New lease of life for Duchy Square Centre

The Duchy Square Centre in Princetown has been given a new lease of life, re-opening with a range of business tenants.

Councillors have been given a tour of the rejuvenated building to see the array of companies that have moved in to give the local economy a boost.

The centre houses 15 businesses and nearly all of the units in the building are now occupied.

All of the businesses are either manufacturing on site, in a service industry or involved in web sales. As there are no retail units the building is not open to the public, other than by appointment for individual tenants.

Among those now based at Duchy Square is The Dark Angel, an award winning manufacturer of period-inspired clothing that was established in Yorkshire over 20 years ago but has relocated to Devon.

Owner Carri Keill said: “We decided to relocate the company to Devon following the devastating floods that hit West Yorkshire last Christmas. It has been a major upheaval for us but we are looking forward to settling into the new space at the Duchy Square Centre and starting to rebuild the business.”

Marine Biologists James Harries and Nick Williamson, owners of aquatic specialists TankBred, have also moved into the centre, and are providing consultancy work, designing, building and maintaining aquatics, as well as supplying aquariums, aquaponics, ponds, water features, captive bred fish and corals.

James said: “Duchy Square presented an ideal opportunity for us. It is a well appointed building in a great location for our first premises, with ease of access from all corners of Devon. Up to 95% of marine fish and invertebrates for the trade are wild caught. We want to change the direction of the trade and conserve wild species, whilst sustaining the hobby. We offer customers a unique guarantee that none of our stock will be wild caught. Duchy Square has been great for our set up so far, and hopefully for a long time yet as we build TankBred."

Laura Cardwell has launched a Bridalwear business at the centre. She said: “The centre is located close to home, and the school and pre-school are in walking distance, which was important for me. It feels as though things are picking up in Princetown again. We’re trying to get people back in Princetown and the variety of businesses in here will hopefully bring people in. I’m very happy here.”

Beth Kennedy recently left the Royal Navy and has now started her sports massage, beauty therapy and complementary therapy business. She said: “It’s a total change of jobs and it’s very exciting to start a new business. A lot of the villagers like the fact that they don’t have to go far for a pampering session or sports massage and it saves them on their travel costs.”

The Centre has been closed since 2012 but Devon County Council has been carrying out improvement work on the site in recent months ahead of it becoming fully occupied.

Councillor Andrew Leadbetter, Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Economy and Growth, said:

“There has been a lot of interest in the units at Duchy Square and they’re now nearly all let, which is extremely positive and speaks volumes for Devon’s growing economy. We’ve seen a wide range of businesses move in which is excellent news for the local area.”

Councillor Philip Sanders, local Devon County Councillor for Yelverton Rural and West Devon Borough Council's Member for Buckland Monachorum, said:

“I am absolutely delighted that we have been successful in attracting businesses to the premises in Duchy Square. Princetown has been through a low patch in the last few months and a lot of hard work has been put in by the Parish, Borough and County Councils working with the Duchy of Cornwall and other agencies to turn things around and it is good to see the reward for all this effort. The premises are ideal for smaller businesses seeking a realistic ingoing rental, whether moving from elsewhere or just starting up, and it provides high quality accommodation in a strategically important location.”