Melksham

Melksham is a small town in Wiltshire. It is not most people's idea of a tourist destination. Originally an Anglo-Saxon settlement (milk town) Melksham became one of Wiltshire's industrial towns and grew on the back of the Avon (locally pronounced as Avun) rubber factory.

Most of the interesting buildings in the area were demolished when the Avon factory expanded and in the re-development of the town centre in the 1960s, which has left Melksham a pretty bleak place.

It is by population (23,000) the 5th largest town in Wiltshire after Swindon, Salisbury, Chippenham & Trowbridge, but it has few amenities.

By road
Melksham is situated on the main North/South A350 trunk road. It can be reached by leaving the M4 at J17 and following the A350 south for approx 10 miles (16 km).

By train
is served by 2 trains per day on the Swindon - Southampton line. The train station is commonly known as 'the bus stop' due to its small size and appearance of a bus shelter.

By bus
Melksham is served by buses from Bath, Chippenham, Trowbridge & Devizes on a regular basis.

By plane
The nearest airport to the town is. is 1 hr 30 min away.

Get around
The town centre is small enough to walk around.

Eat


Melksham also has 3 Indian restaurants, 2 Chinese restaurants (Lee's Chinese on Beanacre Road is excellent) and countless kebab shops, etc.



Drink
Beware of drunken idiots on weekend nights as Melksham is famous for it. The town was once named in a list of the top 10 most violent places in the UK.



Sleep


There are also several B & Bs located in the town.

Go next

 * Nearby you have the National Trust Village of Lacock.

Tourists who find themselves in Melksham by mistake would do well to head for nearby Lacock, Bradford on Avon or Devizes.