Plymouth, Devon, England, United Kingdom

Economy | Plymouth 2020

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Plymouth is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.

Plymouth's early history extends to the Bronze Age when a first settlement emerged at Mount Batten. This settlement continued as a trading post for the Roman Empire, until it was surpassed by the more prosperous village of Sutton founded in the ninth century, now called Plymouth. In 1588, an English fleet based in Plymouth intercepted and defeated the Spanish Armada. In 1620, the Pilgrim Fathers departed Plymouth for the New World and established Plymouth Colony, the second English settlement in what is now the United States of America. During the English Civil War, the town was held by the Parliamentarians and was besieged between 1642 and 1646.

Throughout the Industrial Revolution, Plymouth grew as a commercial shipping port, handling imports and passengers from the Americas, and exporting local minerals (tin, copper, lime, china clay and arsenic). The neighbouring town of Devonport became strategically important to the Royal Navy for its shipyards and dockyards. In 1914, three neighbouring independent towns, viz. the county borough of Plymouth, the County Borough of Devonport, and the urban district of East Stonehouse were merged, becoming the County Borough of Plymouth. In 1928, it achieved city status. During World War II, due to the city's naval importance, the German military targeted and partially destroyed the city by bombing, an act known as the Plymouth Blitz. After the war, the city centre was completely rebuilt. Subsequent expansion led to the incorporation of Plympton, Plymstock, and other outlying suburbs, in 1967.

The city is home to 262,100 (mid-2019 est.) people, making it the 30th most populous built-up area in the United Kingdom and the second-largest city in the South West, after Bristol. It is governed locally by Plymouth City Council and is represented nationally by two MPs. Plymouth's economy remains strongly influenced by shipbuilding and seafaring but has tended toward a service economy since the 1990s. It has ferry links to Brittany (Roscoff and St Malo) and to Spain (Santander). It has the largest operational naval base in Western Europe, HMNB Devonport, and is home to the University of Plymouth. Plymouth is categorized as a Small-Port City using the Southampton System for port-city classification.

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Economy Because of its coastal location, the economy of Plymouth has traditionally been maritime, in particular the defence sector with over 12,000 people employed and approximately 7,500 in the armed forces. The Plymouth Gin Distillery has been producing Plymouth Gin since 1793, which was exported around the world by the Royal Navy. During the 1930s, it was the most widely distributed gin and had a controlled term of origin until 2015. Since the 1980s, employment in the defence sector has decreased substantially and the public sector is now prominent particularly in administration, health, education, medicine and engineering.

Devonport Dockyard is the UK's only naval base that refits nuclear submarines and the Navy estimates that the Dockyard generates about 10% of Plymouth's income. Plymouth has the largest cluster of marine and maritime businesses in the south west with 270 firms operating within the sector. Other substantial employers include the university with almost 3,000 staff, the national retail chain The Range at their Estover headquarters, as well as the Plymouth Science Park employing 500 people in 50 companies.

Plymouth has a post-war shopping area in the city centre with substantial pedestrianisation. At the west end of the zone inside a grade II listed building is the Pannier Market that was completed in 1959 – pannier meaning "basket" from French, so it translates as "basket market". In terms of retail floorspace, Plymouth is ranked in the top five in the South West, and 29th nationally. Plymouth was one of the first ten British cities to trial the new Business improvement district initiative. The Tinside Pool is situated at the foot of the Hoe and became a grade II listed building in 1998 before being restored to its 1930s look for £3.4 million.

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Plymouth 2020 Since 2003, Plymouth Council has been undertaking a project of urban redevelopment called the "Vision for Plymouth" launched by the architect David Mackay and backed by both Plymouth City Council and the Plymouth Chamber of Commerce (PCC). Its projects range from shopping centres, a cruise terminal, a boulevard and to increase the population to 300,000 and build 33,000 dwellings.

In 2004 the old Drake Circus shopping centre and Charles Cross car park were demolished and replaced by the latest Drake Circus Shopping Centre, which opened in October 2006. It received negative feedback before opening when David Mackay said it was already "ten years out of date". It was awarded the first ever Carbuncle Cup, awarded for Britain's ugliest building, in 2006. In contrast, the Theatre Royal's production and education centre, TR2, which was built on wasteland at Cattedown, was a runner-up for the RIBA Stirling Prize for Architecture in 2003.

There is a project involving the future relocation of Plymouth City Council's headquarters, the civic centre, to the current location of the Bretonside bus station; it would involve both the bus station and civic centre being demolished and a rebuilt together at the location with the land from the civic centre being sold off. Other suggestions include the demolition of the Plymouth Pavilions entertainment arena to create a canal "boulevard" linking Millbay to the city centre. Millbay is being regenerated with mixed residential, retail and office space alongside the ferry port.

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Exeter, Devon 
Exeter, Devon
Image: Smalljim

Plymouth has a population of over 256,384 people. Plymouth also forms the centre of the wider Plymouth District which has a population of over 343,000 people. Plymouth is the #210 hipster city in the world, with a hipster score of 3.4183 according to the Hipster Index which evaluates and ranks the major cities of the world according to the number of vegan eateries, coffee shops, tattoo studios, vintage boutiques, and record stores. It is estimated there are around 8,060 businesses in Plymouth.

To set up a UBI Lab for Plymouth see: https://www.ubilabnetwork.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/UBILabNetwork

Twin Towns, Sister Cities Plymouth has links with:

🇫🇷 Brest, France 🇵🇱 Gdynia, Poland 🇨🇳 Jiaxing, China 🇷🇺 Novorossiysk, Russia 🇺🇸 Plymouth, USA 🇪🇸 San Sebastián, Spain 🇭🇺 Sülysáp, Hungary
Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license | Hipster Index

  • Louis de Soissons |

    🇨🇦 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Architect Louis de Soissons is associated with Plymouth. Louis Emmanuel Jean Guy de Savoie-Carignan de Soissons was also known as Baron Longroy Viscomte d'Ostel,

  • Sydney Joseph Tatchell |

    Architect Sydney Joseph Tatchell is associated with Plymouth. He worked for the Great Western Railway in 1901-02

  • Charles Johns Mole |

    🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Architect Charles Johns Mole is associated with Plymouth. During his time at the Office of Works, he oversaw the arrangements for the Coronation of George VI in 1936 and Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.

  • Frederick George Knight |

    🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Architect Frederick George Knight is associated with Plymouth. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1896.

  • William Crabtree |

    🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Architect William Crabtree is associated with Plymouth. He was a member of the MARS. Modern Architectural Research Group.

  • Francis Lorne |

    🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Architect Francis Lorne is associated with Plymouth. In World War One he served with the Canadian Engineers.

  • Robert Adam |

    🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Architect/Furniture Designer/Interior Decorator Robert Adam is associated with Plymouth. He was acknowledged as the leading architect in Britain in the 1750s and the 1780s.

  • Arthur Southcombe Parker |

    🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Architect Arthur Southcombe Parker is associated with Plymouth. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1903.

  • Thomas Smith Tait |

    🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Architect/Decorative Artist Thomas Smith Tait is associated with Plymouth. In 1936 he was appointed Chief Architect of the Empire Exhibition, Scotland 1938.

Antipodal to Plymouth is: 175.858,-50.37

Locations Near: Plymouth -4.1421,50.37

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Totnes -3.684,50.432 d: 33.2  

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Newton Abbot -3.61,50.529 d: 41.6  

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bodmin -4.718,50.466 d: 42.2  

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Paignton -3.55,50.433 d: 42.6  

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Torbay -3.53,50.44 d: 44.1  

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Torquay -3.53,50.47 d: 44.8  

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 St Austell -4.79,50.34 d: 46.1  

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Bideford -4.207,51.02 d: 72.4  

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Exeter -3.533,50.723 d: 58.2  

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Barnstaple -4.06,51.08 d: 79.2  

Antipodal to: Plymouth 175.858,-50.37

🇳🇿 Dunedin 170.474,-45.884 d: 19376.3  

🇳🇿 Otago 170.483,-45.867 d: 19375.2  

🇳🇿 Balclutha 169.75,-46.233 d: 19370.8  

🇳🇿 Christchurch 172.617,-43.517 d: 19214.5  

🇳🇿 Canterbury 171.58,-43.543 d: 19189.8  

🇳🇿 Invercargill 168.373,-46.413 d: 19309.2  

🇳🇿 Queenstown 168.658,-45.033 d: 19214.3  

🇳🇿 Wellington 174.767,-41.283 d: 19001.2  

🇳🇿 Hutt 174.917,-41.217 d: 18994.7  

🇳🇿 Lower Hutt 174.917,-41.217 d: 18994.7  

Bing Map

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