Information on Poole

Poole is a large coastal town and tourist resort with a large natural harbour and seaport situated in Dorset on the south coast of England. The town is 20 miles east of Dorchester and in 1997 the Borough of Poole became a unitary authority thus gaining administrative independence from Dorset County council.

The area of Poole dates back to before the Iron Age with the earliest recorded use of the town’s name in the 12th century.

Poole’s economy is more balanced than the rest of Dorset with major manufacturers based in and around the town with Poole having the largest number of estates in South East Dorset.

Manufacturers include:

Sunseeker, the world’s largest privately-owned builder of motor yachts and the United Kingdoms largest manufacturer employing over 1,800 people in its shipyards.



Sealed Air, a company that makes a variety of packaging materials including, Bubble Warp, Cryovac, Instapak and Shanklin.

Lush, a handmade cosmetics company producing and selling hand-made face asks, soaps, bath ballistics, hand, hair and body lotions and treatments manufactured from organic fruit and vegetables, essential oils and safe synthetic ingredients.

Mathmos a British company that sells lighting products, including its most famous lava lamp models.

Penske Cars Ltd build racing cars for Penske Racing and include, Indy Car, NASCAR and ALMS.



The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) headquarters are in Poole and the Royal Marines have a base in the town’s harbour.

The busy commercial port deals with cross Channel freight and passenger ferries with upto seven sailings a day in the summer season with year round services from Poole Harbour to Cherbourg via Brittany Ferries, Barfleur having served the route since 1992 and Cotentin freight ship covering Poole to Cherbourg and at weekends between Poole and Santander in Spain. Condor Ferries operate catamarans Condor Express and Condor Vitesse seasonally to Guernsey, Jersey, St Malo and Brittany.

Poole doesn’t have an airport the nearest being Bournemouth International at Hurn just under 10 miles from Poole town centre with flights operated by Ryan Air, EasyJet, Thomsonfly and Palmair with destinations in the UK and Europe.

Poole has four railway stations on the South Western main Line from London Waterloo to Weymouth with stations at Branksome , Parkstone, Poole railway station and Hamsworthy, trains run every half hour from Poole station and express services every hour with services to London Waterloo operated by South West Trains.

By Taxi