Alton, United Kingdom

Alton is located at the eastern end of the Hampshire Downs, a belt of chalk overlooking the Weald. The town is bordered to the east by Wealden Grassland. Nearby Brockham Hill, situated 3.5 miles (5.6 kilometres) northeast of Alton, rises to 225 metres (738 feet) above sea level.

Alton is between Farnham 9 miles (14 km) to the northeast and Winchester 16 miles (26 km) to the southwest. London is 52 miles (84 km).

Alton is a small built-up area according to the ONS built-up area classification.

Along with the rest of South East England, Alton has a temperate climate which is generally warmer than the rest of the country. The annual mean temperature is approximately 9 °C (48.2 °F) and shows a seasonal and a diurnal variation. January is the coldest month with mean minimum temperatures between 0.5 and 2 °C (32.9 and 35.6 °F). June and July are the warmest months in the area with average daily maximum around 21 °C (69.8 °F).

There have been a number of breweries in Alton since 1763, with Hall & Co. and Crowley & Co. establishing large brewery operations in Turk Street in the 1800s. As the brewing industry consolidated in the c.20th, these breweries were acquired by Courage Ltd and Watney, Combe Reid & Co. Ltd. A further brewery was opened nearby in Manor Park in December 1962 to produce Harp Lager as part of a consortium involving Guinness, Courage and a number of other partners. Watney, Combe Reid & Co. Ltd closed its brewery in 1970 and it became a depot until the 1980s. The original Courage site and Manor Park was sold to Bass Brewers in 1979 who closed the original brewery in 1980 to replace it with a warehouse and kegging facility. Following further mergers and sales within the brewing industry, Coors Brewing Company acquired the Manor Park brewery in 2001. The brewery produced Carling, Grolsch and Worthington until it was closed in 2015 due to a decline of demand for beer and a loss of a third party contract.

Alton was significant in the 18th century for the manufacture of paper and of dress materials including ribbed druggets, shallons, silks and serges, bombazine and figured barragons.

Jane Austen Regency Week is a celebration of the time the author Jane Austen spent in Alton and Chawton and is held in June each year.

The Allen Gallery serves as Alton's art gallery. It houses a large, permanent ceramics collection as well as temporary exhibitions.

Holybourne Theatre is on the site of a former Nissen hut that was converted into a theatre by German prisoners-of-war during World War II. Plays have been performed there since 1950, but the official opening was not until 1971.

Alton Morris was formed in 1979, and have been Morris dancing both in the United Kingdom and abroad. They often perform at Alton street events.

Local choirs include Alton Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society, established in 1921, who perform two musical shows and one play each year in a wide variety of musical and dramatic styles. Alton Community Choir sings unaccompanied Hampshire folk songs as well as some African, gospel, blues and calypso music.

A new Alton Arts Festival took place over 10 days in July 2024 and continues to date.

Alton lies approximately midway between the University of Winchester and the University of Surrey at Guildford but its nearest University campus is the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham. It is home to Treloar's, an independent educational establishment founded in 1907 by Sir William Purdie Treloar, Lord Mayor of London, to provide education for young people with physical disabilities. Treloar's now runs Treloar School and College, a provision of education for pupils aged from 2–25 with physical and learning difficulties in Holybourne.

The state secondary schools in Alton are Eggar's School (formerly the Grammar School), and Amery Hill School. Eggar's School was founded in 1642 by John Eggar of Moungomeries as the Free Grammar School. It later became known as Eggar's School. It occupied a site in Anstey Road until it moved to a new site in Holybourne in 1968. In 2012 the school converted to academy status, as a means to secure existing standards and to further develop the school.

Sixth-form education is provided by Alton College, which has gained outstanding inspection reports from Ofsted.