About Winchester

Winchester Plastering and Drylining are local plastering and drylining specialists in Winchester. Services offered include plastering, drylining, screeding, skimming, rendering and installing suspended ceilings.
 
Winchester Plastering and Drylining offers this service to both residential, public and commercial buildings. For businessowners that are going through major fit-out or refurbishment works, Winchester Plastering and Drylining offer high quality tradesmen for your project.
 
The company has also worked on numerous house building, house extension, renovation and refurbishment projects in Winchester and surrounding areas. The company has successfully completed many new projects as well as plaster or drywall repair projects.
 
Winchester Plastering and Drylining works with a wide range of budgets. No project is too big or too small. Whether you’re starting a completely new project or just updating your home or building, Winchester Plastering and Drylining can help you.
 
Some of the completed projects have been in Wonston, Micheldever, Alresford, Itchen Valley, Denmead, Bishop’s Waltham,, Chilcomb and Kings Worthy.
 
The company has also undertaken projects in neighbouring areas including Eastleigh, Andover, Twyford, Sparsholt and other nearby towns.
 
Winchester is one of the largest towns in Hampshire. It is located at the River Itchen and is west of Southampton. The town is nestled between the South Downs and Hampshire hills. It has a population of almost 46,000 people (according to the 2011 UK census) but the wider district has a population estimated at 117,500. Winchester phone area code is 01962. Winchester postcodes start with SO.
 
Winchester first became a settlement about 700 years ago when St Swithun built his monastery at Winchester. At this time, the town was called Twynham. The Normans took over the town in 1066 and renamed it 'Wincestun'. In 1200 King John established a royal residence at Winchester Castle which has become famous throughout the world for its Round Table; Arthurian legend says that it was here that knights from all over Britain came to participate in battle tournaments.
 
Winchester was first settled by Romans who built the town, surrounded by earthwork defences which they called "castra". Later Winchesters importance came from being the centre of administration for the surrounding region during Anglo-Saxon times and then from King Alfred one of their early kings who made it a royal residence. Winchester's fortunes grew as a trading centre over time and it became particularly associated with Kings due to its Royal connections and possession of a Royal Mint until this role transferred to London in 1279.

In mediaeval times, it was an important market for wool, grain, livestock and meat products; subsequently, manufacturing grew such as leather-making and the manufacture of metal goods but in addition, Winchester was also a bishopric, until that moved to Salisbury. The city's trade connections with continental Europe brought wine and other commodities into Britain via the Port of Southampton.
 
Winchester is well known for its many landmarks. The Winchester Cathedral is a hauntingly beautiful edifice with many Anglo-Saxon features, including its pentagonal lantern tower. The Great Hall was built in the early 12th century and it's still used today for banquets and special occasions. Over the years, this has been extended and changed, most notably by Bishop Walkelin who constructed a new hall in 1079 using some of the existing Saxon architecture as part of his palace but it has subsequently been altered much more extensively than his original project. St Swithun's church contains what is thought to be the oldest working clock in Britain (1384), made by Richard Wallingford – also known as "Old Dick".
 
Other major landmarks in the city include the City Mill, which is believed to be the only complete example of a sixteenth-century corn mill with its overshot waterwheel intact, and the remains of Winchester Castle. The city's main public park is St Catherine's Hill. A 12th-century castle located there was converted into a mansion in 1857 by Sir Walter Tapper. Nowadays hosts a museum on the history of Winchester, two luxury hotels and various restaurants and bars. Their names are Bishop's Waltham Palace (hotel), Wolvesey Castle Hotel (hotel) and Great Hall (restaurant). It stands high above the River Itchen looking out over towards Southampton.
 
The local football club, Wessex League Premier Division side Winchester City F.C., play their games at Wolvesey Sports Ground, which has a capacity of 5000 spectators. The club came close to reaching the Conference South in 2007–08 but lost out to AFC Wimbledon in the playoffs by two points.
 
Winchester is home to an Odeon cinema and several pubs and bars including The Victoria Inn (formerly known as 'The Victory'), The Salisbury Arms on St Giles Street opposite St Peter's Church, Ye Olde Greyfriars Inn near the cathedral, Ye Old Cheshire Cheese on Jewr stands at just 1%, however.

The economy of Winchester is mainly based on services. Services account for 85% of jobs and 21.5% of the city's GDP.
 
There is also a growing IT industry in the area with Microsoft establishing an office on West Street in 2010. A recent report from Business Monitor International found that Winchester had the fastest-growing local economy in Britain during 2008–2009. According to the same study, this was primarily due to strong performance from the retail and tourism sectors.
 
The local newspaper is The "Hampshire Chronicle", published on Tuesdays by Newsquest Media Group. Previously it was published by Johnston Press as part of the "Southern Daily Echo" series (and its sister papers) before they were taken over by Trinity Mirror in March 2018. Other newspapers include: "the Breeze", a weekly paid-for paper delivered free to 39,000 homes; and the "Winchester Independent". The papers are now defunct.
 
Winchester is well known for its excellent primary, secondary and tertiary education facilities. The city is home to the University of Winchester, founded in 1885 as the King Edward VII College of Medicine. It was fully established as a university in 1992. There are two other colleges: Winchester School of Art, which was established in 1854; and St Mary's College, part of the University of Surrey. Tertiary education in Winchester provides approximately 4,000 jobs in education with 1,700 of those jobs at The University of Winchester.
 
Winchester's Good Schools Guide 2013 listed 16 independent schools meeting there: Annunciation RC Primary School (co-ed), Bishops Waltham CE First School (boys), Blacklands Primary School (girls), Chewton Bunny Primary School (co-ed), John Hanson Community Primary School (boys), Kingsley Junior School (girls), Kilmister CE Junior School (co-ed), The Priory College Preparatory School, St Michael's Catholic Primary School, St Peter's CofE First and Middle Schools, St Swithun's RC Middle School (boys), Twyford Church of England First and Nursery School, Upper Chine Infant and Nursery School (co-ed) and Winchendon House Preparatory & Senior Boys' Schools.
 
Winchester has excellent transport links to London and other major cities. It is served by two motorways and a spur. The M3 passes east-west through Winchester, linking the city with Southampton, Basingstoke, London Heathrow Airport (via M25), Reading, Newbury, Bath and Bristol. The A34 links the city to Alresford, Guildford and Farnham to the south-east; Salisbury to the south; Andover in the west; and Petersfield in the north. National Express operates hourly services from London Victoria Coach Station via Twickenham on its route 50/X50 which runs between Victoria coach station and Southampton Central bus station.
 
Winchester railway station is situated on the South Western Main Line from London Waterloo to Poole via Basingstoke. The Wessex Main Line links the city with Portsmouth, Reading and Basingstoke to the east. South West Trains operate regular services to Southampton Central and Portsmouth Harbour as well as regional services along the West Coastway line to Exeter St Davids, Salisbury and Bristol Temple Meads. CrossCountry operate regular long-distance express services between Scotland, Birmingham New Street/Virgin Trains services terminating in Birmingham New Street/Euston (eastern section of WCML) or Manchester Piccadilly.
 
The M3 motorway runs to the east of Winchester, between it and Basingstoke, providing fast links to Southampton via the A34 and M27 or to London via the M25 London Orbital Motorway. The A31 trunk road connects to Guildford in the west while the dual carriageway A34 connects with Alton on the north-eastern outskirts of Winchester (and beyond via a short stretch of unclassified local road).