Editing Worksop (section)

==Local economy==
===Current economy===
The local economy in Worksop is dominated by service industries, manufacturing and distribution. Unemployment levels in the area are now lower than the national average, owing to large number of distribution and local manufacturing companies; these include Premier Foods, RDS Transport, [[Pandrol]] and Laing O'Rourke.

Major employers in the area include [[Premier Foods]] ([[Worksop Factory]]), [[Greencore]], RDS Transport (the Flying Fridge), [[B&Q]], MAKE polymers,<ref>{{cite web |title=Site confirmed for MBA Polymers' UK plant |url=http://www.recyclinginternational.com/recycling-news/3396/plastic-and-rubber/united-states-united-kingdom/site-confirmed-mba-polymers-039-uk-plant |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611211026/http://www.recyclinginternational.com/recycling-news/3396/plastic-and-rubber/united-states-united-kingdom/site-confirmed-mba-polymers-039-uk-plant |archive-date=11 June 2016 |access-date=12 April 2014 |publisher=Recycling International}}</ref> OCG Cacao, part of [[Cargill]], Pandrol, [[GCHQ]] and the [[National Health Service]] ([[Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust|Doncaster and Bassetlaw NHS Trust]]).

[[File:Bridge Street, Worksop, Notts. - geograph.org.uk - 5110948.jpg|thumb|Bridge Street, Worksop]]

===Agricultural and forestry===
John Harrison's survey of Worksop for the Earl of Arundel reveals that at that time, most people earned their living from the land. A tenant farmer, Henry Cole, farmed 200 acres of land, grazing his sheep on "Manton sheepwalk". This survey also described a corn-grinding water mill (Bracebridge mill) and Manor Mill situated near to Castle Hill, with a kiln and a malthouse.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://southwellchurches.nottingham.ac.uk/worksop-priory/hhistory.php|title=Worksop Priory - History|website=southwellchurches.nottingham.ac.uk}}</ref>

One unusual crop associated with Worksop is [[liquorice]]. This was originally grown in the priory gardens for medicinal purposes but continued until around 1750. [[William Camden]] records in ''Britannia'' that the town was famous for growing liquorice. [[John Speed]] noted: "In the west, near Worksop, groweth plenty of Liquorice, very delicious and good". White says the liquorice gardens were "principally situated on the eastern margin of the park, near the present 'Slack Walk'." He notes that the last plant was dug up about "fifty years ago" and that this last garden had been planted by "the person after whom the 'Brompton stock' is named." A pub in Worksop is now named after this former industry.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/pubs/the-liquorice-gardens-worksop|title=The Liquorice Gardens|website=J D Wetherspoon}}</ref>

Additionally, with much of the area being heavily forested, timber was always an important industry, supplying railway sleepers to the [[North Midland Railway]], timber for the construction of railway carriages, and packing cases for the [[Sheffield]] cutlery industry. The town also became notable for the manufacture of Worksop [[Windsor chair]]s. Timber firms in the town included Benjamin Garside's woodyard and Godley and Goulding, situated between Eastgate and the railway.<ref>Stroud, G. (2002) Nottinghamshire Extensive Urban Survey, Worksop. English Heritage</ref>

===Brewing and malting===
The [[malt]]ing trade began in [[Retford]], but gradually moved to Worksop, where it became an important trade, though it never employed many people. In 1852, Clinton malt kilns were built. Worksop has a strong tradition of brewing, including being the site of the historic Worksop and Retford Brewery. This brewery had previously been known as Garside and Alderson and Prior Well Brewery.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}

The brewing tradition is continued by a number of local independent breweries in and around the town, including [[Welbeck Abbey Brewery]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/local-news/inside-historic-nottinghamshire-estate-brewery-3672038 |title=Inside the historic Nottinghamshire estate... |work=Nottinghamshire Post |date=1 January 2020 |first=Gurjeet |last=Nanrah |access-date=6 March 2021}}</ref>

===Former Mining===
At the start of the 19th century, Worksop had a largely agricultural economy with malting, corn milling, and timber working being principal industries. However, the discovery of coal meant that by 1900, the majority of the workforce was employed in [[coal mining]], which provided thousands of jobs – both directly and indirectly – in and around Worksop for most of the 19th and 20th centuries.

The first coal mine was [[Shireoaks Colliery]], which by 1861 employed over 200 men, which rose to 600 men by 1871. [[Steetley Colliery]] started producing coal in 1876, and in Worksop a mine was developed on land to the south-east, owned by [[Henry Pelham-Clinton, 7th Duke of Newcastle]]. This mine was fully operational in around 1907, with three shafts, and was named [[Manton Colliery]].

The closure in the 1990s of the pits, compounding the earlier decline of the timber trade and other local industry, resulted in high unemployment in parts of the Worksop area, as well as other social problems.<ref>{{cite web |title=George Osborne wreaks havoc...just like Margaret Thatcher in 1980s |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/george-osborne-wreaks-havoc--256105 |last=Boniface |first=Susie |author-link=Susie Boniface |date=24 October 2010 |work=The Mirror}}</ref>

===Textiles===
In John Harrison's survey of Worksop for the Earl of Arundel, a dye house and a tenter green (where lengths of cloth were stretched out to dry) indicates a small cloth industry was present in Worksop. Late attempts during the [[Industrial Revolution]] to introduce textile manufacturing saw two mills constructed, one at Bridge Place and the other somewhere near Mansfield Road. Both enterprises failed and closed within three years. They were converted to milling corn.{{citation needed|date=June 2022}}