Why visit the Falkirk town centre?

Overlooked by Falkirk’s historic Steeple. Falkirk Town Centre is steeped in history and is known for its variety of award-winning independent retailers.   With two indoor shopping centres, the Howgate and Callendar Square, Falkirk Town Centre has a traditional pedestrianised high street and is easy to find your way around.   There is also a variety of bars, restaurants and cafes to enjoy on your visit.   Falkirk is easily accessible by car, bus, train and foot.   It has many car parking facilities.

Accessibilities

Falkirk Delivers is working in partnership with Falkirk Council on a VisitScotland Growth Fund Project – Access Forth Valley.

 

We are creating a suite of accessible tourism itineraries and videos for the Forth Valley Area (downloadable, print and film), focusing on Autism, Dementia and Mobility.

 

As a result of the project, we are aiming to make Falkirk an accessible, friendly town and a key part in doing this is having as many businesses as possible complete an accessibility guide for their premises.   Several Town Centre businesses have already completed their accessibility guides.

 

By having a completed accessibility guide it provides information in advance for people with accessible requirements so they can prepare adequately for their visit.

 

The Howgate Centre is Scotland’s first shopping centre to be certified as autism friendly and many town centre businesses have accessible shopping days and hours dedicated to those with any accessible requirements.

 

Falkirk Delivers is dedicated to making Falkirk an accessible destination and plans to drive accessibility forward by providing training days for our town centre businesses.

The history of Falkirk town centre

The name ‘Falkirk’ originates from the Gaelic EGGLESBRECH, meaning ‘the speckled church’. Over the years this has translated into Scots as FAWKIRK and then the modern FALKIRK.

 

The town of Falkirk stands in an important position at the heart of central Scotland between Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling; ensuring its central role in Scottish history.

 

Over the centuries the town has given its name to two local battles. The First Battle of Falkirk occurred on 22nd July 1298 between the armies of William Wallace and Edward I of England. Sir John de Grahame, Wallace’s right-hand man, is buried in the Parish Churchyard. The Second Battle of Falkirk took place on 17th January 1746 and is significant as the penultimate battle of the period known as the Jacobite Risings. The battle was witnessed by locals from both the church and town steeple. This was the last battle won by the Jacobite army, led by Bonnie Prince Charlie against the Government forces before the Battle of Culloden.

 

If you are interested in finding out more about Falkirk’s history you can join our Tour Guide, Janice, on the first Saturday of every month for a walk around Falkirk’s historic town centre.

Falkirk town centre today

Falkirk Town Centre, like many others, is going through a transformation due to changes in shopping habits. Although large retailers have been impacted, Falkirk is noted for having a diverse range of small independent retailers covering clothing, footwear, gifts and premium household items.  Falkirk also has a successful food and drink economy and a thriving services sector with a fabulous array of Health, Beauty and fitness businesses.  At present a number of regeneration projects are underway in our High Street from restoring listed buildings to change of use from retail to residential encouraging Town Centre living.

 

Falkirk’s food and drink offering is also a reason to capitalise on the 100,000 plus tourists that visit the Kelpies, Helix and Falkirk Wheel every year. Falkirk Delivers is a member of the Visit Falkirk Tourism Partnership working with Falkirk Council and many Falkirk based businesses to develop and implement a Falkirk Tourism Strategy where driving tourism to our Town Centre is a key focus for us as part of this partnership.

 

We are also partnered with Falkirk Council to deliver a Growth Fund Campaign – Access Forth Valley. As part of this campaign we want to make it easier for people to plan their trip to Falkirk by ensuring as many businesses as possible create a VisitScotland accessibility guide.  This gives people with access requirements access to valuable information prior to travel to allow them to plan their trip easily.