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Commercial and Industrial Exeter

Page Updated 16th January 2014

General Articles

Early Banks of Exeter
Breweries of Exeter
Brickworks - Clifton Hill
Cattle and Livestock Market - Bonhay New
Cattle and Livestock Market - Marsh Barton New
Cattle and Livestock Market - Matford
Electricity Generating Station - Haven Banks
Exeter Gasworks - Haven Banks and Exe Island
Exeter Water Company
Leats of Exe Island
Water Mills of Exeter and Exwick
Woollen Industry of Exeter - Exe Island

Exeter firms


Beach Bros. - St Thomas
Bodley and Co - Commercial Road
Chrislea and Harper Aircraft Company
Cornish and Co - Fore St & North St
Debenhams or Bobbys - 1-11 Sidwell Street
Devon and Somerset Stores
Dingles or Colsons - 30 High Street
Eland the Stationers - Cathedral Close
Endicotts - 2 West Street
Express and Echo 1958
Garton and King - North Street
Glasshouse bottle factory - Countess Wear
Greenslades (Hookways) coaches
Hart and Moist Pottery - Haven Road
Hartnell Fresh Foods - Longbrook Street
Herbert Read Ltd New
Hinton Lake Chemists - 41 High Street
Lugets Outfitters - 22 Cathedral Yard
Kastners Garage - Matford Business Park
McGahey's the Tobacconists
Maritime Museum - Haven Banks
Met Office - Fitzroy Road, Sowton
Pinder and Tuckwell - Fore Street
Russell's Carrier Service
Thomas Moore - 102-104 Fore Street
William Pollard and Co, Printers - Sowton
Stone's Chemist - 166 Fore Street
Vapormatic - Sowton Industrial Estate
West of England Fire and Life Insurance Co
Wheatons Printers - Marsh Barton
Willey's Foundry - Water Lane, Haven Banks
Wippell and Co - Buller Road, St Thomas

DebenhamsSheepmarket Wippels, Buller RoadGas Works at Haven Banks

Exeter Firms and Businesses

Exeter has a number of business that can trace their origin back to the 18th Century and earlier. Indeed, for a city that had no coal, and no iron works, and was bypassed by the Industrial Revolution, Exeter had developed by the 19th Century a plethora of foundries including the largest of them all, Willey's Foundry that employed more than a 1,000 people at its height. Garton and King, the Aga suppliers where once a large employer in their foundry at Tan Lane - they can be traced back to 1661.

Printing has an important history in Exeter - the first printing press was set up in St Edmunds Church in the 16th Century. Later, such pioneers as Andrew Besley and Robert Trewman set up shop and created printing dynasties. William Pollard and Co dates from 1781, and Wheaton's from 1780.

Some businesses have moved in from other parts of the country - Beach Brothers from Dover and the Met Office from Bracknell, while others have become names to be found across the nation, such as Debenhams and Dingle's as part of the House of Fraser.

And lastly, Exeter's woollen industry provided the wealth that gives us much of the city we see today. From their Saxon beginnings the leats and water wheels of Exeter provided the power for not only fulling mills, but paper making, foundries and more. Wippell & Co are the last survivor of Exeter's woollen based cloth industry.

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