Understand
Ipswich was one of the most prosperous cities in the UK since Saxon times. During its heyday it was a major trading port, being located on the estuary of the Orwell River on the East Coast. Ipswich fell into rapid decline after the opening of the new ports at Felixstowe and Harwich and stayed that way until the 1970s when much of London's financial services industry used Ipswich as a hub for their secondary offices with names such as Royal Bank of Scotland, Willis Group pka Willis Faber & Dumas, Norwich Union and AXA opening shiny new skyscrapers in a new CBD development just north of the river. Most recently, the brand new University Campus Suffolk brought on rapid development along the waterfront area with lots of trendy new bars, restaurants and apartments lining the east bank of the river.
Anyone expecting a typical, small provincial town will get a little culture shock when stepping out of the train station as 1960s tower blocks, Saxon half-timber cottages, Victorian townhouses and shiny new high-rise developments sit side-by-side.
