Swadlincote, United Kingdom

The town is located within the Leicestershire and South Derbyshire Coalfield. Its landscape is marked by shallow valleys and ridges, shaped particularly by the mining activity which once dominated the area. Swadlincote lies within the National Forest, and there has been significant tree planting around Gresley Common, Swadlincote Woodlands and Church Gresley.

The suburbs of Newhall and Stanton to the north-west lie along the Burton upon Trent and Swadlincote Green Belt, as a curb to development which could have caused Swadlincote to merge with the Winshill and Stapenhill districts of Burton-on-Trent. Most of the green belt lies in Derbyshire, with small tracts in Staffordshire. Hence most of Swadlincote's 21st-century expansion has been to the south and east of the centre, particularly adjacent to Woodville and Church Gresley.

Swadlincote is encircled by several villages and hamlets including Hartshorne, Albert Village, Blackfordby, Overseal, Moira, Linton, Boundary, Norris Hill and Spring Cottage.

The town originally had a prominent manufacturing heritage that made pipes and earthenware. It was the centre of the South Derbyshire coalfield, but mining ceased when Rawdon Colliery closed in 1993. Light manufacturing and service companies are sited on large industrial estates.

Swadlincote has a moderate-sized town centre typical of the Midlands, containing national chain stores and small local businesses. It had a branch of Somerfield before the Co-operative Group took over the chain in 2009. The opening of a large chain supermarket on Coppice Side has been blamed as a factor behind the closure of several small independent shops. The shops that lined West Street and High Street from 1901 had disappeared by the early 21st century. Hepworth Retail Park is a modern development with a restaurant, cinema and various shops.

Plans were announced in 2008 for a new retail complex consisting of a cinema, DIY store and a nationally recognised clothing store. A link road called Sir Herbert Wragg Way has been built, named after the area's mid-20th century Member of Parliament and pipe-yard owner.

Schools in Swadlincote include Granville Academy at Woodville, Mercia Academy (formerly the William Allitt School) at Newhall, St George's School and Pennine Way Junior Academy in Church Gresley, Belmont and Springfield Junior Schools and The Pingle Academy on Coronation Street, which with 1,200 pupils is Swadlincote's largest secondary school.

The closest university is the University of Derby, 18 miles (29 km) to the north, with Staffordshire University's Lichfield campus an equal distance to the south-west.