Woking is a large town in north-west Surrey, approximately 24 miles south-west of central London, and is one of the county's primary commercial and residential centres. It grew rapidly as a Victorian railway town after the arrival of the London and South Western Railway in 1838 and today is home to a diverse population of around 105,000 within the borough. The town is internationally recognised for its connections to H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, as the location of the UK's first purpose-built mosque (the Shah Jahan Mosque, 1889), and as the home of McLaren Automotive. Woking's town centre has undergone significant regeneration in recent decades and benefits from fast rail links to London Waterloo.