Horsham - Economy

Economy

Horsham is a market town formerly trading in cattle, sheep and corn. Its former industries include brewing, brickmaking, iron-smelting and printing. Nowadays the important industries are financial services, pharmaceuticals and technology. Horsham is also a commuter town serving London, Brighton and Crawley.

RSA Insurance Group, an insurance company, has its registered office in Horsham. The company first came to the town in 1965 as Sun Alliance, becoming the town's biggest employer, at its peak it employed 2,500 people. Since the peak the company has steadily been reducing its workforce in the town. In the late 1980s at the early peak of its local employment Sun Alliance purchased an area of North Street including St Mark's Church, they then proceeded to demolish the church and surrounding buildings in 1989 leaving the spire that was to become a central part of their new head office building that opened in 1991. The following year Sun Alliance decided to demolish its 1960s tower block named Stocklund House which was disliked by many for its brutal unsympathetic dominance over the town. They then built St Leonard's House on the site which opened in 1994, this building has recently been occupied by West Sussex County Council after Royal Sun Allience vacated the building. Sun Alliance merged with Royal Insurance in 1996 to form Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group, then renamed RSA Insurance Group in 2008. Another employer in the town is Novartis a Swiss based multinational pharmaceutical company formerly called Ciba-Geigy before a 1996 merger. The site houses the firm's gastro-intestinal research centre and respiratory research centre employing over 300 people. The RSPCA, an animal welfare charity, has a £16 million headquarters at Southwater near Horsham, built to replace its former headquarters in the centre of the town. Located in the centre is also The Creative Assembly, Founded in 1987 and one of the UK’s premier videogame developers. Creator of the Total War strategy games, the studio has received numerous press, industry and consumer accolades, including BAFTA and the Develop Industry Excellence awards.

Horsham's town centre has many national chain stores, and is suffering the loss of small and independent retailers. In 1992 the town centre was redesigned to greatly reduce the flow of traffic through the town's main shopping streets. West Street was pedestrianised. Much of The Carfax was pedestrianised to create a town square. On the Northwest side of the Carfax is Swan walk a typical shopping centre which opened in 1976 and was enclosed with a glass roof in 1989 with the addition of Springfield Court which now houses Wilkinson's. The shopping Centre once enclosed the Capital Theatre which was built in the 1930s and was sandwiched between shops and a multistorey car park from 1976 until its demolition in early 1983 when Marks and Spencer bought the site to build their current store that opened in 1984. A further shopping area and public square, the Forum, opened in 2003 to the south of West Street. There is a partially covered shopping area Piries Place and a shopping street still open to traffic, East Street.