page_title: Northwich
section_title: Economics
hierarchical_section_title: Northwich / Economics
caption_attribution_description: English: Anderton Boat Lift with ICI Winnington Works in background. Photo taken by self. 1992. This is a photo of listed building number 1021152.
context_page_description: Northwich is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It lies in the heart of the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers Weaver and Dane. The town is about 18 miles east of Chester, 15 miles south of Warrington, 19 miles south of Manchester and 12 miles south of Manchester Airport. The population of the civil parish was 19,924 in 2011 and for the wider built-up area was 47,421. Northwich was named as one of the best places to live in the United Kingdom by The Sunday Times in 2014.
  The area around Northwich has been exploited for its salt pans since Roman times, when the settlement was known as Condate. The town has been severely affected by salt mining, and subsidence has historically been a significant problem. Mine stabilisation work was completed in 2007.
context_section_description: Northwich has been described as having a market since at least 1535, when it was described as a market town by Leland, but there is no surviving charter. The town still has a market today, which is earmarked for refurbishment as part of the Northwich Vision plans.
  The town's economy was dominated by the salt industry. However, a list of tolls for goods crossing over Northwich bridge in 1353 shows goods coming into the town, including a wide range of carcasses, fleeces, hides and skins, cloth, fish, alcoholic drinks, dairy products, building materials, household goods, metals and glass, and millstones. This indicates a much wider economic base to medieval Northwich than just the salt trade. Documentary evidence also exists for a mill from 1332 onwards and there is evidence for more than one mill from 1343.
  Allied to the extraction of salt was a bulk chemical industry, which became concentrated at the three ICI sites at Winnington, Wallerscote and Lostock. The first industrially practical method for producing polythene was accidentally discovered at the Winnington Laboratory in 1933.
  Bakers Frank Roberts & Sons have been associated with the town since 1887 and continues to be based near the town at Rudheath on the A556. Two of Frank Roberts & Sons's three main business divisions, Roberts Bakery and The Little Treats Co, are based in Northwich and Aldred's The Bakers, is in Ilkeston, Derbyshire.
  There are many contemporary major employers in nearby Rudheath and Hartford.
  Based on the 2001 Census, Northwich had 13,928 people aged between 16 and 74. Of these, 8,908 (64.0%) people were categorised as economically active; 4,268 (30.6%) were economically inactive; 455 (3.3%) were unemployed.
caption: The former ICI Winnington Works seen from the Anderton Boat Lift in 1992
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