Latest Penryn News
Lidl plans approved for Ponsharden site!
The German Supermarket Chain, Lidl, will soon open its latest store on the site of the former Falmouth Packet offices and the previous Woodstock building at Ponsharden after the company's planning application was given conditional approval on 4 June. Lidl has forged a reputation of providing high quality products and an international range at low prices by dispensing with costly shop fittings and extensive advertising campaigns. Lidl hopes to open the new store in Februar 2009.
New Gallery opens at 40 Lower Market Street
Marten Jorgensen and Kim Blackburn have opened a new Art Gallery at 40 Lower Market Street after originally favouring St. Just or Truro. The open-spaced Gallery features work from both Cornish artists and those from further afield. The Gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday, between 10.30 am and 5 pm. Displays will change every month.
Penryn's Revival
Penryn is the sleeping beauty of West Cornwall – and also one of the county’s best-kept secrets. The town was badly affected by the economic downturn in Cornwall and after the closure of Penryn docks in the 1970s it went 
through a period of stagnation which may well turn out to have been a blessing in disguise.
In 1975 many of the historic houses in the area – some dating back to Tudor and Georgian times – were in appalling condition with some unfit for habitation. Carrick District Council had to choose between demolishing and rebuilding with modern council houses or seeking central funding for a massive restoration project. Luckily and unlike many other places at the time, they chose the more imaginative solution. The Penryn Project restored over 200 properties in the following seven years.
As a result, Penryn has kept its delightful 18th century town centre and atmosphere. There is no plague of the chain shops which have turned so many old English market towns into “clone towns” all looking drearily the same. Now with the arrival of CUC’s Tremough Campus, the completion of large projects like Jubilee Wharf and the Anchor Warehouse development and the £2.8million Townscape Heritage scheme, Penryn has never been prettier. Rents are low and footfall is increasing in the town as new businesses attract people away from the supermarkets on the ring-road and tourists start to come and see what remains of Penryn’s long history.
| Executive