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Poole Guide
Welcome to our home town of Poole, in the United Kingdom. Poole is situated on the South Coast of England in the beautiful, historic county of Dorset. [ See map. ]
Poole is a rapidly expanding town with a population approaching 140,000. Poole came of age in 1248, the year it was granted self government by the signing of the Longespee Charter by William Longespee II, the then Lord of the Manor and the great grandson of the towns founder.
The historic heart of Poole is centred around its most famous feature, namely Poole Quay, which has played a key role over the years. (Click here to see a live, webcam picture of Poole Quay, where you have control over the webcam). Poole has been a trading port since the Tudor times, bringing employment and prosperity to the town. During the Second World War, Poole played a significant role, being one of the largest embarkation points for the D-Day landings and even now the port continues to play host to the Royal Marines. Today the port continues to provide employment, with regular freight and passenger services to France, Spain and the Channel Islands. Poole is home to a small but successful fishing fleet, with catches being landed on the Quay. Poole Harbour is the largest natural harbour in Europe and is the home to the many yachts, pleasure craft and working craft, such as Diving Operators which operate alongside the wildlife that can be found in the water and along the shores and coastline.
If you take a walk along Poole Quay you will see great changes taking place, with the development of new buildings and the expansion of existing businesses. There is a wide variety of activities carried out on the Quay, one of which is the construction of powerboat and luxury leisure motor boats by the world renowned Sunseeker company who have a new construction facility on the Quay, so keep an eye out for their craft in the harbour and see how the seriously rich spend their money ! If you're not quite so rich, but have a sweet tooth, you must pay a visit to Truly Scrumptious, Pooles' best traditional sweet shop where you'll find the widest selection of traditional sweets you could ever imagine ! A recent departee from the Quay is the famous Poole Pottery factory, which has been demolished to make way for a new development of flats and retail units, although at present the pottery shop and tourist shop remain. Other local business interests include the world famous Lava Lamp manufacturer, whose website is an award winner, the cosmetics company Lush, Siemens, the HQ of Barclays Bank International, the RNLI HQ as well as the international racing car manufacturer Penske.