page_title: Royal Tunbridge Wells
section_title: Economy
hierarchical_section_title: Royal Tunbridge Wells / Economy
caption_attribution_description: English: Royal Victoria Place, Tunbridge Wells
context_page_description: Royal Tunbridge Wells, previously just Tunbridge Wells, is a town in western Kent, England, 30 miles south-east of central London, close to the border with East Sussex upon the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formations at the Wellington Rocks and High Rocks.
  The town came into being as a spa in the Restoration and enjoyed its heyday as a fashionable resort in the mid-1700s under Beau Nash when the Pantiles, and its chalybeate spring, attracted significant numbers of visitors who wished to take the waters. Though its popularity as a spa town waned with the advent of sea bathing, the town remains highly popular and derives some 30 per cent of its income from the tourist industry.
  The town has a population of around 56,500, and is the administrative centre of Tunbridge Wells Borough and the parliamentary constituency of Tunbridge Wells.
context_section_description: The economy of the town no longer depends on the chalybeate spring. Hardly anyone comes to the town purely to take the waters.
  As of 2002 there were around 50,000 people employed in the borough of Tunbridge Wells. The largest sector of the local economy consists of hotels, restaurants, and retail (the centrally located Royal Victoria Place shopping centre, opened in 1992, covers 29,414 square metres (316,610 sq ft)), which accounts for around 30% of all jobs; the finance and business sector makes up just under a quarter of jobs, as does the public administration, education and health sector. Royal Tunbridge Wells is arguably the most important retail centre between London and Hastings.
  The largest single employer in the town used to be the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, at the Kent and Sussex and Tunbridge Wells Hospitals, employing around 2500 people; the largest single commercial employer was AXA PPP healthcare, employing around 1,700 in four offices (PPP House, Union House, Phillips House and International House). Tunbridge Wells had a relatively low unemployment rate of around 1.0% in August 2008, compared to a UK national rate of around 5.4%.
caption: The Royal Victoria Place shopping centre
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