LifeStyle
The Basingstoke Sports Centre in Festival Place exists to improve the health and welfare of the community. It underwent a fantastic redevelopment recently that makes it one of the most exiting and modern health and fitness venues in the region. With new fully air-conditioned gyms and aerobics studios there is a particularly strong emphasis on health and fitness.
Outside the town centre there is a leisure park featuring the Aquadrome swimming pool, an ice rink, bowling alley and cinema. The leisure park is home to the Milestones Museum which contains a network of streets and buildings based on the history of Hampshire.
Basingstoke has its own football team, Basingstoke Town Football Club, who currently play in the Nationwide Conference South. The rugby club play in Rugby Football Union's National 3 South League, and the Basingstoke Bison ice hockey team play in the Elite Ice Hockey League. Basingstoke also has a swimming team, known as the Basingstoke Bluefins. The diversity of sporting activity in the area is illustrated by organisations such as Basingstoke Demons Floorball Club and Basingstoke Bulls Korfball Club. The home ground of Basingstoke & North Hants Cricket Club, Mays Bounty, was until 2000 used once a season by Hampshire County Cricket Club. Cricket legends such as Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkar as well as Ashes winners Michael Vaughan, Steve Harmison and Matthew Hoggard have graced the ground. The borough is also a centre of the horse racing industry, with two racing stables and several studs. Newbury racecourse is just outside the northern boundary of the Borough.
Festival Place Shopping Centre was opened in autumn 2002, giving a huge boost to the town centre, transforming the former The Walks Shopping Centre and the New Market Square . Aside from a wide range of shops, including nationwide department stores, there is also a range of cafés and restaurants as well as a large multi-screen cinema.
Basingstoke has two further shopping areas: The Malls and Top of Town. The Malls, which contains the remnants of the 1960s shopping district, houses other big names as well as locally run shops and there are now plans for regeneration of this area following the dominance of Festival Place. Plans were recently announced for The Malls including a hotel complex which would be part of a new group of buildings above the The Malls. The Top of Town is the historic heart of Basingstoke, housing the Willis Museum and the Haymarket Theatre.
The town's nightlife is split fairly evenly between the new Festival Square, and the traditional hostelries at the Top of Town, with many local community pubs outside the central area. Basingstoke town centre is also home to a modern concert hall, The Anvil, which is renowned for its acoustics.