Agriculture drives Welshpool’s economy more visibly than in most towns. The livestock market at Buttington Cross is among the biggest sheep markets in Europe, and on sale days hundreds of trailers and wagons use the roads around it. Straw, muck and mud on hardstanding and approach roads are an ongoing housekeeping task for the businesses based there.
Beside the market, Buttington Cross Enterprise Park and Severn Farm Enterprise Park hold the town’s industrial and trade units. The A483 runs north to Oswestry and south to Newtown, and the A458 goes east to Shrewsbury, carrying stone lorries from quarries in the Breidden hills and around the Severn valley. Welshpool is four miles from the English border, so plant often arrives from Shropshire.
Welshpool and the Montgomeryshire border
Cover reaches Buttington, Guilsfield, Berriew, Forden and Montgomery, and west along the A458 to Llanfair Caereinion. Shrewsbury and Oswestry are each roughly half an hour away, which puts Welshpool within easier range of operators than most of Powys. Sites further west involve slower roads, and bookings everywhere depend on a vehicle being available.