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hotel in exeter

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a hotel in exeter

A hotel, in a town like Exeter, , is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis.

The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms and air conditioning or climate control.

Additional common features found in hotel rooms are a telephone, an alarm clock, a television, a safe, a mini-bar with snack foods and drinks, and facilities for making tea and coffee.

Luxury features include bathrobes and slippers, a pillow menu, twin-sink vanities, and jacuzzi bathtubs.

Larger hotels may provide additional guest facilities such as a restaurant, swimming pool, fitness center, business center, childcare, conference facilities and social function services.

Hotel rooms are usually numbered (or named in some smaller hotels and B&Bs) to allow guests to identify their room.

Some hotels offer meals as part of a room and board arrangement.

In the United Kingdom, in a town like Exeter, , a hotel is required by law to serve food and drinks to all guests within certain stated hours.

In Japan, capsule hotels provide a minimized amount of room space and shared facilities.

The word hotel is derived from the French hotel (coming from hote meaning host), which referred to a French version of a townhouse or any other building seeing frequent visitors, rather than a place offering accommodation.

In contemporary French usage, hotel now has the same meaning as the English term, and hotel particulier is used for the old meaning.

The French spelling, with the circumflex, was also used in English, but is now rare.

The circumflex replaces the 's' found in the earlier hostel spelling, which over time took on a new, but closely related meaning.

Grammatically, hotels usually take the definite article - hence "The Astoria Hotel" or simply "The Astoria.

" Hotel operations in a hotel vary in size, function, and cost.

Most hotels and major hospitality companies that operate hotels have set widely accepted industry standards to classify hotel types.

General categories include the following; * Upscale Luxury.

o Examples include Conrad Hotels, InterContinental Hotels, Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Dorchester Collection,and JW Marriott Hotels.

* Full Service.

o Examples include Hilton, Marriott, Hotel Indigo, Doubletree, and Hyatt.

* Select Service.

o Examples include Holiday Inn, Courtyard by Marriott and Hilton Garden Inn.

* Limited Service.

o Examples include Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Fairfield Inn, Days Inn, and La Quinta Inns & Suites.

* Extended Stay.

o Examples include Staybridge Suites, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Residence Inn by Marriott, and Extended Stay Hotels.

* Timeshare.

o Examples include Holiday Inn Club Vacations, Marriott Vacation Club International, Westgate Resorts, and Disney Vacation Club.

* Destination Club.

Hotel management is a significant career.

Larger hotels may operate with an extensive management structure consisting of a General Manager which serves as the head executive, department heads that oversee various departments, middle managers, administrative staff, and line-level supervisors.

Degree programs such as hospitality management studies, a business degree, and/or certification programs prepare hotel managers for industry practice.

Some hotels, a hotel in exeter for instance, have gained their renown through tradition, by hosting significant events or persons, such as Schloss Cecilienhof in Potsdam, Germany, which derives its fame from the Potsdam Conference of the World War II allies Winston Churchill, Harry Truman and Joseph Stalin in 1945.

The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower in Mumbai is one of India's most famous and historic hotels because of its association with the Indian independence movement.

Some establishments have given name to a particular meal or beverage, as is the case with the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, United States where the Waldorf Salad was first created or the Hotel Sacher in Vienna, Austria, home of the Sachertorte.

Others have achieved fame by association with dishes or cocktails created on their premises, such as the Hotel de Paris where the crepe Suzette was invented or the Raffles Hotel in Singapore, where the Singapore Sling cocktail was devised.

A number of hotels have entered the public consciousness through popular culture, such as the Ritz Hotel in London, through its association with Irving Berlin's song, 'Puttin' on the Ritz'.

The Algonquin Hotel in New York City is famed as the meeting place of the literary group, the Algonquin Round Table, and Hotel Chelsea, also in New York City, has been the subject of a number of songs and the scene of the stabbing of Nancy Spungen (allegedly by her boyfriend Sid Vicious).

Many hotels can be considered destinations in themselves, by dint of unusual features of the lodging or its immediate environment: Boutique hotels are typically hotels like with a unique environment.

Some hotels are built with living trees as structural elements, for example the Costa Rica Tree House in the Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge, Costa Rica; the Treetops Hotel in Aberdare National Park, Kenya; the Ariau Towers near Manaus, Brazil, on the Rio Negro in the Amazon; and Bayram's Tree Houses in Olympos, Turkey.

In Nax Mont-Noble, a little ski resort situated on 1300 metres in the Swiss Alps, construction for the Maya Guesthouse will start in September 2011.

It will be the first hotel in Europe built entirely with straw bales.

Due to the isolation values of the walls it will need no heating.

The Null Stern Hotel in Teufen, Appenzellerland, Switzerland and the Concrete Mushrooms in Albaniaare former nuclear bunkers transformed into hotels.

Shoe hotels are hotels built into a giant shoe.

The idea was inspired by the "Old Woman who lived in a shoe" myth.

The largest such hotel is currently in Hokkaido, Japan.

The most popular shoe hotels are modelled after a woman's platform dancing shoe.

The Cuevas Pedro Antonio de AlarcOn (named after the author) in Guadix, Spain, as well as several hotels in Cappadocia, Turkey, are notable for being built into natural cave formations, some with rooms underground.

The Desert Cave Hotel in Coober Pedy, South Australia is built into the remains of an opal mine.

Capsule hotels are a type of economical hotel that are found in Japan, where people sleep in stacks of rectangular containers.

The Ice Hotel in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden, and the Hotel de Glace in Duschenay, Canada, melt every spring and are rebuilt each winter; the Mammut Snow Hotel in Finland is located within the walls of the Kemi snow castle; and the Lainio Snow Hotel is part of a snow village near Yllas, Finland.

Garden hotels, famous for their gardens before they became hotels, include Gravetye Manor, the home of garden designer William Robinson, and Cliveden, designed by Charles Barry with a rose garden by Geoffrey Jellicoe.

Some hotels have accommodation underwater, such as Utter Inn in Lake Malaren, Sweden.

Hydropolis, project cancelled 2004 in Dubai, would have had suites on the bottom of the Persian Gulf, and Jules Undersea Lodge in Key Largo, Florida requires scuba diving to access its rooms.

Other unusual hotels - RMS Queen Mary, Long Beach, California, United States.

* The Library Hotel in New York City, is unique in that each of its ten floors is assigned one category from the Dewey Decimal System.

* The Burj al-Arab hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, built on an artificial island, is structured in the shape of a boat's sail.

* The Jailhotel Lowengraben in Lucerne, Switzerland is a converted prison now used as a hotel.

* The Luxor, a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States is unusual due to its pyramidal structure.

* The Liberty Hotel in Boston, used to be the Charles Street Jail.

* Built in Scotland and completed in 1936, The former ocean liner RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach, California, United States uses its first-class staterooms as a hotel, after retiring in 1967 from Transatlantic service.

* There are several hotels throughout the world built into converted airliners.

Some hotels are built specifically to create a captive trade, example at casinos and holiday resorts.

Though of course hotels have always been built in popular destinations, the defining characteristic of a resort hotel is that it exists purely to serve another attraction, the two having the same owners.

In Las Vegas there is a tradition of one-upmanship with luxurious and extravagant hotels in a concentrated area known as the Las Vegas Strip.

This trend now has extended to other resorts worldwide, but the concentration in Las Vegas is still the world's highest: nineteen of the world's twenty-five largest hotels by room count are on the Strip, with a total of over 67,000 rooms.

In Europe Center Parcs might be considered a chain of resort hotels, since the sites are largely man-made (though set in natural surroundings such as country parks) with captive trade, whereas holiday camps such as Butlins and Pontin's are probably not considered as resort hotels, since they are set at traditional holiday destinations which existed before the camps.

Frequently, expanding railway companies built grand hotels at their termini, such as the Midland Hotel, Manchester next to the former Manchester Central Station and in London the ones above St Pancras railway station and Charing Cross railway station also in London is the Chiltern Court Hotel above Baker Street tube station and Canada's grand railway hotels.

They are or were mostly, but not exclusively, used by those travelling by rail.

A motel (motor hotel) is a hotel which is for a short stay, usually for a night, for motorists on long journeys.

It has direct access from the room to the vehicle (for example a central parking lot around which the buildings are set), and is built conveniently close to major roads and intersections.

In 2006, Guinness World Records listed the First World Hotel in Genting Highlands, Malaysia as the world's largest hotel with a total of 6,118 rooms.

Similarly, the Venetian Palazzo Complex, in Las Vegas, has the most number of rooms.

It has 7,117 rooms followed by MGM Grand Hotel, which contains 6,852 rooms.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the oldest hotel still in operation is the Hoshi Ryokan, in the Awazu Onsen area of Komatsu, Japan which opened in 718.

The Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong is the tallest building used exclusively as a hotel.

Located on the top of Hong Kong's tallest building, the 488 meter tall International Commerce Centre.

Some hotels sell individual rooms to investors.

Timeshare is an example of this kind of investment.

The buyer is allowed to stay in the room without charge or at a reduced rate for a given number of days each year.

The investor is paid a share of the takings for the room.

Rooms can be sold on a leasehold basis, sometimes on a 999 year lease.

Room owners are free to sell at any time.

A number of public figures have notably chosen to take up semi-permanent or permanent residence in hotels.

* Actor Richard Harris lived at the Savoy Hotel while in London.

Hotel archivist Susan Scott recounts an anecdote that when he was being taken out of the building on a stretcher shortly before his death he raised his hand and told the diners "it was the food.

" * Inventor Nikola Tesla lived the last 10 years of his life at the New Yorker Hotel until 1943 when he died in the hotel room.

* Millionaire Howard Hughes lived his last few years in a Las Vegas hotel.

* Egyptian actor Ahmad Zaki lived his last 15 years in Ramses Hilton Hotel - Cairo.

* Larry Fine (of the Three Stooges) and his family lived in hotels, due to his extravagant spending habits and his wife's dislike for housekeeping.

They first lived in the President Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where his daughter Phyllis was raised, then the Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood.

Not until the late 1940s did Larry buy a home in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles, California.

* General Douglas McArthur lived his last 14 years in the penthouse of the Waldorf Towers, a part of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

* American actress Elaine Stritch lived in the Savoy Hotel in London for over a decade.

* Fashion designer Coco Chanel lived in the Hotel Ritz Paris on and off for more than 30 years.

* Vladimir Nabokov and his wife Vera lived in the Montreux Palace Hotel in Montreux, Switzerland from 1961 until his death in 1977.

* British entrepreneur Jack Lyons lived in the Hotel Mirador Kempinski in Switzerland for several years until his death in 2008.

Hotels, like a hotel in exeter, have been used as the settings for television programmes such as the British situation comedies Fawlty Towers and I'm Alan Partridge, the British soap opera Crossroads, and in films such as the Bates Motel in Hitchcock's 1960 film Psycho and The Dolphin Hotel in 1408, a short story by Stephen King which was adapted into a 2007 film.

Another is Tipton Hotel, a fictitious hotel in Disney's "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody".

When the show later became a spinoff into "The Suite Life on Deck," the Tipton evolved into the SS Tipton, run by the same company.

a hotel in exeter

Exeter is a historic city in Devon, England.

It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council.

Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the County Council.

The city is on the River Exe, about 37 miles (60 km) northeast of Plymouth, and 70 miles (110 km) southwest of Bristol.

According to the 2001 Census, its population in that year was 111,076, while the mid-2009 estimate was 118,800.

Exeter was the most south-westerly Roman fortified settlement in Britain.

Its Exeter Cathedral, founded in the early 12th century, became Anglican at the time of the 16th century Reformation.

Exeter has been identified as one of the top ten most profitable locations for a business to be based.

The city has good transport links, with Exeter St David's railway station, Exeter Central railway station, the M5 motorway and Exeter International Airport connecting the city both nationally and internationally.

Although a popular tourist destination, the city is not dominated by tourism.

The favourable location of Exeter, on a dry ridge of land ending in a spur that overlooks a navigable river that was teeming with fish, and with fertile land nearby, suggests that it would have been a site that was occupied early.

The discovery of coins dating from the Hellenistic period in the city indicates the existence of a settlement that was trading with the Mediterranean region as early as 250 BC.

The Latin name for Exeter, Isca Dumnoniorum ("Isca of the Dumnones or Devonians"), suggests that the city was of Celtic origin.

This oppidum, (a Latin term meaning an important town), on the banks of the River Exe certainly existed prior to the foundation of the Roman city in about AD 50, however the name may have been suggested by a Celtic adviser to the Romans, rather than by the original inhabitants of the place.

Such early towns, or proto-cities, had been a feature of pre-Roman Gaul as described by Julius Caesar in his Commentarii de Bello Gallico ("Commentaries on the Gallic Wars"), and it is possible that they existed in neighbouring Britannia as well.

Isca is derived from a Brythonic Celtic word for flowing water, which was given to the Exe and, elsewhere, to the River Usk on which Caerleon in Monmouthshire stands.

This element is clearly present in the Modern Welsh names for Exeter (Caer-wysg) and the River Exe (Afon Wysg).

The Romans gave the city the name Isca Dumnoniorum in order to distinguish it from Isca Augusta, modern Caerleon.

Significant parts of the Roman wall remain, though most of the visible structure is later.

Most of its route can be traced on foot.

A substantial Roman baths complex was excavated in the 1970s, but because of its proximity to the cathedral, it was not practicable to retain the excavation for public view.

Exeter was also the southern starting point for the Fosse Way Roman road.

More than 1,000 Roman coins have been found in the city indicating its importance as a trading centre.

The dates of these coins suggest that the city was at its most prosperous in the first half of the fourth century.

However, virtually no coins dated after AD 380 have been found, suggesting a rapid decline.

After the Romans left Britain in the early 5th century nothing is known of Exeter for about 270 years, until around 680 when a document about St Boniface reports that he was educated at the Abbey in Exeter.

The Saxons arrived in Exeter after defeating the Britons at the Battle of Peonnum in Somerset in 658.

It is likely that amongst the ruins of the Roman city there was plenty of room for both peoples, and the Saxons allowed the Britons to continue to live in their own quarter of the city under their own laws.

This was almost certainly in the same area as the ancient British settlement - in the locality of the present-day Bartholomew Street.

Until 1637 this street was known as Britayne in memory of the fact that it was once the British quarter.

In 876 Exeter (then known as Escanceaster) was attacked and briefly captured by the Danes.

Alfred the Great drove them out the next summer, and in the following years made Exeter one of the four burhs in Devon, repairing the Roman city walls in the process.

In 893 the city held off another siege by the Danes.

In about 928 King Athelstan caused the walls to be thoroughly repaired and at the same time drove out the Britons from the city.

It is not known whether or not these Britons had lived in the city continuously since Roman times - they may have been immigrants from the countryside when Alfred made the city a burh.

According to William of Malmesbury, they were sent beyond the River Tamar, thereby fixing that river as the boundary of Devonshire, though Athelstan may have been restoring an old Dumnonian boundary.

The quarter vacated by the Britons was then apparently adapted as "the earl's burh", and was still named Irlesberi in the 12th century.

In 1001 the Danes again failed to get into the city, but they were able to plunder it in 1003 because they were let in, for unknown reasons, by the French reeve of Emma of Normandy, who had been given the city as part of her dowry on her marriage to Ethelred the Unready the previous year.

In 1067, possibly because Gytha Thorkelsd�ttir, mother of King Harold, was living in the city, Exeter rebelled against William the Conqueror who promptly marched west and laid siege.

After 18 days William accepted the city's honourable surrender in which he swore an oath not to harm the city or increase its ancient tribute.

However, William quickly arranged for the building of Rougemont Castle to ensure the city's compliance in future.

Properties owned by Saxon landlords were transferred into Norman hands, and on the death of Bishop Leofric in 1072, the Norman Osbern FitzOsbern was appointed his successor.

In 1136, early in the Anarchy, Rougemont Castle was held against King Stephen by Baldwin de Redvers.

Redvers submitted only after a three month siege, not when the three wells in the castle ran dry, but only once the large supplies of wine in the garrison that they were using for drinking, baking, cooking and for putting out the fires started by the besiegers, were exhausted.

The city held a weekly market for the benefit of its citizens from at least 1213, and by 1281 Exeter was the only town in the south west to have three market days per week.

There are also records of seven annual fairs, the earliest of which dates from 1130, and all of which continued until at least the early 16th century.

In 1537, the city was made a county corporate.

In 1549 the city successfully withstood a month-long siege by the Prayer Book rebels.

The Livery Dole Almshouses and Chapel at Heavitree were founded in March 1591 and finished in 1594.

They can still be seen today in the street which bears the name Livery Dole.

The city's motto, Semper fidelis, is traditionally held to have been suggested by Elizabeth I, in acknowledgement of the city's contribution of ships to help defeat the Spanish Armada in 1588; however its first documented use is in 1660.

Exeter was at first a Parliamentary town in the English Civil War in the largely Royalist South West, but it was captured by the Royalists on 4 September 1643, and it remained in their control until near the end of the war, being one of the final Royalist cities to fall into Parliamentary hands.

During this period, Exeter was an economically powerful city, with a strong trade of wool.

This was partly due to the surrounding area which was "more fertile and better inhabited than that passed over the preceding day" according to Count Lorenzo Magalotti who visited the city when he was 26 years old.

Magalotti writes of over thirty thousand people being employed in the county of Devon as part of the wool and cloth industries, merchandise that was sold to "the West Indies, Spain, France and Italy".

Celia Fiennes also visited Exeter during this period, in the early 1700s.

She remarked on the "vast trade" and "incredible quantity" in Exeter, recording that "it turns the most money in a week of anything in England", between �10,000 and �15,000.

Early in the Industrial Revolution, Exeter's industry developed on the basis of locally available agricultural products and, since the city's location on a fast-flowing river gave it ready access to water power, an early industrial site developed on drained marshland to the west of the city, at Exe Island.

However when steam power replaced water in the 19th century, Exeter was too far from sources of coal (or iron) to develop further.

As a result the city declined in relative importance, and was spared the rapid 19th century development that changed many historic European cities.

Extensive canal redevelopments during this period further expanded Exeter's economy, with "vessels of 15 to 16 tons burthen [bringing] up goods and merchandise from Topsham to the City Quay".

The first railway to arrive in Exeter was the Bristol and Exeter Railway that opened a station at St Davids on the western edge in 1844.

The South Devon Railway Company extended the line westwards to Plymouth, opening their own smaller station at St Thomas, near the lower end of Fore Street.

A more central railway station, that at Queen Street, was opened by the London and South Western Railway in 1860 when it opened its alternative route to London.

In 1832, the pestilence cholera, which had been erupting all across Europe had reached Exeter.

The only known documentation of this event was written by Dr Thomas Shapter, one of the medical doctors present during the epidemic.

Butchers Lloyd Maunder moved to their present base in 1915, to gain better access to the Great Western Railway for transportation of meat products to London Exeter was bombed by the German Luftwaffe in the Second World War, when a total of 18 raids between 1940 and 1942 flattened much of the city centre.

In 1942, as part of the Baedeker Blitz and specifically in response to the RAF bombing of L�beck, forty acres (160,000 m2) of the city, particularly adjacent to its central High Street and Sidwell Street, were levelled by incendiary bombing.

Many historic buildings were destroyed, and others, including the grand Cathedral of St Peter in the heart of the city, were damaged.

Large areas of the city centre were rebuilt in the 1950s, when little attempt was made to preserve Exeter's ancient heritage.

Damaged buildings were generally demolished rather than restored, and even the street plan was altered in an attempt to improve traffic circulation.

The post-war buildings are generally perceived as being of little architectural merit, unlike many of those that they replaced, such as Bedford Circus and a section of the ancient city wall.

Despite some local opposition, the Princesshay shopping centre has been redeveloped between the Cathedral Close and the High Street.

The development was completed and opened on time on 20 September 2007.

There are 123 varied residential units incorporated into the new Princesshay.

In order to enable people with limited mobility to enjoy the city, Exeter Community Transport Association provides shopmobility for use by anyone suffering from short or long-term mobility impairment to access to the city centre and shopping facilities, events and meetings with friends and company.

Previously regarded as second only to Bath as an architectural site in southern England, since the 1942 bombing and subsequent reconstruction Exeter has been a city with some beautiful buildings rather than a beautiful city.

As a result, although there is a significant tourist trade, Exeter is not dominated by tourism.

In May 2008 there was an attempted terrorist attack on the Giraffe cafe in Princesshay.

Exeter is in two parliamentary constituencies, the majority of the city is in the Exeter constituency but two wards (St Loyes and Topsham) are in East Devon.

Exeter itself is relatively marginal, and since World War II its Member of Parliament has usually been drawn from the governing party.

The Exeter MP is Ben Bradshaw and Hugo Swire represents East Devon.

Exeter is part of the South West England European constituency, which elects 6 MEPs.

Exeter's city council is a district authority, and shares responsibility for local government with the Devon County Council.

Since 2003, no party has had a majority on the council.

Exeter City Council's bid for the city to become a Unitary Authority was initially approved by ministers in February 2010.

However, following the 2010 general election the new government announced in May 2010 that the reorganisation would be blocked.

From Saxon times, it was in the hundred of Wonford.

Exeter has had a mayor since at least 1207 and until 2002, the city was the oldest 'Right Worshipful' Mayoralty in England.

As part of the Queen's 2002 Golden Jubilee celebrations Exeter was chosen to receive the title of Lord Mayor.

Councillor Granville Baldwin became the first Lord Mayor of Exeter on 1 May 2002 when Letters Patent were awarded to the city during a visit by the Queen.

The Lord Mayor is elected each year from amongst the 40 Exeter city councillors and is non-political for the term of office.

Devon and Cornwall Constabulary have their headquarters based at Middlemoor in the east of the city.

Home Office policing in Exeter is provided by the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary.

The fire service is provided by the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, which is headquartered at Clyst St George near Exeter.

It has two fire stations located at Danes Castle and Middlemoor.

The Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust has a large hospital located to the south east of the city centre.

Ambulance services in Exeter are provided by South Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust.

The West Trust Divisional HQ and 999 control is in Exeter which provides cover for Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and the Isles of Scilly.

The city of Exeter was established on the eastern bank of the River Exe on a ridge of land backed by a steep hill.

It is at this point that the Exe, having just been joined by the River Creedy, opens onto a wide flood plain and estuary which results in quite common flooding.

Historically this was the lowest bridging point of the River Exe which was tidal and navigable up to the city until the construction of weirs later in its history.

This combined with the easily defensible higher ground of the ridge made the current location of the city a natural choice for settlement and trade.

In George Oliver's The History of the City of Exeter, it is noted that the most likely reasons for the original settling of what would become modern Exeter was the "fertility of the surrounding countryside" and the area's "beautiful and commanding elevation [and] its rapid and navigable river".

Its woodland would also have been ideal for natural resources and hunting and .

Exeter sits predominantly on sandstone and conglomerate geology, although the structure of the surrounding areas is varied.

The topography of the ridge which forms the backbone of the city includes a volcanic plug, on which the Rougemont Castle is situated.

The Cathedral is located on the edge of this ridge and is therefore visible for a considerable distance.

The city has been expanding in size quite considerably in recent years, with a population estimate of 119,600 in 2006, up over 8,000 from the census in 2001.

The Office for National Statistics estimated that Exeter's population in mid-2009 was 118,800.

The city provides strong industries and services to a sizeable area.

The Met Office, the main weather forecasting organisation for the United Kingdom and one of the most significant in the world, relocated from Bracknell in Berkshire to Exeter in early 2004.

It is one of the three largest employers in the area (together with the University of Exeter and Devon County Council).

The city centre provides substantial shopping facilities.

The High Street is mainly devoted to branches of national chains: A NEF survey in 2005 rated Exeter as the worst example of a clone town in the UK, with only a single independent store in the city's High Street, and less diversity (in terms of different categories of shop) than any other town surveyed.

Three significant shopping areas that connect to the High Street provide a somewhat more varied menu.

Princesshay, a post-war retail area connecting to the south side of the High Street was home to a number of independent stores prior to redevelopment in 2007, but is now also largely occupied by national chains.

It is an innovative, varied development, and it is still intended that a number of the new units will be let to local independent stores.

On the other side of the High Street, the partly undercover Guildhall shopping centre (a 1970s reconstruction following the second world war bombing) houses a mixture of national and more regional shops, and connects to the wholly enclosed Harlequins centre where smaller businesses predominate.

Smaller streets off the High Street such as Gandy Street also offer a range of independent shops.

On 26 June 2004, Exeter was granted Fairtrade City status.

Although a popular tourist destination, the city is not dominated by tourism, with only 7% of employment dependent on tourism compared with 13% for Devon as a whole (2005 figures).

Among the notable buildings in Exeter are: Religious buildings.

* The cathedral, founded in 1050 when the bishop's seat was moved from the nearby town of Crediton (birthplace of Saint Boniface) because Exeter's Roman walls offered better protection against "pirates", presumably Vikings.

A statue of Richard Hooker, the 16th century Anglican theologian, who was born in Exeter, has a prominent place in the Cathedral Close.

* St Nicholas Priory in Mint Lane, the remains of a monastery, later used as a private house and now a museum owned by the city council.

* A number of medieval churches including St Mary Steps which has an elaborate clock.

* The Exeter Synagogue is the third oldest Synagogue in Britain, completed in 1763.

* The ruins of Rougemont Castle, built soon after the Norman Conquest; later parts of the castle were still in use as an Assize court until early 2006 when a new Crown Courts building opened.

A plaque near the ruined Norman gatehouse recalls that in 1685 Alice Molland, the last person executed for witchcraft in England, was imprisoned in Exeter.

The future of the castle is at the moment uncertain, but moves are afoot to alter its use, possibly to a restaurant and housing.

* The Guildhall, which has medieval foundations and has been claimed to be the oldest municipal building in England still in use.

* Mols Coffee House, a historic building in the Cathedral Close.

* The Guild of Tuckers and Weavers, a fine old building that is still used for smart functions.

* The Custom House in the attractive Quay area, which is the oldest brick building surviving in the city.

* "The House That Moved", a 14th-century Tudor building, earned its name in 1961 when it was moved from its original location on the corner of Edmund Street in order for a new road to be built in its place.

Weighing more than twenty-one tonnes, it was strapped together and slowly moved a few inches at a time to its present day position.

* Parliament Street in the city centre is one of the narrowest streets in the World.

* The Butts Ferry, an ancient cable ferry across the River Exe.

Many of these are built in the local dark red sandstone, which gives its name to the castle and the park that now surrounds it (Rougemont means red hill).

The pavements on Queen Street are composed of the rock Diorite and exhibit some fine feldspar crystals, while those around Princesshay are composed of Granodiorite.

Northernhay Gardens located just outside the castle, is the oldest public open space in the whole of England, being originally laid out in 1612 as a pleasure walk for Exeter residents.

Much of Northernhay Gardens now represent Victorian design, with a beautiful display of trees, mature shrubs and bushes and plenty of flower beds.

There are also many statues here, most importantly the war memorial by John Angel and the Deerstalker by E B Stephens.

The Volunteer Memorial from 1895, also in the gardens, commemorates the formation of the 1st Rifle Volunteers in 1852.

Other statues include John Dinham, Thomas Dyke Acland and Stafford Northcote (a local landowner who was a Victorian Chancellor of the Exchequer).

The M5 motorway to Bristol and Birmingham starts at Exeter, and connects at Bristol with the M4 to London and South Wales.

The older A30 road provides a more direct route to London via the A303 and M3.

The M5 is the modern lowest bridging point of the River Exe.

Going westwards, the A38 connects Exeter to Plymouth and south east Cornwall, whilst the A30 continues via Okehampton to north and west Cornwall.

Travel by car in the city is often difficult with regular jams centred on the Exe Bridges area.

To address the problem, Devon County Council is considering the introduction of congestion charges.

Exeter's main operator of local buses is Stagecoach South West, which operates most of the services in the city.

Dartline is a minor operator in the City.

Former Cooks Coaches were taken over by Stagecoach forming Stagecoach South West.

Western Greyhound is also a main operator connecting Exeter to Cornwall, Somerset and many different places in South West England.

The High Street, pedestrianised except for bus and bicycle traffic, serves as the main hub for local buses.

Country and express services operate from the city's bus station, in Paris Street, which intersects the High Street at its eastern end; some also call at Exeter St Davids railway station for direct connection to train services.

Country bus services, mostly operated by Stagecoach, run from Exeter to most places in East and North Devon, but some are very infrequent.

Regional express services run to Plymouth, Torbay, Bude, and along the Jurassic Coast to Lyme Regis and Weymouth, some operated by Stagecoach and others by First Bus.

National Express operates long distance routes, for example to Heathrow and London.

There are two main line railway routes from Exeter to London, the faster route via Taunton to London Paddington and the slower West of England Main Line via Salisbury to London Waterloo.

Another main line, the Cross-Country Route, links Exeter with Bristol, Birmingham, the Midlands, Leeds, Northern England, and Scotland.

Many trains on all three lines continue westwards from Exeter, variously serving Torbay, Plymouth and Cornwall.

Local branch lines run to Paignton (see Riviera Line), Exmouth (see Avocet Line) and Barnstaple (see Tarka Line).

There is also a summer weekend service to Okehampton for access to Dartmoor.

Exeter is served by two main railway stations.

Exeter St Davids is served by all services, whilst Exeter Central is more convenient for the city centre but served only by local services and the main line route to London Waterloo and .

There are also six suburban stations, Topsham, St James Park, Exeter St Thomas, Polsloe Bridge, Pinhoe and Digby & Sowton, served only by local services.

Exeter International Airport lies east of the city, and the local airline, previously called Jersey European and British European but now known as Flybe, is a significant local employer.

The airport offers a range of scheduled flights to British and Irish regional airports and charter flights, including a seasonal service to Toronto, Canada.

Connections to international hubs began with Paris Charles de Gaulle in 2005 and later a daily service to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.

The Exeter Canal was completed in about 1566, making it one of the oldest artificial waterways in Britain.

It was cut to bypass weirs that had been built across the River Exe to prevent trade in the city and to force boats to unload at Topsham from where the Earls of Devon were able to exact large tolls to transport goods to Exeter.

Originally 3 feet deep and 16 feet wide , it ran 2 miles from just below the Countess Weir to the centre of Exeter.

It was later extended to Topsham, deepened and widened, and was successful until the middle of the 19th century since when its use gradually declined � the last commercial use was in 1972.

However it is now widely used for leisure purposes, and the city basin is being included as part of a �24 million redevelopment scheme.

* The University of Exeter has two campuses in the city, both notable for their attractive parkland.

It is one of the largest employers in the city.

* Exeter is one of the four main sites of the University of Plymouth.

* The Peninsula Medical School, a joint operation of the two universities, has one of its main sites in Exeter.

* St Loye's School of Health Studies, well known for training in occupational therapy has now been incorporated into the University of Plymouth.

* Exeter College is a major further education college.

It operates as a sixth form for the entire maintained school sector in the city.

* For about 30 years the city of Exeter operated a maintained school system in which the divisions between phases came at different ages from most of the United Kingdom, with first, middle and high rather than infant, junior and secondary schools, so that children transferred between schools at the age of about 8 and 12 rather than 7 and 11.

From 2005, however, it has adopted the more usual pattern, because of the pressures of the UK National Curriculum.

The changeover back to the more typical structure led to a city-wide, PFI funded, rebuilding programme for the high schools and led to the changing of names for some schools.

Following the reorganisation there are 25 primary schools, 4 referral schools, 3 special schools and 5 secondary schools within Exeter.

The secondary schools are: * Isca College of Media Arts (formerly Priory High School).

* St James' School (formerly St James' High School).

* St Luke's (Church of England) Science & Sports College (formerly Vincent Thompson High School).

* St Peter's Church of England Aided School � A Language College.

* West Exe Technology College (formerly St Thomas High School.

West Exe Technology College is the largest school in Exeter, and is achieving the second highest exam results in the county of Devon.

In addition: * Exeter School is the oldest of several independent schools in the city.

* Exeter tutorial college, a small independent college on Magdalen Road.

* Exeter is home to several substantial language schools * Exeter is also home to the Royal West of England School for the Deaf & the West of England School for the Partially Sighted.

* The Atkinson Unit is a secure specialist residential and educational complex for children in care or remanded by the courts.

There are many churches in Exeter belonging to different Christian denominations and an Anglican cathedral.

It is the seat of the Bishop of Exeter.

The present building was complete by about 1400, and has the longest uninterrupted vaulted ceiling in England, and other notable features.

The Anglican churches form the Exeter Deanery.

Exeter Synagogue, located off Mary Arches Street, is the third oldest synagogue in Britain, completed in 1763.

Exeter's mosque & Islamic Centre is on York Road, and serves the Southwest region as well as the city.

A purpose-built mosque is currently being constructed on the same site.

John Betjeman (writing in 1958) selects St David's ("Caro�'s best church"), St Martin's ("characteristic little city church, 15th century"), St Mary Steps ("medieval city church; font"), St Michael's ("Victorian, on a fine site"), and St.

Thomas's ("fittings").

His coverage of St Mary Arches is more detailed: "worth seeing .

as the completest Norman church in Devon: beautifully light and airy after its restoration from the bombing in 1942".

18th-century altar arrangements.

Memorials to Exeter worthies, 16th to 18th centuries.

The churches include St David's, near Exeter St David's Station.

It is a fine building by W D Caroe and was built between 1897 and 1900.

The tower stands on the northeast side, and the whole design is, according to Nikolaus Pevsner, "highly picturesque".

Many of the windows are by Kemp & Tower.

St Edmund-on-the-Bridge was built on the Exe Bridge circa 1230 - 40.

Two arches of the bridge remain under the undercroft though the church was rebuilt in the Perpendicular style in 1835, using the old materials.

St Martin's is in the Cathedral Close; the plan is odd, and there are numerous items of church furniture, though these are not of high aesthetic value.

St Mary Arches is a Norman church with aisles.

St Mary Steps was originally by the West Gate of the city; the font is Norman, and there is a remarkable early clock.

St Michael, Heavitree was built in 1844 - 46 and extended later in the century.

St Pancras is of the 13th century and has a nave and chancel only; the font is Norman.

The plan of St Petroc's church is highly unusual: a second chancel has been added facing north while the original chancel has another use and faces east.

There are two aisles on the south, one of 1413 and another of the 16th century.

St Sidwell's church is by W Burgess, 1812, in the Perpendicular style.

St Stephen's church is partly of the 13th century but most of the structure is as rebuilt in 1826.

St Michael and All Angels Church on Mount Dinham has a spire which exceeds the height of the towers of Exeter Cathedral.

The city's leading football club, and only professional side, is Exeter City.

The club became founder members of the Football League's new Third Division (south) in 1920, but have never progressed beyond the third tier of the English football league system and in 2003 were relegated to the Conference, reclaiming their place in 2008, before completing successive promotions to League One in 2009.

Rugby union is popular in the South West: Exeter's clubs are the Exeter Chiefs (who currently play in the Premiership having been promoted on 26 May 2010), Wessex and Exeter Saracens.

Exeter Cricket Club play in the Premier Division of the Devon Cricket League at both First and Second XI level.

The University of Exeter has a strong reputation in sport and regularly wins or comes close to winning national trophies in inter-university sports.

Exeter rowing Club enjoys much success both locally and nationally, and has a recorded history stretching back to the early 19th century.

The City of Exeter Rowing Regatta is run annually in July, and is the oldest and biggest regatta in the South West, with racing first recorded on the river in the 1860s.

The Devon & Exeter Squash club is one of the most active squash clubs in the region, annually hosting the Exeter Diamonds which is a professional team of world class players.

The club also has a strong membership, high standards and a notable junior team.

The Great West Run half marathon is run through the streets of Exeter in late April or early May each year Exeter's speedway team, Exeter Falcons, was founded in 1929 and were located at the County Ground until its closure in 2005.

In a fixture during the 2004 season, they beat Rye House by the maximum score of 75-18 scoring 5-1s in every heat.

Exeter Falcons are hoping to ride again in a proposed new location, possibly at Exeter Racecourse in 2008.

The site was where Exeter Falcons legend Australian Jack Geran trained youngsters in the art of the shale sport on a speedway training track in the late 1970s and early-1980s.

Speedway was also staged briefly at tracks in Alphington and Peamore after the Second World War .

The history of Speedway in Exeter up to the mid-1950s has been recorded in three books by Tony Lethbridge.

Rugby league team Exeter Centurions play in the South West Division of the Rugby League Conference.

Exeter also has an archery club, Exeter Company of Archers, based at Exeter School.

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Last Updated: 2012/05/18