Barnstaple as a whole (94.2% White British). Barnstaple has a similar ethnic make-up compared with other south west towns, like Truro and Cullompton. North Devon is some distance from the UK's traditional areas of industrial activity and population. In the late 1970s Barnstaple gained a number of industrial companies due to the availability of central government grants for the construction of factories and their operation on low or zero levels of local taxation. This was only partially successful, with few of these lasting more than the few years that grants were available. One success was the manufacturing of generic medicines by
Barnstaple Town railway station as a restaurant. The signal box is now (2007) empty but the station building is now used as a school. In late 2015 a charity named Combe Rail was formed with the intention of establishing a heritage railway on the trackbed of the Ilfracombe-Barnstaple line as well as lobbying for a full reopening in the future. Barnstaple Town railway station Barnstaple Town railway station was an intermediate station on the L&SWR line to Ilfracombe, England. The first station named Barnstaple Town was originally opened as Barnstaple Quay in 1874, and became Barnstaple Town in 1886. It was located in Commercial