The River Ure north of the town is a tourist attraction in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

The area was historically part of the large ancient parish of Aysgarth in the North Riding of Yorkshire, and there is little mention of the town until the 15th century when the population had risen enough for a chapel of ease to be built.

[14] Hawes railway station remains in its original site, now part of the Dales Countryside Museum.

[17] The mills were used to grind corn, produce textiles (wool, cotton, linen, silk, flax), generate electricity or saw wood.

The current Member of Parliament is Rishi Sunak, a Conservative, who is a former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

[20] Hawes lies within the Upper Dales electoral division of North Yorkshire Council.

There are many abandoned lead mines, quarries and limekilns in the parish indicating its industrial past.

The parish extends as far north as Hellgill Bridge along a narrow strip either side of the Ure.

[21] The civil parish of Hawes also includes the neighbouring hamlets of Gayle, Appersett and Burtersett.

[24] Now the largest company, with a staff of 224 (spring 2018) and visited by 250,000 people each year,[25] the Wensleydale Creamery Centre closed down in 1992; at that time, it was owned by Dairy Crest.

[26][27] The operation moved to its current location in 2015 and still handcrafts[28] the eponymous cheese using traditional recipes following those first done by French monks in the 12th century.

[25] The farms around Hawes raise sheep and cattle and grow meadow grass for hay and silage.

His policy of charging a 50 pence entry fee to his shop made him nationally notorious.

[38][39] Just south of Hawes, the 18th century Gayle Mill is now a Grade II listed building, a scheduled monument.

Work would be necessary to remedy problems discovered since the restoration in order to ensure safety and to comply with insurance regulations.

[43] The Community School was rated as inadequate by an Ofsted report in late 2015; an action plan was established by North Yorkshire County Council to ensure improvement.

[45] The town has a retained fire station, which means that they are crewed by firefighters who provide on-call cover from home or their place of work.

[48] On weekends and bank holiday Mondays, the DalesBus travels among various villages,[49] including Hawes, from Easter Sunday until late summer.

The Dale Head Garage is so remote that the town receives a £0.05 rebate from the government on every litre of fuel sold.

[52] A grant in May 2018 from the Richmondshire District Council's Economic Growth Fund enabled the petrol station to remain open 24 hours a day.

In addition to the loss of jobs, the plan would have meant that residents would be required to drive 30 minutes to Leyburn to pick up packages.

In 2018, the Partnership was considering a plan to start a Land Trust that would build four new houses and rent them to low-income families with children.

[59] Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC North East and Cumbria and ITV Tyne Tees.