Trowbridge lies in the centre of the five towns of West Wiltshire, with a wider group of towns, which include Devizes, Corsham, Calne, Chippenham, Frome, Midsommer Norton and Radstock at a greater distance. These towns are not typical market towns. In most cases they developed in close proximity as industrial centres in the woollen industry, and in the case of Radstock, coal mining. Trowbridge, historically, has been the largest town of this grouping.

The Trowbridge area is close to the old trade route from the Midlands to the Southern ports, which was once known as the Cloth Road (now the A350). There were three phases to the development of Trowbridge as a major woollen town. In the middle and late medieval period the manufacture of white, undyed broadcloth was important, with Wiltshire produced about 60% of the unfinished, undyed cloth for export from Britain by the early seventeenth century.

This white broadcloth was then superceded by the making of Medley cloth. By the 1670s William Brewer and his son had developed in Trowbridge what was said to be "the greatest trade in medleys of any clothier in England ". Within half a century Daniel Defoe wrote that in the area “...the finest medley Spanish cloths, not in England but in the whole world are made”. The great wealth generated by the medley cloth paid for the many fine clothiers houses in the town to be built.

The early use of steam power in the town in the nineteenth century and the easy access to the North Somerset coalfields by the Kennet and Avon Canal meant the development of cloth mills in Trowbridge. Mechanization and the use of steam power was essential in Trowbridge because the Biss was not suitable for power machinery, thus giving Trowbridge a head start over its rivals in the woollen trade.

This later development of Trowbridge as a major nineteenth century woollen town, becoming known as the "Manchester of the West", was driven by such clothiers as Sir Roger Brown. He had visited the northern textile areas in Yorkshire and Lancashire, and decided to increase the mechanization of his Trowbridge mills. This was to be a key factor in ensuring the success of his firm, and the prosperity of the town during the latter half of the nineteenth century. [At one point Ashton Mill alone had over 1000 operatives].

Another major employer in the town in this period, the Haden engineering business, prospered through this growth in the use of steam power. As a result of this early mechanization Trowbridge was to become more like an industrial town in West Yorkshire than a traditional Wiltshire market town.

When the railway companies were planning the Wiltshire rail network in the middle of the nineteenth century it was an economic necessity to include Trowbridge as the largest and most wealthy town... The railway network shaped the Wiltshire communication system, and, in time its political structure.

Sir Roger Brown was also to be the driving force behind the growing de facto recognition of Trowbridge as the County Town. When he gave the Town Hall to Trowbridge, it was as a meeting place for the proposed County Council. From 1899 onwards all the County Council meetings have been held in Trowbridge. The County Hall building was completed in 1940.

The decline in the woollen industry began in 1883 and gradually vacant former cloth mills were used by other businesses. Chapman’s Mattress Factory, Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk and Bowyers, by using the buildings for manufacturing and food processing, gave a new breadth to Trowbridge’s economy.

There were five cloth mills operating in the town until after the Second World War, the last mill closing in 1982.

After the War provision of land for industrial expansion at Ladydown at Canal Road, and at the Barracks, now Yeoman Way, enabled firms to move out of smaller town premises into more modern factories. These included of course, Airsprung (formerly Chapman’s) and Walden’s meat and dairy products firm.

It was from this base that Trowbridge’s economy has diversified into the broad mix of businesses that it has today. Originally, of course, largely based on agriculture, it has now moved to a range of manufacturing and service industries backed by strong retail and public sector employment.

Between 1998 and 2002, there was a 10.5 per cent increase in the number of businesses in Trowbridge; a greater increase than that across West Wiltshire (7.5 per cent) and the South West (7.4 per cent). The 2002 ABI (Annual Business Inquiry) records 1,100 businesses within the town, of which one third are in the distribution (includes retail), hotels and catering sector and a further 24 per cent in the banking, finance and insurance sector. Five per cent of businesses in the town centre employ in excess of 50 staff.

In 2002, according to the ABI the town offered 17,500 jobs (i.e. employees – not including self-employed), which is almost equivalent to the number of economically active people resident in the town (17,300 in 2001). The largest proportion of jobs is in the public administration, education and health sector (28.4%). A further 26.1 per cent are in manufacturing and 27.1 per cent are in the distribution (includes retail), hotels and catering sector.