Bexley

Overview of borough

Resident population: 223,300

Working age population: 136,000

Key town centres: Bexley, Bexleyheath, Crayford, Erith, and Sidcup.

Skills & Labour Force

Qualifications:

26% of the workforce is educated to degree level (NVQ4+) compared with London at 38.6%

Colleges / Universities

Rose Bruford College
Web: http://www.bruford.ac.uk

The Business Academy
Web: http://www.thebusinessacademy.org

Bexley College
Web: http://www.bexley.ac.uk/

Business Base

Number of economically active: 112,300

Number of VAT registered businesses: 5,655

Key sectors include: business service activities, wholesale & retail trade, and construction. Other niche sectors include manufacturing

Key companies include: Haden Maintenance Ltd, Longcross Group, Pinnacle Entertainment, Rolex, Coca Cola, Fujitsu, Ferndale Foods, Gm2 Logistics, Batt Cables, Wilmington Media, Archer Daniels Midland International, Ferndale Foods, Europa Worldwide Logistics, Arjo Wiggins Fine Papers, James Mcnaughton Group, Churchill Insurance, Stoneham (Kitchens), Iron Mountain, Office Depot International, Princes Food, Wurth, Caterham Cars, Greene King, Imagination Group and St. Ives Print & Display.

Model based unemployment rate: 6.5%

Transport

Trains from the borough of Bexley connect to Dartford (7-10 minutes), Lewisham (18-22 minutes), Greenwich (25 minutes) and central London stations – London Bridge, Charing Cross and Cannon Street – in 30 to 40 minutes.

The Eurostar train service can be accessed at Ebbsfleet, just off junction 2 of the M25 near the Dartford crossing, or 15 minutes from Bexley. Paris can be reached in just 2h 05, Brussels in 1h 41, and Lille in 1h 10.

The Thamesport is one of the UK’s busiest container ports. Situated just 23 miles from the M25, off the M2 (50 minutes from Bexley), Thamesport covers a total area of 85 hectares and includes container and cargo operations, highly automated secure container parks and modern warehousing.

Good connections by road provided by A2, A20 M2, M20 and M25 to central London, Dover, Folkestone and Canterbury.

The new East-West London train line, Crossrail, is planned to run through to Abbey Wood, on the Bexley / Greenwich border, which will enable even easier access to Central London, West London, Heathrow airport and Maidenhead. Construction work is planned to commence in 2010 and first trains to run in 2017.A new Thames Gateway Bridge crossing from Thamesmead to Beckton is planned which will further enhance the transport links between North East and South East London.

Quality of life

Top attractions include:

Hall Place and Gardens

(Grade I listed country house built in 1540, managed by Bexley Heritage Trust on behalf of Bexley Council).

The Red House

(built in 1860 for the Victorian artist, designer and poet William Morris).

Lessness Abbey/Woods

(ruined Abbey founded in 1178)

Danson House

A fine Palladian villa built in 1766 and officially re-opened by HRH Queen Elizabeth in July 2005. Danson Park - Nathaniel Richmond, a student of Lancelot "Capability" Brown landscaped this beautiful park surrounding Danson House. The park offers a wide range of recreational facilities including rowing, sailing & angling on the ornamental lake, as well as tennis, bowling and pitch and putt.

Business Support

Thames Innovation Centre
2 Veridion Way, Erith DA18 4AL
Tel: +44 (0)20 8320 1000
http://www.thamesinnovationcentre.com/

South-East London Chamber of Commerce
Unit 4, Harrington Way
Warspite Road
London
SE18 5NR
Tel: 020 8317 3365
Fax: 020 8854 8273
office@selondonchamber.org
http://www.selondonchamber.org

Bexley Council
Civic Offices
Broadway
Bexleyheath
Kent
DA6 7LB
Tel: 020 8303 7777
Web: http://www.bexley.gov.uk