — and with a median purchase price of roughly £244,000, the area sits at the cheaper end of South West England. First-time buyers looking to get on the ladder will find deposit timelines of under four years at a median salary, which is meaningfully faster than most of the region.
Just over half the residents own their home, and nearly one in five are in social housing — a higher social tenure share than most South West towns. That mix shapes the neighbourhood's feel: it's not predominantly a rentier enclave, and the community has a settled, long-term quality in places. Around one in four households does rent privately. The under-18 share is relatively high at just over 21%, so there are families here, and the greenspace picture backs that up — roughly three-quarters of residents are within a short walk of green space, with the nearest patch just 230 metres away on average.
For commuters, Swindon's mainline station is approximately 1.1 km from the heart of this area — about a 14-minute walk — with fast trains to London Paddington bringing the capital within an hour by rail. That makes this part of Swindon genuinely viable for London workers priced out of the Home Counties, and the commuter town flag in the data reflects that pattern clearly. Just over half of residents drive to work, with only around 11% using public transport.
For the sub-areas and streets within Swindon 010, see the streets and sub-areas listed below.
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Frequently asked
- Is Swindon 010 a nice place to live?
- It depends what you're after. You get solid space for the money, genuine greenspace access, and a diverse, mixed community. The trade-off is a crime rate above the national average and a below-average share of highly rated nearby schools. For commuters to London it offers real value — under an hour on the train at well under London-fringe prices.
- What is the rent in Swindon 010?
- A one-bedroom typically runs around £809 a month, a two-bedroom about £974, and a three-bedroom roughly £1,201. These are estimates scaled from council-level data using local sale prices. Rents rose around 3.3% in the past year — moderate by recent UK standards.
- Is Swindon 010 safe?
- The crime rate is around 96 incidents per 1,000 residents a year, which is above the UK national rate of roughly 80. It's not an extreme outlier, but it's elevated. Patterns typical of mixed urban areas — anti-social behaviour and acquisitive crime — tend to drive the figure. Some pockets are quieter than others.
- What's the commute from Swindon 010 to London?
- Around 61 minutes by rail to London Paddington. The nearest mainline station is approximately 1.1 km away — about a 14-minute walk. It's one of the faster connections out of Swindon, which is why the area attracts commuters priced out of the Home Counties.
- Who lives in Swindon 010?
- A genuinely mixed community — about 55% owner-occupiers, 26% private renters, and 17% in social housing. The ethnic diversity index is notably high for the South West. There's a solid family presence, with just over one in five residents under 18. Around a third of households are single-person.
- What schools are near Swindon 010?
- There are 69 schools within 2 km, but only around 46% are rated Good or Outstanding — well below the national share of about 89%. The nearest Outstanding-rated school is just over 2 km away. It's worth checking current catchment boundaries carefully before assuming proximity means access.
- Is Swindon 010 good for first-time buyers?
- The median home price is around £244,000, and at a median local salary the deposit timeline works out to roughly 3.7 years. That's faster than most of the South West and well under London-commuter-belt timelines — making it one of the more realistic options for buyers who need rail access to the capital.