Jobs in Barnstaple

Barnstaple is the main town of North Devon, with a parish population of around 24,000 and a wider built-up area closer to 31,000. The working economy splits between public-sector healthcare, generic-pharmaceutical and engineering manufacturing, and the retail trade that serves the wider region. Vacancies here lean towards NHS roles, production and technical work on the industrial estates, and seasonal retail and hospitality tied to the North Devon coast.

The single biggest employer is the NHS. North Devon District Hospital on Raleigh Park, to the north of the town (EX31 4JB), is run by the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and is one of the largest employers in the area. On the manufacturing side, Accord Healthcare makes generic medicines at its site on the Whiddon Valley estate (EX32 8NS) and employs close to 700 people, while Parker Hannifin produces instrumentation and filtration products on Riverside Road at Pottington Business Park (EX31 1NP). The main employment land sits at three sites: Roundswell to the south-west, Whiddon Valley to the north-east, and the older Pottington estate by the river. Outside those, work is mostly retail, care and the public sector.

Because much of the local market runs through a handful of large sites, agencies handle a lot of the production, warehouse and care vacancies, so it is worth registering with the Barnstaple branches alongside applying direct. On transport, Barnstaple station is the terminus of the Tarka Line, with trains to Exeter (St Davids and Central) taking a little over an hour and connecting onward to the main network. By road the A361 North Devon Link Road runs east to junction 27 of the M5 at Tiverton, the route most commuters and freight use. On postcodes, EX31 covers the town centre and the west; EX32 covers the northern and eastern side, including Whiddon Valley.