In the 1980s the White Horse Business Park in Trowbridge was built to attract hi-tec and service industries. This inward investment has been successful in attracting such companies as Virgin Mobile, the fastest growing mobile phone company in the UK, and Vodafone, the largest company in Britain. Arriving in June 1999 Virgin Mobile is now the largest employer in the town, with 1,300 people working in its operations and call centre in Trowbridge. The Vodafone customer service centre to companies, and sales to smaller businesses is based in Trowbridge.

Trowbridge internet company, JPC InfoNet, won a contract in May 2003 to create a new NHS website. Teamed with the Bath Company, Reqio, the contract involved the development of a web-based system for the purchasing and supply agency (PASA) to manage 3,000 national contracts and influence around £4bn NHS spending on goods and services. JPC InfoNet has previously worked with Microsoft, the Home Office and Compuware.

Trowbridge’s status as County town has, of course, brought many public sector jobs to Trowbridge, but it has also been responsible for the establishment of the initially public sector procurement and distribution company The Consortium. The Consortium is now one of the foremost companies in Britain in the field of E-procurement. Customers are able to order by email and track the progress of their orders on the Consortium website.

Food production is still a very major element in the Trowbridge economy employing well over 2000 people. In 2003 Pork Farms Bowyers invested £2.3 million in new production equipment. The new 50 tonne oven from Australia meant it could boost output by 25 per cent. Apetito is one of Europe’s leading suppliers of frozen food. It supplies two out of three of the British meals on wheels market. In April 2005 Apetito was awarded The Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2005 in recognition of continuous innovation in the home delivery of food to the elderly.

Nutricia, a national leader in mineral and vitamin products, is one of the Trowbridge’s biggest employers with over 500 employees. In December 2003 it completed a new major facility to bring all the company’s clinical care department onto one site. Cereal Partners Staverton plant produces many breakfast cereals marketed under the Nestlé brand name. Such Nestlé cereals include Shredded Wheat and Shreddies.

Other major manufacturers in the town include Airsprung, the second largest bed manufacturer in Britain, PB Beauty Ltd (formerly Peter Black toiletries) and Trelleborg Automotive UK Ltd, who took over Peridan. Together they employ over 1700 workers.

Another distribution company, Wilts Wholesale Electrical, which started in the town in 1925, has its head office and central distribution centre in Trowbridge.

The developing strength of Trowbridge as a manufacturing and distributing centre is shown by the fact that two of the three finalists in the Bath Chronicle Business of the Year 2004 came from Trowbridge – apetito and The Consortium. These Awards cover the M4 corridor around Bath, as well as West and North Wiltshire and much of Somerset.

Public Sector
Trowbridge is the County town of Wiltshire. Wiltshire County Council is one of the largest employers in the town. Around 800 people are employed in County Hall, with several hundred more, such as teachers in the local schools, also employed in the town.

West Wiltshire District Council is also a large local employer with its offices in Bradley Road, with staff involved in directly servicing the largest town in the district, and elsewhere in the District...

The former Trowbridge College, now part of the Wiltshire College, is another major employer in the town.