This is Brighouse

ALL routes lead to Brighouse located as it is halfway between the ports of Hull and Liverpool.

A quick glance at the map clearly illustrates its enviable central position, providing a natural interchange for trade and commerce with its easy access to the M62, Ml, M606 and A1 motorways.

The huge cities of Manchester and Leeds are just 30 minutes and 15 minutes drive away respectively, served by an excellent motorway network that links both sides of the Pennines and is within a few minutes of Brighouse town centre.

The opening of the local stretch of the M62 almost 30 years ago has proved a vital element in the rising success of the town and the surrounding area. It has, undoubtedly, helped cultivate a healthy economy which has remained buoyant and created numerous spinoffs for local trade and industry as well as provide a huge boost in e-commerce.

It is the unique geographical position of Junction 25 at Brighouse which has encouraged the development of the town’s industrial epi-centre on the Armytage Industrial Estate which has now spread to the edge of the slip road of the M62 and again, expanded in the opposite direction right up to the curtilage of the town centre, bringing with it huge variety of commercial and light industrial concerns.

The completion of the local £10m “missing link” of the “mountain motorway” proved a vital trigger for economy in the town nearly three decades ago and all the signs are that the current programme of maintenance taking place on its 300-year-old inland waterway is creating a bouyant boating revolution which has steadily been gaining momentum over the past 20 years.

Today, the restoration of the local stretch of the Calder and Hebble Navigation is helping to unlock a huge potential in waterborne, mainly but not exclusively, leisure traffic which will continue to have spin-offs in terms of tourism.
A massive restoration of the historic waterway was launched nearly six months ago with Brighouse Basin and Ganny Lock undergoing repair, strengthening and modernisation work.

Two tonne lock gates, each costing £55,000, are being replaced with traditional materials, helping to improve the attractiveness of the Brighouse stretch of the navigation.

Celebrating its 300th birthday this year, the Calder and Hebble Navigation turned the woollen textile town of Brighouse into an important canal port. Now, it is reaping considerable rewards as a holiday and leisure base.



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