[2] Barrow's location and the availability of steel allowed the town to develop into a significant producer of naval vessels, a shift that was accelerated during World War I and the local yard's specialisation in submarines.

Several Royal Navy flagships, the vast majority of its nuclear submarines as well as numerous other naval vessels, ocean liners and oil tankers have been manufactured at the facility.

The end of the Cold War and subsequent decrease in military spending saw high unemployment in the town through lack of contracts; despite this, the BAE Systems shipyard remains operational as the UK's largest by workforce (12,000 employees in 2024)[3] and is now undergoing a major expansion associated with the Dreadnought-class submarine programme.

He and other investors founded the Furness Railway, the first section of which opened in 1846, to transport the ore from the slate quarries at Kirkby-in-Furness and haematite mines at Lindal-in-Furness and Askam and Ireleth to a deep-water harbour near Roa Island.

The investors in the burgeoning mining and railway industries decided that greater profits could be made by smelting the iron ore and converting the resultant pig-iron into steel, and then exporting the finished product.

Barrow's relative isolation from the United Kingdom's industrial heartlands meant that the newly formed company included several capabilities that would usually be subcontracted to other establishments.

Well-known ships built in Barrow include Mikasa, the Japanese flagship during the 1905 Russo-Japanese War, the liner SS Oriana and the aircraft carriers HMS Invincible and HMAS Melbourne.

It should also be noted that there was a significant presence of Vickers' armament division in Barrow with the huge Heavy Engineering Workshop on Michaelson Road supplying ammunition for the British Army and Royal Navy throughout both world wars.

Barrow's industry continued to supply the war effort, with Winston Churchill visiting the town on one occasion to launch the aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable.

The shipyard's dependency on military contracts at the expense of civilian and commercial engineering and shipbuilding meant it was particularly hard hit as government defence spending was reduced dramatically.

The three wind farms are located west of Walney Island and are operated primarily by Ørsted (company), contain a total of 162 turbines and have a combined nameplate capacity of 607 MW, providing energy for well over half a million homes.

In 2023 media reported that Barrow was "torn apart" by false grooming gang allegations, with public demonstrations targeting the local newspaper, the Asian community and police.

Barrow sits on soils deposited during the end of the Ice Age, eroded from the mountains of the Lake District National Park, 10 miles (15 km) to the north-east.

This is largely a result of negative net migration although is based on historic trends thus does not take account of investment at BAE Systems and associated substantial job creation.

[67] The programme covered diplomat Li Hongzhang's fact finding mission to the town's steelworks and shipyard in 1896 as well as the 2012 discovery of a hoard of Chinese coins discovered in Barrow dated around a similar time that have been suggested as having been brought over by sailors or labourers.

An extension to the hall in the late 2010s has taken the total area to over 35,000 square metres (380,000 sq ft), retaining its place as one of the largest shipbuilding construction complex of its kind in Europe.

[89] Barrow and its wider urban area form part of 'Britain's Energy Coast',[90] and has one of the highest concentrations of wind farms in the world, the vast majority are located offshore and have been built during the early 2010s.

[114] The executive director of the council has stated construction of the Waterfront could resume by 2017 as economic prospects improve and has pledged funds to conduct a market testing exercise.

The allocation of Growth Deal investment (2014–2021) will make improvements to the Barrow Waterfront Enterprise Zone far more secure,[114] whilst the project also received Levelling Up funding in 2022.

[80] Amongst proposals are an extension to the DDH complex and new buildings in the central yard area off Bridge Road on Barrow Island (a site formerly mooted for a huge construction hall for the construction of Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier sections which the yard failed to win contracts for), these will house pressure hull units ready for shot blasting and painting, and be a place for joining submarine equipment modules.

Little change occurred between the 2001 and 2011 census; Barrow still has a much higher percentage of workers in the manufacturing sector than the national average, ranking third in 2011 behind Corby, Northamptonshire and Pendle, Lancashire.

[135] Of current professional footballers, Georgia Stanway of Bayern Munich, Wayne Curtis,[136] Morecambe striker, Bolton Wanderers midfielder George Thomason and Iran Under-20 and Hibernian winger Shana Haji[137] hail from the town.

Barrow has produced a number of noteworthy motorcyclists throughout the years, such as Manx Grand Prix winner Eddie Crooks, TT Rider Dan Stewart, Speedway ace Adam Roynon and multiple British Sandtrack Champion John Pepper.

He was nominated for this honor by his father David Hill who was proud of his sons accomplishments in running for England and Great Britain in Orienteering whilst also provided a large portion of his time to getting kids into sport.

They include Thomas Round, a singer and actor in D'Oyly Carte productions of Savoy Opera[160] as well as Glenn Cornick, the original bass guitarist in the rock band Jethro Tull.

Artist Keith Tyson, the 2002 Turner Prize winner, was born in nearby Ulverston, attended the Barrow-in-Furness College of Engineering and worked at the then VSEL shipyard.

[166] Constance Spry, the author and florist who revolutionised interior design in the 1930s, and 1940s, moved to the town with her son Anthony during World War I to work as a welfare supervisor.

Between 2004 and 2010 Barrow was home to one of North West England's largest nightclubs, the 2,500-capacity Blue Lagoon occupied the entire hull of the former Danish ferry Princess Selandia, which has now left the town.

A new multi-million pound building was built on James Freel Close on Channelside in Hindpool and is the town's only police station, with extra jail cells and improved facilities.

Several consecutive annual publications by Cumbria Constabulary entitled the 'Cumbria Community Safety Strategic Assessment' have stated that overall crime in Barrow is declining, with some indicators far better than the national average.