Northampton North is (geographically) the smallest constituency in Northamptonshire, at the centre of which it lies: it is the only seat in the county which does not share a border with another county. It is a socially mixed entirely urban seat, basically comprising residential suburbs.
A large chunk of the constituency lies in the 1968 new town development of Northampton, which sprawls north east towards Wellingborough, north of the River Nene. Many of the people in this eastern part of the town came originally from the council estates of the inner cities in search of jobs and a better life.
The town of Northampton became famous as the centre of Britain's boot and shoe industry; however, since that industry's decline, it has become a major distribution centre and something of a centre for financial services. The Weston Favell credit union is here, and is one of the oldest in the country. Also inside the seat’s boundaries lies part of the headquarters of the Nationwide building society, whose links with the town go back to 1848.
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