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
Lynton and Barnstaple Railway Company Limited Lynton and Barnstaple Railway Company Limited The Lynton and Barnstaple Railway Company Limited was a private company, limited by guarantee, with no share capital. It was incorporated on 11 August 1993 as The Lynton & Barnstaple Light Railway Company Limited (name changed on 8 February 2002), the company was registered at Companies House in Great Britain as company number 02844182. The company was dissolved in 2009. The company was formed by members of the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway Association (now a charitable trust) to rebuild and operate, using mainly volunteer labour, the Victorian narrow-gauge railway which ran across 20 miles