Boroughbridge grew in importance due to its strategic location midway between London and Edinburgh, and today its proximity to the A1(M) maintains that advantage. It is also in easy reach of Ripon, Harrogate and York, with Leeds just 40 minutes drive away. Buses between York and Harrogate pass through the town at two hour intervals, with services between Knaresborough and Roecliffe every ninety minutes. Cattal Railway Station, ten miles to the south, offers services to York, Harrogate and Leeds.

The town centre, reached via a pleasant ten-minute walk across the River Ure, provides a comprehensive range of shops and services, interspersed with picturesque pubs and cafés. As well as a large convenience store, there are bakers, newsagents, butchers, florists, greengrocers, a sweet shop and a delicatessen, with a farm shop less than half a mile away. The local traders are complemented by a Morrisons supermarket, where there are also recycling facilities for household waste. 

The area offers endless scope for exploration. Walkways along the River Ure complement country footpaths and village lanes, and Aldborough village, a fifteen minute walk away and the site of some superb Roman mosaics, is home to the celebrated Northern Aldborough Festival, one of the country’s foremost classical music celebrations. Many of the Festival events take place within Boroughbridge. Other local events include an Easter Walking Festival and the Aldborough and Boroughbridge Show each July, which attracts visitors from throughout Yorkshire.

The superb wetland nature reserve at Stavely is just three miles away, and the town sits between Nidderdale Area of Natural Beauty and the Yorkshire Dales to the west, and the North Yorkshire Moors to the east, both around ten miles away and both amongst England’s finest wild spaces. Boroughbridge Sports Association organises cricket, football and tennis activities and, as well as berthing assorted pleasure craft, Boroughbridge Marina offers boat hire for days out.