Information about Nailsea

Nailsea is a town in North, Somerset England. Nailsea's economy initially rested on coal mining, which began as early as the sixteenth century. By the late 1700s, the town had a large number of pits and was visited by the social reformer Hannah More who founded a Sunday school for the workers. The coal mines attracted John Robert Lucas, a glass manufacturer, in 1788, and the glassworks he established would eventually become the fourth largest of their kind in the United Kingdom.

These days, primary income often comes from employment in the service sector including industries such as insurance and banking, defence related employment, retail and management. Employment within Nailsea includes work in shops, schools, estate agents and banks. Other businesses are situated at units in the town. One of these being Coate's cider factory which was bought by Showerings of Shepton Mallet in 1956, and the brand was later merged with Gaymers.

Nailsea has a shopping area including Somerset Square, Crown Glass Place, Colliers Walk and a high street. There are three supermarket chains in the town and some national banks and estate agents. Nailsea has a few high-street and local clothing retailers.

There are several charity shops in Nailsea. Furthermore there are pharmacies, health care shops, hairdressers, barbers, home improvement shops, pet shops and newsagents. Finally Nailsea has stationers, motor part shops, key/shoe repair shops, a computer shop and a music shop. Furthermore a Woolworth's store has recently been opened on the high street, on the former site of a Kwiksave, selling CDs, DVDs and Computer games.

On a Tuesday, a market is held in a car park near the high street. Usually around 10–20 stalls are set up selling various items including meat and fish, dairy products, exotic foods, technology products, clothing and general household items. The market is busiest during the morning and is usually packed up by late afternoon.

Nailsea shares a railway station with Backwell. Nailsea and Backwell station, operated by First Great Western, is situated between Nailsea and Backwell on Station Road. The station is unmanned with two platforms. Nailsea and Backwell is serviced by both local and high speed express trains, all bar one are operated by First Great Western. There are two local trains each way per hour Monday to Saturday, one each way per hour Sundays. These train services run direct to a number of stations across the area, including Bristol Temple Meads, Bristol Parkway, Newport, Cardiff Central, Weston-super-Mare, Taunton and the various stations in-between. The High Speed express service complements the local service by providing a number direct express services to and from London Paddington, Reading and other mainline stations on the Great Western Main Line. In addition, one CrossCountry service departs weekdays at 08:42 and runs to Birmingham New Street and onwards to Newcastle. Finally First Bus run various bus services in Nailsea. The main services are the 354 Bristol—Nailsea that runs every half hour and the 364 Bristol—Nailsea—Clevedon which runs hourly, passing Nailsea and Backwell station. Services also run during evenings, weekends and Bank Holidays but with less frequency and follow slightly different routes. Furthermore there is a school-day once-a-day return service to Weston-Super-Mare via Clevedon.

Nailsea has a variety of public houses and a small nightclub. For the younger generation there are several dedicated youth clubs and two scouting divisions which organise the Nailsea Carnival and Mayfair respectively, it also has other youth groups including Girl Guiding and theatre/musical groups. Nailsea has theatre, musical and orchestral groups. Most groups are open to all ages and meet and perform regularly at at various venues. There are no cinemas in Nailsea but in nearby Clevedon there is The Curzon — the oldest purpose built and continuously running cinema in the world. Nearby in Bristol there are several multi-screen cinemas, including Cineworld at Hengrove, Vue at Cribbs Causeway, Showcase Cinema at Avonmead, and The Odeon in Broadmead.

The neighboring village of Wraxall there are a couple of tourist attractions. First is a Zoo (Noah's Ark Zoo Farm) which has a variety of exotic, agricultural and domestic animals including rhinos, camels, monkeys, reptiles and most recently a giraffe. It offers hands on-experience with animals and a chance to learn about conservation. Tyntesfield, a 19th-century Victorian country house and grounds has recently been bought and opened up by the National Trust.

The Scotch Horn Centre provides both a Aerobic exercise and a free weights gym, as well as squash courts, and room for other indoor sports, but notably not a swimming pool. Nailsea does not have a public swimming pool despite a long running campaign by the Nailsea Swimming Pool Interest Group to build one. Currently, the nearest pool is at Backwell Leisure Centre.

There are numerous events that take place in the town on a one off, or annual basis.

Secondary education in Nailsea is provided by Nailsea Comprehensive School, also known as Nailsea School, which has achieved Technology and Media Arts College specialist status. Nailsea also has several infants, junior and primary schools including Kings Hill C of E, Golden Valley, Hannah More Infants, St. Francis Catholic School and Grove School. Ravenswood School exists for children with special needs and learning difficulties. There are also several playgroups for children too young for infants school.