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Business as Usual in Bury St Edmunds

At a time when the economic outlook is uncertain, there is much to be positive about in Bury St Edmunds. The most striking change in the town centre is the new ‘arc’ development on the Cattle Market site, due to open next spring.  It represents an investment of over £100 million.  It includes a series of small shops in timber-clad buildings and a Debenhams store in a striking metal-clad shell-like building. Over 70% of the shops are already let to such names as Costa, Crew Clothing, Fat Face, H&M, HMV, Hobbs, Jane Norman, Paperchase, Peacocks, River Island, Vodafone and Wallis.  Below the shops is an underground car park and above them 62 apartments.  These include studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments, currently on the market with Savills at prices ranging from £99,000 to £165,000. The new development is being sensitively linked to the existing shopping centre and several adjoining streets have been improved with new surfacing and street furniture.

There are many reasons why people want to live in and around Bury St Edmunds: it is an historic market town which offers a first class quality of life. It has a lively town centre with a cathedral, the newly-restored Georgian Theatre Royal, the award winning Abbey Gardens and an annual festival of arts and music. It has a wealth of independent shops and a thriving twice-weekly market.  It is surrounded by unspoilt Suffolk countryside and attractive villages with ancient churches and timber-framed houses.
 
There are also many reasons why people want to do business in Bury St Edmunds.  The town, the third largest in Suffolk, is part of the prosperous Cambridge sub-region and has benefited greatly from being in the A14 corridor linking Felixstowe and Ipswich with Cambridge and the Midlands.  The A14 is crucial for Bury St Edmunds’ businesses. To the west of the town lies the Saxham Business Park where Cheshire-based Gladman Developments has created two warehouses in a development worth £18 million. To the east of the town, the Suffolk Business Park occupies a prime site beside the A14 and is home to several important local businesses, such as Denny Brothers and Sealey power products.  A proposed 68-hectare extension to the business park means that eventually it will stretch out to the Rookery Crossroads at Rougham and provide enough space for business expansion for the foreseeable future.  A new business incubation centre is also planned here.

The town’s businesses vary hugely in size and sector. Traditional agriculture-related businesses sit side by side with hi-tech enterprises.  Greene King, one of Suffolk's most successful businesses, is Bury born and bred.  It was started in 1799 by Benjamin Greene and has grown from a local family business to a company quoted on the stock market.  It is a large employer: over 800 staff work at the Bury St Edmunds site, and many more elsewhere.  However, most businesses in Bury St Edmunds are small which adds to the town’s economic strength and diversity.
 
Bury St Edmunds also has West Suffolk College, which has a strong focus on employers and works closely with local businesses to offer high-quality training and provide students with the skills businesses need.  West Suffolk College is the first training provider in the country to achieve the Training Quality Standard (TQS) for excellence in seven areas of provision.  The College recently became part of University Campus Suffolk (UCS) and its first graduation ceremony took place at the end of September. UCS Bury St Edmunds has been working with local employers to develop new employment-related foundation degrees.  A recent investigation into the socio-economic impact of West Suffolk College by American firm EMSI has identified £193.2 million benefit to the region.  The College makes a gross contribution to regional income of £16.6 million, based on staff salaries and the associated ripple effect of College expenditure throughout the economy. The impact of past and present learner productivity is estimated at £177.3 million each a year.

Bury St Edmunds can offer a charming historic town centre, an excellent quality of life, a great range of shops, good communications, a successful business environment and a new university.  Why look elsewhere?

If you would like to be part of the Bury business boom, contact St Edmundsbury’s Economic Development Services ( 01284 757114  8 economic.development@stedsbc.gov.uk or visit our website on www.stedmundsbury.gov.uk/business

Story By: St. Edmundsbury Borough Council

Date : 02-07-2009