Editing Trowbridge (section)

===1800s to present===

In its place a bedding industry developed, initially using wool cast off from the mills; the company now known as [[Airsprung|Airsprung Furniture Group]] was started in the town in the 1870s. Food production also developed in the town when [[Abraham Bowyer]] started his business in 1805 which eventually, as [[Pork Farms]] [[Bowyers (company)|Bowyers]], became one of the largest employers in the town until closure in April 2008 when production moved to the [[Shaftesbury]] and [[Nottingham]] factories.

The town became the [[county town]] of Wiltshire in 1889 when [[Wiltshire County Council]] was formed and sought a place which representatives from Swindon and Salisbury, among others, could reach and return home from in one day. Trowbridge fulfilled this criterion by virtue of its railway connections and thus was chosen as the county town, further reinforced by the construction of the county hall in 1939.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://apps.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityhistory/Question/Details/51 |title=Wiltshire Community History Questions |publisher=Wiltshire Council|access-date=7 May 2011 }}</ref>

The brewing company [[Ushers of Trowbridge]] opened in 1824, and developed the brewery in the town. This was finally shut in 2000 following several changes of ownership and its equipment was sold to [[North Korea]], where it forms the core of the [[Taedonggang]] brewery, just outside [[Pyongyang]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/4475589.How_Ushers__Trowbridge_brewery_is_now_the_toast_of_North_Korea/|title=How Ushers' Trowbridge brewery is now the toast of North Korea|newspaper=Wiltshire Times|date=2009-07-05|access-date=2009-11-21}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/kim-jong-ale-how-did-ushers-brewery-of-trowbridge-end-up-in-north-korea-producing-pyongyangs-number-9268051.html |title=Kim Jong-ale: How did Ushers brewery of Trowbridge end up in North Korea producing Pyongyang's number one beer - and what did it take to set up a taste test back in Wiltshire? |newspaper=independent.co.uk |date=18 April 2014 |access-date=2016-10-08}}</ref>