Andover and Test Valley: makers, movers and a new theatre

Andover's reputation is practical: warehouses off the A303, factories on the business parks, a market town at the middle of it. The figures back that up. Test Valley, the borough that runs from Andover down to Romsey, has a larger share of its jobs in manufacturing and in transport and storage than the South East as a whole, and its council has written a strategy around keeping it that way. This piece looks at the numbers, the plans for Andover's town centre, and what it means if you want to meet the people who run these firms.

The businesses behind the borough

In the UK Business Counts for March 2026, Nomis counted 5,800 enterprises in Test Valley:

• 5,105 micro businesses with nine or fewer people (88.0%)
• 570 small businesses (10 to 49)
• 110 medium (50 to 249)
• 20 large, with 250 or more

There were 6,720 local units, the individual workplaces. The population was 135,698 in 2025, and there were 72,000 jobs in the borough in 2024, a jobs density of 0.89 against 0.85 for the South East. Put simply, Test Valley has slightly more jobs for each working-age resident than the region as a whole.

For scale, the same count gives 59,420 enterprises in the Hampshire County Council area, which leaves out Southampton and Portsmouth. Test Valley holds about one in ten of them, and its share of micro businesses is the same as the county's, 88.0%.

In money terms, the ONS's regional accounts give Test Valley's gross value added as £4,467 million in 2024, up from £4,296 million in 2023, at current prices. The latest year is provisional.

Making and moving

The Nomis employee figures for 2024 show where the borough differs:

• Manufacturing: 6,000 jobs, 10.2% of employee jobs, against 5.8% for the South East and 7.3% for Great Britain.
• Transportation and storage: 6,000 jobs, 10.2%, against 4.9% for the South East and 5.0% for Great Britain.

That is about double the regional share for each. The council's Economic Development Strategy 2024 to 2029 says the same thing in its own words. It describes "our strong manufacturing base which accounts for 13% of Hampshire's manufacturing GVA" and names "national and international companies such as Le Creuset, Chemring Group, Stannah Lifts, Simplyhealth, Rich Products, Euronics and Ordnance Survey". On logistics, it points to "the major logistics and distribution centres along the A303 corridor and in the Nursling area".

The strategy uses Oxford Economics figures rather than the ONS, so its numbers differ a little from the ones above: it says Test Valley "accounted for 70,400 jobs and its economy was worth £3.4 billion in 2022", and that "Andover is the largest employment area in Test Valley with more than 26,000 workers and a high percentage of public sector jobs".

Two details in the strategy are useful to anyone who sells to or works with these firms:

• The council is the landowner of the Walworth and Portway business parks, and names Le Creuset, Stannah, Abel and Cole and Twinings among its tenants.
• It runs a "Manufactured in Andover" group "which meets quarterly at different manufacturers' sites". If you make things in Andover, ask the council about it.

The town centre and the new theatre

Andover's town centre plan goes back to the Andover Town Centre Vision and Masterplan of 2020, whose designers "consulted with more than 4,000 residents, businesses and other stakeholders". In March 2024 the council confirmed £18.3 million for Andover from round three of the government's Levelling Up Fund, alongside £6.5 million already set aside for the area around Western Avenue.

The biggest piece is a new theatre. In December 2025 the council launched the tender for a venue with "seating for more than 400 people", supported by the £18.3 million, with an estimated combined contract value of £25 million. It said construction "is expected to begin in 2026, with the new venue opening in 2028". We have not seen a later update confirming the start, so treat the dates as the council's plan.

For local business, a theatre of that size is also a room: a place for conferences, awards and launches in the town rather than out of it.

What this means if you're going to events

• Groups run through the week, not just at breakfast. The regular dates we list in Andover come from one organiser, the Natural Business Network, and cover a breakfast, a co-working afternoon, a coffee morning and an after-work social. Different slots suit different trades: a factory manager may manage a coffee morning more easily than a 7am start.
• Expect makers and operators. With one job in ten in manufacturing and another in transport and storage, you may well meet an operations director or a haulier as well as a consultant. Ask what they make or move.
• Look along the valley. Stockbridge and Romsey are close and have their own groups; see Stockbridge and Romsey, or the Winchester and the Test Valley area page.
• Follow up while it is fresh. A short message the same week, naming where you met, does more than a stack of cards. Our breakfast guide has more on that.
• New to it? Our guide to your first business event covers what to bring and what to say.

Where to start

The events below are Andover's and Stockbridge's listed dates at the last build, drawn from the organisers' own listings. For everything in the town, see the Andover town page; for the whole county, this week.