Northampton in General

Advantages: Big name stores, rural setting, parks, excellent theatres and sports, nice buildings
Disadvantages: Availability of free parking, lack of small independent shops

...I like it or not Northampton is my hometown. I have lived here most of my life, so perhaps naturally have some allegiances to the place. However, having seen the town change over the years - in a good and bad ways - I have stored up a few opinions. What follows is not a visitor's guide to everything you can see and do in Northampton but just something that will hopefully give you a personal 'on the street' flavour of the place. WHERE IS IT? Northampton ...
..."the rose of the shires", Northampton is twinned with Poitiers, France and Marburg, Germany. QUICK OVERVIEW This is a big town (the largest one in Europe) and not quite a city with a population of over 190,000 people. It was nominated to become one a few years ago but lost out to Sunderland. In terms of prosperity Northampton is slightly above average and has a history of riding recessions well. The town spreads far and wide. You need a taxi, a ... Read review

Advantages: A great day out
Disadvantages: Massive crowds and parking

...are held each year in Northampton that draw in the crowds from miles around. One is the Northampton Town Show and the other is the balloon festival. Although I`ve lived in Northampton for about nine years, this year was the first time that I had visited the town show. It is a big event that is held in Abington Park, which is basically just a big field. The show is held for three days during the end of July each year and is normally a huge success ...
...are such events as a falcon display, motorcyle display, horse display and a large parachute display. I didn`t get to see any of these as we`d been told that the best time to go was in the evening as there were some good bands performing. We arrived on the second night night and on first impressions I was disappointed as it didn`t look like much was going on. The top part of the field was covered in bouncy castles and the usual sort of stalls and ... Read review

Advantages: Near London, Good Communications, Unspoilt countryside
Disadvantages: Lack of vibrant night life

...the county's literary figures. Using Northampton as a base, this helps make it an interesting place for literary travelers to visit and this county lies only 60 miles north of London. Northampton has produced a number of literary figures. America's first poet in English was a Northampton lass Anne Bradstreet. One, of the best known antiquaries of the late Eighteenth and early Nineteenth centuries was Vicar of Easton Maudit, the dramatist and poet ...
...book, was Lord Byron. Northampton was the birthplace in 1612 of Anne Bradstreet who at the age of eighteen decided to emigrate to America; she became the then colonies first poet in English. An even more famous literary figure was the dramatist, John Dryden, from the little village by the River Nene to the south of Oundle, Aldewinke All Saints. It was an area of considerable growth and prosperity in medieval times as exemplified by the existence ... Read review

Advantages: Friendly town, good Rugby Club
Disadvantages: Too much growth is not necessarily a good thing

Northampton is known as the shoe town due to the primary industry of the town. Even its football team is known as The Cobblers (I’ll make no comment as to whether that’s a valid nickname). Sadly the shoe industry is not what it was and many of the old factories have been converted into flats. Northampton is the county town of Northamptonshire. It has applied for city status but not been successful but is none the less a thriving community. ...
...Birmingham. In the 1970s Northampton undertook a great deal of development when a whole series of housing estates were built on the eastern side of town. It was at this time and to one of these estates that saw me living in this town. Northampton has two major shopping centres: The Grosvenor Centre in the town centre; and Weston Favell Centre in the eastern development. Both of these have the usual high street stores and are at all times busy. ... Read review

Advantages: Cheapest by far
Disadvantages: Some improvements are required

...our next weekend walk into Northampton centre. All they need is some new furniture and more staff and this could be the perfect eating and drinking house. I hope the few issues they have are soon resolved. I’ll keep visiting and post an update in a month’s time. In the meantime I do recommend this place, and will be on the lookout for other JD Wetherspoons pubs in the Northampton area. ... Read review