Thorp Arch Trading Estate


Thorp Arch Trading Estate is a trading estate, with both industrial and retail space, south-east of Wetherby in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough, West Yorkshire, England. The estate occupies the major part of the site of a former Royal Ordnance Factory, ROF Thorp Arch, in the parishes of Thorp Arch and Walton. There is evidence of its former use around the site which was similar in layout to the former ROF Aycliffe in Darlington, County Durham.

War years

The Royal Ordnance Factory was built to supply British forces with munitions during the Second World War. The site was ideal: it had a railway running adjacent, open space and was not in a strategic bombing area. Railways sidings were built and buildings constructed around them, many with flat concrete roofs. The retail park is constructed in semi-underground bunkers, with grassy banks running up the sides of the buildings.

Post war development

The Royal Ordnance Factory closed in 1957. However, with a boom in the construction trade and many others in the post-war years, the site found many new industries requiring the space it could offer.
George Moore bought the site in 1960s and converted it into a trading estate. Moores Furniture Group furniture factory is situated on the estate, as is a Leeds City Council household recycling centre, a sewage works and many other small businesses situated.
A major development, and the biggest employer, is the British Library lending division, the British Library's second site after the St Pancras site in Central London. The British Library Boston Spa, as it is known, is housed in a large eight-storey concrete building and many smaller, newer buildings around it.
The Thorp Arch Retail Park occupies semi-underground bunkers and many of the retail outlets have grassy banks up the exterior walls. The retail park houses Brooks Discount Retailers, DFS, Power Electrical Superstore, the Sofa Centre, the Greenery Garden Centre, a car showroom and a cafe.
The retail park had a branch of Texas Homecare, but because of the small-sized units, it occupied two units several hundred yards apart but they were closed. Bargain Street, also had premises.
During the 2008–2009 UK retail crisis, two retail chains, Land of Leather and Empire Direct, closed.

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