The old Drake Circus centre was demolished in 2004

Interior of the new Drake Circus Shopping Centre in 2006.

Plymouth Council is currently undertaking a project of urban redevelopment, the largest since the city was rebuilt after the Second World War. The 'Vision for Plymouth' launched by the architect David Mackay, backed by Plymouth City Council is set to see areas of the city centre demolished, redesigned and rebuilt by the year 2020.^[33]

Significant regeneration has occurred in the last five years with the construction and opening of Drake Circus Shopping Centre, built on the site of an earlier shopping arcade to the east of the city centre. The council has encouraged cafés to create outdoor eating areas; and the clearing of a large public area in Armada Way has enabled farmers' markets and other street markets as well as exhibitions, entertainments and festivals. The old Drake Circus shopping centre and Charles Cross car park were demolished in 2004 and have been replaced by the latest Drake Circus Shopping Centre, which opened in October 2006.^[34]

As of 2007, the former Ballard Leisure Centre is being replaced with residential and office space along with a project involving the future demolition of the Bretonside bus station to build a new civic complex. In Drake Circus the Roland Levinsky Building, part of Plymouth University opened in 2007. Other suggestions include the demolition of the Plymouth Pavilions entertainment arena to create a canal 'boulevard' linking Millbay to the city centre. Millbay is being regenerated with mixed residential, retail and office space alongside the ferryport.

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Transport

The Pont L'Abbé car ferry harboured in Millbay Docks, before it makes its journey to Roscoff in France^[35]

The Royal Albert Bridge (closest) and Tamar Bridge (behind) connects Cornwall with Plymouth and the rest of the UK

See also: Railways in Plymouth

Plymouth has no motorway links but the national network is accessible via the A38 dual-carriageway Devon Expressway to the M5 motorway which starts about 40 miles (64 km) east near Exeter. The A38 Parkway runs from east to west across the geographical centre of the city. The Tamar Bridge to the west of the city provides vehicle access to Cornwall from the A38 Parkway to Saltash.

Plymouth Citybus provides bus services to suburban areas of the city and First Group provides other services within the city (including park and ride) and in the surrounding area. Stagecoach Devon provides services to Exeter and Paignton, and Western Greyhound provides services to Liskeard and Newquay. From the Bretonside Bus station located near to Drake Circus, National Express and other operators run long distance coach services to London and many parts of the UK.

A regular international ferry service provided by Brittany Ferries operates from Millbay taking cars and foot passengers directly to France and Spain. There is a passenger ferry between Stonehouse and the Cornish hamlet of Cremyll and a water-bus from the Mayflower Steps to Mount Batten. The city also has an alternative to using the Tamar Bridge via the Torpoint Ferry across the River Tamar.

The city's only airport is Plymouth City Airport; a small airfield located in the suburb of Derriford 4 miles (6.4 km) north of the city centre, just off the A386 road to Tavistock. The airport is home to the local airline Air Southwest who operate flights across the British Isles.

The city's central and largest railway station, Plymouth railway station, is an important First Great Western station on the London to Penzance Line and also sees trains on the CrossCountry and South West Trains networks. Smaller stations are served by local trains on the Tamar Valley Line and Cornish Main Line.^[36] First Great Western have come under fire recently, due to widespread rail service cuts across the south west, which affect Plymouth greatly.^[37] Three MPs from the three main political parties in the region have joined together to put across the message that the train services are vital to its economy.^[38]

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Education

The Roland Levinsky Building - Arts Department of the University of Plymouth

Plymouth has a full range of primary and secondary schools including three state grammar schools, and an independent school, and the 11th largest university in the United Kingdom (excluding the Open University).^[39] The University of Plymouth is the largest university in south west England with over 30,000 students, almost 3,000 staff and an annual income of around £110 million. Founded as a college of technology and then becoming a polytechnic it also absorbed the School of Maritime Studies. It has courses in maritime business, marine engineering, marine biology and Earth, ocean and environmental sciences, surf science, shipping and logistics. The University College Plymouth St Mark & St John (Marjon), which specialises in teacher training, is close to Plymouth City Airport. City College Plymouth (formerly Plymouth College of Further Education) is a large further education college providing courses from the most basic to Foundation degrees; it enrols more than 20,000 students a year. The Plymouth College of Art and Design (known as PCAD) is located at Drake Circus and offers a wide selection of innovative and traditional courses. The city has a number of private language schools mostly teaching children and young people who come by ferry from France and Spain to learn English as a Foreign Language.

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Religion

The ruined Charles Church - the city's memorial to the civilians killed in the Blitz

The first meeting in England of the Plymouth Brethren was held in the city by John Nelson Darby and Benjamin Wills Newton, amongst others.^[40] There are no recent records of Brethren in the modern city which otherwise has a reputation for tolerance and enlightened religious practice.^{[citation needed]}

Despite some belief Plymouth has a Victorian Catholic cathedral located in Wyndham Street, Stonehouse. Its senior Anglican church is called St Andrews located in the centre of the city in Royal Parade which hosts the civic services. There is a Quaker Meeting House on Mutley Plain. Adjacent in the city centre post-war ecclesiastical zone are modern Baptist and Unitarian churches. The Greek Orthodox community have converted an old church in West Hoe for their observances. Pentecostals, Christadelphians and Jehovah's Witnesses have their own churches.

Other than all of Plymouth's christian places of worship are some places from other religions. The small Jewish community has an eighteenth century synagogue; the small Muslim community have a mosque at the Islamic Centre in North Road East; the Bahá'í have a meeting place at Dale Road in Mutley; the Buddhists have a place in St Jude's and there is also a church of Scientology in Beaumont Road.

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Sports

Outside Home Park before Argyle play a match

With the promotion of Hull City AFC to the Premier League in 2008 Plymouth became the largest city in England never to have had a football team in the first tier of English football. It is home to Plymouth Argyle Football Club (commonly known as the Pilgrims, the Greens, the Green Army or simply Argyle) and is an English football team, playing in the Football League Championship. The club takes its nickname from the group of English Separatists that left Plymouth for the New World in 1620. The club crest features the Mayflower, the London based ship, which carried the pilgrims to Massachusetts. The club mascot is named Pilgrim Pete. The club is based at the Home Park stadium in Central Park. Plymouth United F.C. was formerly the town's other team. The Plymouth Rugby League Football Club play in the Rugby League Conference South West Division. Playing in the British Basketball League,the Plymouth Raiders who play their home games at the Plymouth Pavilions, which they share with the Plymouth Panthers Ice Hockey Club. There are many more sports teams in Plymouth: Plymouth Cricket Club, Plymouth Blitz, Plymouth Admirals, Plymouth Marjon Hockey Club, pgsob Hockey Club, Plymouth Mariners Baseball Club, and the Plymouth Marjon Cannons.

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Culture

Main article: Culture of Plymouth

The New Palace Theatre along Union Street, which is now derelict

Plymouth has theatres, cinemas and art galleries as well as television stations. Outdoor events and festivals are held including the British Fireworks Championships and Music of the Night, an outdoor production held every two years in The Royal Citadel when amateurs sing to service unit musicians. The Plymouth Morris Men perform throughout the year at many events and venues.

The Theatre Royal is a provincial producing theatre and incorporates a studio theatre (The Drum). Its production and education centre, TR2, is in an award-winning building at Cattedown.^[41] The University has two well-equipped theatres within the Roland Levinsky Building. Amateurs perform at the Athenaeum Theatre, Devonport Playhouse, and the Globe Theatre (within Stonehouse barracks). The Plymouth Pavilions stages music concerts from rock and pop to ballet, as well as hosting basketball, wrestling and line dancing. There is a multiplex cinema at the Barbican Leisure Centre and a small cinema at Derry's Cross. In Looe Street, Plymouth Arts Centre has a two screen cinema specialising in art house and foreign films. The Levinsky arts building at the university has a film centre.

At the heart of Plymouth's nightlife is Union Street. Previously lined with music halls and cinemas, the street is now run down^[42] but is still home to a number of bars, clubs and casinos. Other clubs and bars are at the Barbican Leisure Park and on Lockyer Street.

Plymouth is regional television centre of BBC South West. ITV's television studio at Langage is to close in 2008. The regional stations include BBC Radio Devon, BBC Radio Cornwall, South Hams Radio, Plymouth Sound and Pirate FM. The main regional newspaper is the Western Morning News, whose local publishing and print centre at Derriford were designed by architect Nicholas Grimshaw. The local city paper, from the same publisher, Northcliffe Media group, at the same print centre, is the Plymouth 'Herald'. Hospital Radio Plymouth is a station dedicated to the city's patients, broadcasting to Derriford Hospital, The Royal Eye Infirmary and on 87.7fm.

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Public services

View of Derriford Hospital's incenerator chimney after a snowfall

Since 1973 Plymouth has been supplied water by South West Water. Prior to the 1973 take over it was supplied by Plymouth County Borough Corporation.^[43] About 5 miles (8.0 km) north of the city is Burator Reservoir, which was constructed in 1898 and later expanded in 1929. It still supplies much of the water for Plymouth. Plymouth City Council is responsible for waste management throughout the city^[44] and South West Water is responsible for sewerage. Plymouth's electricity is supplied up north on the National Grid and distributed to Plymouth via the Western Power Distribution. At present there isn't a power station (excluding wind turbines) in Devon and Cornwall, however the Langage Power Station, a gas powered station on the outskirts of Plympton, is due to start producing electricity for Plymouth at the end of 2009.^[45]

Plymouth is served by Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust and the city's NHS hospital is Derriford Hospital 4 miles (6.4 km) north of the city centre and there is also a royal eye emfermiry. South Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust operates in Plymouth and the rest of the south west; its headquarters are in Exeter. Her Majesty's Court Service provide a Magistrates' Court, Crown and County Courts in the city. The nearest High Court is in Exeter as are the police and prosecuting headquarters. There is no prison or youth detention unit in Plymouth. The Plymouth Borough Police, formed in 1836, eventually became part of Devon and Cornwall Constabulary.^[46] There are police stations at Charles Cross and Crownhill (the Divisional HQ) and smaller stations at Plympton and Plymstock.^[47] The city has one the Devon and Cornwall Area Crown Prosecution Service Divisional offices.^[48] Plymouth has several large fire stations located in Crownhill, Camel's Head, Green Bank, and Plympton, which is part of Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service. There is also a fire service training centre located in Plympton.

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Notable people

Main article: List of people from Plymouth

Statue Francis Drake, Mayor of Plymouth, on the Hoe.

People from Plymouth are known as Plymothians or less formally as Janners. Frank Bickerton was one of the pioneering Antarctic explorers in the early 20th century. He moved to Plymouth as a child in 1895 and lived in the city until 1920.

The artist Beryl Cook lived in Plymouth for much of her life and her paintings depict some of the colourful characters she encountered in the city. The actress Dawn French came from Plymouth and attended St Dunstans Abbey independent school for girls.

People born in Plymouth include Olympic swimmer Sharon Davies, gold medal-winning diver Thomas Daley,^[49] dancer Wayne Sleep, newsreader and journalist Angela Rippon and the ghostwriter and author Helen Grant. Other notable residents include footballer Trevor Francis, Newsreader Sue Lawley, the tennis player Sue Barker, and TV Presenter Fern Briton.

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References

• Dunning, Martin (2001). Around Plymouth. Frith Book Co Ltd
• Gill, Crispin (1993). Plymouth: A New History. Devon Books
• Robinson, Chris (2004). Plymouth Then & Now. Plymouth Prints
• Casley, Nicholas (1997). The Medieval Incorporation of Plymouth and a Survey of the Borough's Bounds. Old Plymouth Society.
• Richard Carew (1555), The Survey of Cornwall, text here:[1] N.B. Carew refers to Plymouth Hoe as the Hawe at Plymmouth

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External links

• Plymouth City Council website
• Chris Robinson's Plymouth Prints and local history
• Aerial photographs of Plymouth
• Plymouth Picture Postcards (mostly pre-WWII)

Coordinates: 50°21′51″N, 4°8′37″W

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