ONE of Basingstoke's biggest fans has thrown his support behind The Gazette's Basingstoke - A Place To Be Proud Of campaign.

Joe Tozer, of Chequers Road, Basingstoke, set up his website - Basingstoke not Boringstoke - in 1997, because he was fed-up with the negative publicity surrounding the town.

After moving to Basingstoke in 1984, he soon discovered it did not deserve its boring reputation and is happy to see The Gazette helping to improve the town's image by launching its new campaign.

He said: "I think it's a great idea. Anything to boost people's self-esteem is good.

"A lot of it is if you talk negatively, you end up feeling that way and if you talk positive and feel positive, it can only be for the good really.

"I think it's a bit of an English thing to talk yourself down, but Basingstoke seems to be better at it than anywhere else."

Mr Tozer said he started the website, which attracts around 10,000 new visitors a year, to combat the negativity of residents in the town.

He said: "The website was probably more of a reaction to the people who live here and say it's boring and there's nothing of interest."

Mr Tozer added that since launching the website, the response from people living in the town has been excellent.

"For years I've collected newspaper and magazine cuttings," he said. "It snowballed from there. I've got the more interesting and quirky things about the town on the site.

"I would say 90 per cent of the feedback I get is saying something positive about the town."

Mr Tozer said that in recent years the town has changed dramatically and it is high time it shook off its shoddy reputation.

He explained: "You take it as a joke really. I guess 15 or 20 years ago there probably wasn't a lot to do. The town was closed on a Sunday night but these days there's a lot more in terms of restaurants and things like that.

"There are two aspects to it. There are things to do and see if you're a visitor, which I think has changed radically over the last 20 years, and there's the history of the town."

The Basingstoke not Boringstoke website is constantly being updated when Mr Tozer comes across new information about the town. He is currently trying to discover if rumours that the Eli Lilly factory was camouflaged during World War Two are true.

You can visit Mr Tozer's site at www.zen20473.zen.co.uk/basingstoke