Stevenage

Stevenage is a must for architecture and planning historians, sociologists and socialists to visit, it represents, perhaps, the most successful of the great Post-War experiments with new housing. It was a huge project to relocate those who were displaced by the war in clean, open, and healthy new towns. Its often unattractive architecture is mostly that of the 1960s and 1970s; in this it is perhaps unfortunate, but it was also conceived with a strong vision in mind.

It is easy to write Stevenage off as another soulless new town, and to make stereotypical remarks about it as a place to live, as countless unthinking and lazy commentators have done. But this is to miss what the town offers. Stevenage is like any other UK town, it has its problems and these should not be dismissed, but it also benefits from a good transport infrastructure, wide open spaces, plenty of sporting facilities, a theatre of some reputation and lovely countryside both around it, and within it.

By car:

The A1(M) motorway is the most common road used to get into the town and it runs along the western border of the town, although planned future development of Stevenage may breach this barrier and continue on the other side. The A1(M) stretches 409 mi (658 km) from London to Edinburgh, and roughly follows the path of the famous and historic Great North Road. The other major road connecting Stevenage to the surrounding area is the A602 which connects the town to the A10 and Ware to the Southeast, and Hitchin to the Northwest.

By train:

1 Stevenage train station. The railway station is on Lytton Way in the town centre of Stevenage. The line served is the King's Cross East Coast Main Line, run by LNER, which is a major railway line in the UK. Major stops include: London King's Cross, Cambridge, Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Newcastle, and Edinburgh, as well as London Bridge, East Croydon, Gatwick Airport, Horsham and Brighton. The station is served by LNER, First Hull Trains, Thameslink and Great Northern railway companies. (updated Aug 2020)

By plane:

The nearest airports are London Luton Airport (LTN IATA) (about 10 miles west of Stevenage, easily accessible by the A505 via Hitchin, or buses 101 and 777), and London Stansted Airport (STN IATA) (about 30 miles to the east of Stevenage, accessible by coach 777).

By coach:

National Express Coach 777 from Luton, Birmingham and Stansted Airports stop in Stevenage. Public buses also run frequently from nearby towns and villages (such as Hitchin, Luton, Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield, Hemel Hempstead, Hertford, Ware and Letchworth), to the Stevenage Bus Station in the centre of the town and to Lister Hospital, in the Corey's Mill district of Stevenage.