United Kingdom, Norwich

Norwich is a beautiful Medieval City, it is in the heart of Norfolk and is the capital city of East Anglia. It is an accessible city which provides a great quality of life combined with the best elements of a modern city. Norwich is one of the greenest cities in the U.K. with miles of riverside walks, unique 1930’s parks and acres of woodland running right into the city centre. Norwich is also the lead partner of six European cities to benefit from funding by the Livable City Project to improve historic city centres.

Norwich exerts a powerful economic, social, and cultural influence over the surrounding market towns and villages.

History

Norwich started as a small Saxon settlement north of the river Wensum. In time it grew into a town, perhaps because of its situation on a river. The ancient city was already a thriving centre for trade and commerce in East Anglia when Swein Forkbeard the Viking destroyed it in 1004 AD.

At the time of the Norman Conquest the city was one of the largest in England, and it continued to be a major centre for trade, especially wool. The River Wensum was a convenient exporting route to the sea.

By the middle of the 14th century the City Walls, about 2 1/2 miles long had been completed; these along with the river enclosed a large area, larger than that of the City of London.

The Norwich Canary was first introduced into England by Flemish refugees fleeing from Spanish persecution in the 1500s. They brought with them not only advanced working skills in textiles but also their pet canaries, which they began to breed.

Norwich remained a major provincial capital and rated closely after London alongside Bristol. Norwich's geographical isolation was such that until 1834 when a railway connection was established, it was often quicker to travel to Amsterdam by boat than to London.

In the late 20th century the main industries in Norwich were printing, electronics, engineering and finance. Tourism also became an important industry.

Geography & Demographics

Norwich is a city located in New London County, Connecticut. The city is located on three rivers, named the Yantic, the Shetucket and the Thames.

The population of the tightly-drawn City Council boundary is 129,500 while the wider area has a population set to grow from 230,000 to 280,000 by 2025. Norwich is a pre-eminent centre in the East of England, and the city centre is the highest-ranking retail centre in the region (and a UK top-10).

Economy

Norwich is the UK's most significant financial centre outside of the city of London, with over a quarter of the workforce employed in financial services. It is the largest general insurance centre in the UK and is home to the country's first National Financial Services Skills Academy.

Norwich is home to over 50 national and regional headquarters and has a diverse business base. Apart from the land available and services specific to bioscience businesses on the NRP, there is ample space for growing businesses and the city and surrounding area offer a good supply of business parks and other premises.

Norwich is ranked 5th best retail centre in the UK. The city offer a blend of small specialist shops, independent stores and major chains.

Culture

Norwich is the ideal city for those with a love of history, culture and the arts.

Norfolk's vibrant culture scene grows bigger and better every year. There are great rock and pop concerts at Norwich's music venues, while the annual Norfolk and Norwich Festival and Contemporary Art Norwich bring art, music and drama from around the world to your doorstep.

Such a strong local culture enhances quality of life for everyone who lives and works here, as well as providing great opportunities for sponsorship and corporate events.

Sports

Norwich has a wealth of sports and leisure centres including the Sports Park based at the University of East Anglia - the largest sports centre in the region with an Olympic size swimming pool - and a new municipal swimming pool at Riverside.

The sports facilities are outstanding, including the recently built Sports park on the UEA campus which hosts an Olympic size swimming pool, gym club, athletics track, climbing wall and facilities for a wide range of other sports.

Transportation

The Norwich area is easily reached from all parts of the UK by road, rail and air. Ferry ports, the Channel Tunnel and two modern international airports provide routes from Europe and beyond.

Norwich Rail station is located in central Norwich. ‘one’ operate Intercity trains to Norwich from London’s Liverpool St Station, every 30 minutes during the day. The journey time is approximately 1 hour 50 minutes.

Norwich is well connected. Reach Paris and Edinburgh and international hub Amsterdam by air in about an hour; just 3 of many business and leisure routes from Norwich International Airport.