St Ives

St Ives is an attractive historic market town located on the banks of the Great Ouse and was originally known as Slepe. The name was changed around 1200AD after the bones of a Persian monk, St Ivo was found buried near the town. In 1110AD King Henry the first granted a charter for an annual Easter fair, three years after the first wooden bridge was built over the river. The present day bridge was built around 1500 and is one of only four in the country with a surviving bridge chapel.

St Ives today is an expanding commercial centre with a population of around 16,000 people and is located approximately 10 miles from Cambridge, 5 miles from Huntingdon and 20 miles from Peterborough. The town offers a diverse range of shopping facilities including top retail names, specialist stores and a regular street market. The town has also a strong commercial base and has become an increasingly significant business location due to its accessibility to the national motorway network via the A14 dual carriageway, which links the East Coast ports to the West Midlands and North West. The area has also benefited from its proximity to Cambridge and has proved a popular choice for companies seeking to relocate from the City, particularly businesses in computers and research and development. There are fast train links to London from Cambridge and Huntingdon with a typical journey time of 50 minutes into Kings Cross from Huntingdon.

The appeal of St Ives as a business location and the prospects for further improvement in prosperity and demand will be significantly enhanced by the construction of a guided bus service linking Huntingdon to Cambridge via St Ives. This will run on the former railway line and the anticipated journey time between St Ives and Cambridge is less than 20 minutes with a service every ten minutes at peak times.

The town has a selection of primary and junior schools which stream into the St Ivo secondary school which has excellent exam results. There are a number of national retailers and independent shops in the town centre and a wealth of culturally diverse restaurants, cafes and bars.

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