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Key Reasons to Move Your Business to Norfolk
Norfolk is one of the biggest counties in England; according to the latest figures, it’s home to more than 30,000 businesses who employ more than 300,000 members of staff. However, there is still plenty of scope for new arrivals to join one of the most diverse economies in the UK.
Hamiltons Removals, who can help with all types of Norfolk commercial removals, look at why the county is such an attractive place for companies to move to and operate from.
The Transport Links
Although Norfolk doesn’t have a motorway, it still benefits from the dualled A11 towards London, while the A47 provides access to the Midlands. The A14 in neighbouring Suffolk goes all the way from Birmingham to the UK’s busiest container port, Felixstowe.
In addition, the Norwich to London mainline rail service will get you to the capital in around two hours. And Norwich International Airport, just outside the city, runs regular flights to Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands and other European destinations. The airport also sustains an economy all by itself, with an aviation academy, pilot training, helicopter flights to North Sea oil rigs and is also one of the homes of the East Anglian Air Ambulance.
The Skills Base
Norwich is the home of the University of East Anglia, the associated Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, as well as the separate Norwich University of the Arts. This has produced a generation of well-educated and talented young people, especially in Sciences and the Arts, many of whom opt to stay on in the county after their graduation.
This means the county has benefited from centres of excellence such as the John Innes Centre, which specialises in plant science, genetics and microbiology, and the Norwich Research Park, on the western side of the city.
The Space
There is still plenty of space in Norfolk, which is good for businesses which want to expand. It’s relatively close to London – near enough to be convenient, but not so close that it has the same daily operating costs.
The fact there’s plenty of room also helps improve the quality of life for any employees who may be uncertain about moving here – the North Norfolk coast, which includes resorts such as Cromer, Sheringham and Wells-next-the-Sea, is famous across the UK. House prices are still well below London levels, if staff are worried about moving from the capital.
The Mix of Businesses
As well as the life sciences and agri-tech cluster of businesses, there are also a range of other sectors which are important to the county’s economy. These include energy – as well as the North Sea oil and gas fields, there are also number of offshore solar wind farms.
Much of Norfolk is still given over to arable farmland, with sugar beet, wheat, barley and oil seed rape the principal crops. North Norfolk also has a thriving seafood business – with Cromer crabs a famed delicacy.
All these businesses help and support other areas of the county’s economy – it’s all interconnected – and they all need suppliers as well as customers. Norfolk benefits from an annual influx of visitors who help make the county’s tourist economy worth around £3billion a year; this means there’s always plenty of people to buy your products or services, whatever they are.
The Back-Up for Businesses
Norfolk and the neighbouring county of Suffolk are both covered by the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership. The two counties have been designated a strategic economic zone, and the LEP works with businesses, schools and colleges, and local authorities to provide a range of support and initiatives which will benefit all sectors of the economy.
There are several other potential sources of support for start-ups and businesses looking to move into the area. These include area-specific organisations such as Foundation East, and the national Regional Growth Loan Scheme. Both of these provide loans and grants to SMEs.
There are more traditional sources of help, such as the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce, as well as smaller Chambers focused on individual towns and districts. All provide valuable help and networking opportunities for businesses.
Norfolk Commercial Removals with Hamiltons Removals
Wherever you want to move to in Norfolk, Hamiltons can help get you there. We can help with commercial removals to all parts of the county – not just the major centres such as King’s Lynn and Norwich, but any of the towns and villages including Cromer, Sheringham and Burnham Market on the coast, Wroxham on the Norfolk Broads, and Wymondham further south.
We are a local, family-run firm and can carry out office removals, equipment and computer removals and also offer business storage, not just to Norfolk but all parts of the UK and overseas – for more information follow this link. And, as experts in house removals to Norfolk (and further afield) we will be able to help with any associated employee moves as well.
Fill in the online form on the page and we will get back to you; you can also call us on 01379 855203 if you have any questions.
Moving House to Dereham with Hamiltons Removals
Dereham is known as the ‘Heart of Norfolk’ because it’s located at the exact centre of the county. It’s also typical of many of the county’s market towns and is one of the most convenient and desirable places to live. Here Hamiltons Removals, who can help if you are considering moving house to Dereham, look at the history of the town and what it has to offer.
The History and Heritage
Its name means ‘enclosure for deer’, which is what the area was until about the 7th century AD. Dereham has also been known as East Dereham to avoid confusion with the village of West Dereham, which is located about 25 miles away.
However, there is evidence of a settlement in the area long before. Flints and axe heads from the Neolithic Bronze Age area were discovered in fields surrounding the town in 1986. Other ancient artefacts (notably Roman coins) have also been discovered in the years since.
The town was the site of a monastery, founded by St Withburga in the 7th century. Sadly, the only part that still remains is the holy well, which lies at the western end of the town’s parish church, St Nicholas.
The economic driver for the town was the market, which is still held in the Market Place twice a week (on Tuesdays and Fridays). A variety of industries have been based in Dereham over the years, including haulage, clocks, furniture, tools (for model kits), and the town has a mix of independent and High Street chains (the Tesco car park is alleged to be the exact centre of Norfolk). Most of the big chains are now based in a new development, Wright’s Walk.
The Transport Connections
Dereham used to have a mainline rail station, which went on through Wymondham and up to the coast at Wells-next-the-Sea. However this, like so many others, was closed in the 1960s. The line to Wymondham remained, however, and the Mid-Norfolk Railway Preservation Trust operates a heritage line (pictured above) between the two towns and Dereham has a ticket office and a museum (as well as a free car park). Check out their website to find out when trains are running. There have also been moves made to restore Dereham as a mainline station although nothing has come of this yet.
The A47 road from London to Birmingham ran straight through the town until 1978 when the route was altered so it bypassed the town. The A1075 connects the town to Watton and Thetford to the south, while the B1146 is the main route north, to Fakenham.
There are regular bus services from the town to Norwich, and less frequent ones to nearby villages. Dereham doesn’t have a dedicated bus station, but most services stop in the Market Place.
The Main Attractions
Aside from the church, there are a number of other historic buildings in the town which are well worth a look. Bishop Bonner’s Cottage, a thatched cottage which is named after Bishop Edmund Bonner, who became the Bishop of London in the mid-16th century, houses a museum and is the oldest building in the town. There’s also a fully restored Grade II listed windmill, and the town’s Corn Exchange houses one of the smallest cinemas in the county.
The House Prices
Property website Rightmove says that, on average, properties in Dereham have sold for just over £280,000 in the last 12 months. Detached houses are the most expensive, selling for an average of around £385,000. However, there are plenty of other options such as flats and terraced houses, which help to bring the average figure down somewhat.
Moving House to Dereham with Hamiltons Removals
If you are interested in removals to Dereham, then Hamiltons Removals, as a leading Norfolk removals company, can help get you there.
We can offer a fully comprehensive package, which includes doing all the packing and unpacking for you. If you’d rather do this yourself, then we have a shop at our Harleston base that stocks high-quality packing materials, which you can also order online by clicking here.
Whether you are looking to move to Dereham, elsewhere in Norfolk or further afield, you can start the process at Hamiltons with either an online quotation or a video survey. Alternatively, you can also call directly us on 01379 855203.
Image: GEOGRAPH.ORG.UK/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS