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Watford Hertfordshire

Approximate Population: 79,600

Watford is a major regional centre for the northern home counties.   It is the most westerly of these commercial centres and the only one in Hertfordshire.   Hertfordshire County Council designates Watford and Stevenage to be its major sub-regional centres, heading its list of preferred sites for retail development.  The primary shopping area is the Harlequin Shopping Centre, a large purpose-built indoor mall with over 140 shops, restaurants and cafes built during the 1990s, opened officially in June 1992.

The High Street, running through the town centre, is the main focus of activity at night having a high concentration of the town’s bars, clubs and restaurants.

The head offices of a number of national companies such as Camelot Group, operator of the National Lottery; Iveco, manufacturers of commercial vehicles; Haden Young, the building services division of Balfour Beatty; Bathstore, the largest bathroom retailer in the UK; construction firm Taylor Woodrow; and Mothercare, are located in the town.   The borough is also the UK base of many multi-nationals including Total Oil, Sanyo, TK Maxx, Costco, Vinci, and Beko.

The town was home to the Scammell Lorries Factory from 1922 until its closure in 1988.   The site is now a residential area.  Plans are underway to develop a new Health Campus complete with heliport adjacent to the site of the current Watford General Hospital.

Rent Houses Watford Hertfordshire

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Ripon North Yorkshire

Approximate Population: 15,922

Ripon became a cathedral, and the seat of the Bishop of Ripon, in 1836, with the creation of the Diocese of Ripon, the first new diocese to be created in England since the Reformation.    This also led to the recognition of city status for Ripon.

There are a number of monuments of historical and antiquarian interest. The diocese, called ‘Ripon and Leeds’ since 1999, includes rather less than one-third of the parishes of Yorkshire.  Bishop Mount, the home of the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, is about a mile north of Ripon, while the old Bishop’s Palace, a Victorian building in Tudor style, is situated in extensive grounds about a mile west.   In the vicinity is the domain of Studley Royal, the seat of the Marquess of Ripon, which contains the celebrated ruins of Fountains Abbey.   The principal secular buildings are the town hall, the public rooms, and the mechanics’ institution (1894).

There are several old charities, including the hospital of St John the Baptist, founded in 1109 but modernized; the hospital of St Anne, founded probably in the reign of Henry VI by an unknown benefactor; and the hospital of St Mary Magdalene for women.   This last was founded by Thurstan, archbishop of York (1114–41), as a secular community, one of the special duties of which was to minister to lepers.   In the 13th century a master and chaplain took the place of the lay brethren, and in 1334 a chantry was founded.   The chapel remains, with its interesting Norman work, its low side-windows, said to have allowed the lepers to follow the services, and its pre-Reformation altar of stone, a rare example.

Rent Houses Ripon North Yorkshire