Penrith is a market town in Cumbria and lies around three miles from the Lake District National Park. The Thacka Beck is a part manmade watercourse that runs through the town and was, for centuries, the towns’ water supply.
Penrith is divided into several areas such as Castletown that is to the west of the railway. This part of Penrith was built for railway workers and the 19th and 20th properties are mainly terraced. Modern housing estates have been built here in recent years.
Castletown is home to The Castle Inn, the areas only public house. Shops that originally traded here have now closed. The area does have a community centre and a recreation ground.
The Northern area of Penrith is known as Townhead. The main part is built along the A6. This area has a fish and chip shop, and Indian restaurant, two petrol stations one of which incorporates a sub-post office and a pub known as The Grey Bull.
New Streets is situated between Scaws and Townhead and is on the side of Beacon Fell. Properties here mainly consist of large detached and semi-detached houses with only a few terraced homes.
Some of the areas are still known by their old farming names like Fell Land that is known as the Pinny or Pinfold. It was here that stray animals used to be held until their owners paid a fine when they were released.
Carleton has had the most housing growth in the area. The village is along the A686 but on the other side of the road a large housing estate was built in the 1960’s and is still being expanded. Many of the developments are known as Legoland because the houses all look the same.
Patergill was originally, in the l960’s, a council estate and is till largely owned by housing associations. There are several properties run as sheltered accommodation for the older members of the community.
The centre of the estate can only be reached on foot and here is a small general shop.
Penrith Castle ruins are run as a tourist attraction, by the English Heritage as are the ruins of Brougham Castle.
South of town are the henge sites of Mayburgh Henge and King Arthur’s Round Table, these are also protected by the English Hertigage.
Beacon Hill is in the middle of commercial woodland but the hill also has some natural woodland and is a popular tourist attraction. From the top, on a clear day, the surrounding areas of the fells, Pennines and part of the North Lakes can be seen.
The town is easily accessible as it lies on the M6 motorway and on junctions of the A6, A66 and A686. The railway line is on the West Coast Main Line and has regular express trains to London, Stoke on Trent, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Nightlife in Penrith is generally in the many pubs and restaurant in the town. Though a number of public houses have closed and this trend does seem to be continuing. Both traditional and modern pubs can be found here and therefore all tastes are catered for.
A two-screen cinema is situated in Middlegate and this is one of the last cinemas in the country where ice cream is still served from trays during the intervals of long films.
Property for rent in the area costs around £500 per month for a three bedroomed house.
Markets are held in town on Tuesdays where once a month this includes a Farmers’ Market. Cumbria’s largest market takes place on Saturdays at the Auction Mart along the M6 motorway at Junction 40. A free bus services runs from the Auction Mart to Penrith town on Saturdays.
Penrith’s economy comes mainly from tourism, though agriculture rates quite high, as do some of the local trades.
Gregg, the bakers, has two bakeries in the town, BOCM Pauls has an animal feed mill locally and the popular local butcher, Cranstons has a meat packing and ready meals site next to their shop. Domino Pizza has a dough-making factory in town and Lilliput Lane, the famous model company has its main factory at Skirsgill Park.
The town is home to several high street stores such as Woolworths , Argos, Superdrug, Clinton Cards, Boots, Burtons, WH Smith and Dorothy Perkins. Along with these are several smaller independent shops. Several supermarkets serve the town including Somerfields, Morrisons and the Co-op.
Planning being proposed to expand the town but so far all that been completed is the expansion of the swimming baths into a leisure centre.
If the rest of the plans are approved the first new shops should be opening in 2010 and Next, HMV, Waterstones and New Look and a Sainsbsury’s supermarket have all expressed an interest in trading here.
The development would be built around two squares named Penrith New Square where parking would be provided and so would public entertainment sites.
|
