Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the County Council. The city is on the River Exe, about 37 miles (60 km) northeast of Plymouth, and 70 miles (110 km) southwest of Bristol. According to the 2001 Census, its population in that year was 111,076, while the mid-2010 estimate was 119,600. Exeter was the most south-westerly Roman fortified settlement in Britain. Its Exeter Cathedral, founded in the early 12th century, became Anglican at the time of the 16th century Reformation.
Exeter has been identified as one of the top ten most profitable locations for a business to be based. The city has good transport links, with Exeter St David’s railway station, Exeter Central railway station, the M5 motorway and Exeter International Airport connecting the city both nationally and internationally. Although a popular tourist destination, the city is not dominated by tourism. The city provides strong industries and services to a sizeable area. The Met Office, the main weather forecasting organisation for the United Kingdom and one of the most significant in the world, relocated from Bracknell in Berkshire to Exeter in early 2004. It is one of the three largest employers in the area (together with the University of Exeter and Devon County Council).
The city centre provides substantial shopping facilities. The High Street is mainly devoted to branches of national chains: A NEF survey in 2005 rated Exeter as the worst example of a clone town in the UK, with only a single independent store in the city’s High Street, and less diversity (in terms of different categories of shop) than any other town surveyed. Three significant shopping areas that connect to the High Street provide a somewhat more varied menu. Princesshay, a post-war retail area connecting to the south side of the High Street was home to a number of independent stores prior to redevelopment in 2007, but is now also largely occupied by national chains. It is an innovative, varied development, and it is still intended that a number of the new units will be let to local independent stores. On the other side of the High Street, the partly undercover Guildhall Shopping Centre houses a mixture of national and more regional shops, and connects to the wholly enclosed Harlequins Centre where smaller businesses predominate. Smaller streets off the High Street such as Gandy Street also offer a range of independent shops.
