When Amazon came to town: Swindon feels strain as new depot sucks up jobs

Firm has hired 2,000 staff in a matter of months in Wiltshire town, with ripple effect on other businesses

On an industrial estate outside Swindon, it's the busiest time of year at Amazon's newest warehouse in Britain. Black boxes rattle along miles of conveyor belt, carrying everything from toys to painkillers amid a cacophony of alarms and the faint hum of Christmas songs.

I'm looking around here at anything that might not be right, but it's actually running very smoothly," says David Tindal, the general manager of the Swindon fulfilment centre. The team has been fantastic. We spend the whole year preparing for this peak time, like a good football club preparing for the cup final."