Tunbridge Wells

Estimated Population

105,600 based on ONS survey to mid 2007

Overview

One of Southeast England's most desirable places to live, Tunbridge Wells oozes a well-practised air of relaxed gentility. A visit to "A Day at the Wells" on the colonnaded Pantilles outlines the towns laid back history over the last 400 years.

Today the town has developed unhurriedness into near art form with a plethora of coffee houses, open air cafes, antique, book and trendy clothes shops dotted around the town centre. Unsurprisingly the town has plenty of good places to eat and drink including a number of notable restaurants and plenty of 'olde worlde' pubs.

Roughly midway between London and Brighton Royal Tunbridge Wells, to give it the title bestowed on the town by King Edward the VIII in1909, is set amidst the gentle rolling downs and wooded hills of the Weald of Kent. Royal Tunbridge Wells lies at the heart of one of the most scenic stretches of countryside in England surrounded by the unspoilt beauty of the Weald. In Georgian times this popular spa town gained a reputation as the place to see and be seen amongst royalty and fashionable members of the aristocracy.

Leisure and Retail

The Pantiles is now home to a fascinating variety of small specialist shops, antique shops and open-air cafés, restaurants and bars. The Spring situated at the northern end of the Pantiles still flows, and the reputedly health-giving water is served in the summer months by a traditional 'Dipper'. In the summer months a series of open air band and evening jazz concerts take place.