Developing from a small village into a town from the 1950s onwards, the 2021 census listed Yate's parish population as 23,703.

St Mary's Primary School,[6] situated outside the churchyard walls, was built on the site of a former poorhouse.

Yate railway station was closed by the Beeching cuts in January 1965, but was reopened in May 1989;[7] the Brunel-built engine shed is preserved nearby.

The creation of a new town included a large retail shopping area, sports and leisure development together with public buildings.

[8] In the 1960s the area around Stanshawes was exhausted of celestine and the housing boom started with the major construction taking place in the south.

Much of this development was planned using the Radburn model, a design that created a vehicle-free environment by the use of green spaces and linking paths at the front of the houses.

This model was used until the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the planners reverted to traditional street design methods for the development of the remainder of North Yate, Brimsham Park and the Newmans factory site.

During the Second World War, a railway transfer yard was constructed for the United States Army, probably as part of Operation Bolero to assist the buildup of troops and stores before D-Day.

Yate has had three natural products associated with it: limestone to the east, celestine or spar near the centre of the town and coal to the west.

The need for limestone increased with the growth of roads, while the demand for coal grew with the diminishing supply of timber.

Celestine, the major strontium mineral, was first dug in the late 1880s and was initially used for the refining of sugar beet.

[16] It colours flames red, and so was important for pyrotechnics such as fireworks, military and signal flares and tracer bullets.

Yate Common on Westerleigh Road is used for dog walking, nature watching, kite flying, circuses and fairs.

The common has a stretch of unused dual carriageway (51°31′56″N 2°26′02″W / 51.532282°N 2.433879°W / 51.532282; -2.433879), known as the "Road to Nowhere", which has been used for filming in TV programmes such as Casualty.

The town benefits from a four appliance fire station, with a retained Crew 24 hours and then further tenders staffed on a voluntary basis.

This sculpture existed until the early 1990s when it was removed during the revamping of the centre, which included the erection of glass roofs over the walkways.

In December 2006, the owners of the shopping centre (Dominion Corporate Trustees) announced plans to enlarge and modernise it.

Other operators who provide bus services to/from Yate include Coachstyle, Eurocoaches and Stagecoach West.

There are also buses from Yate running to Bath, Cribbs Causeway, Malmesbury, Tetbury and Westonbirt Arboretum.

Additionally, buses link Yate to a number of other towns/villages within South Gloucestershire and west Wiltshire including Acton Turville, Badminton, Charfield, Chipping Sodbury, Downend, Emersons Green, Filton, Fishponds, Frenchay, Iron Acton, Kingswood, Luckington, Pucklechurch, Mangotsfield, Old Sodbury, Sherston, Staple Hill, Thornbury, Tormarton, Westerleigh, Wick, Winterbourne and Wotton-under-Edge.

Formed in 1983 by Mike Smith, an eight-lane track was completed in December 1988 and formally opened by Olympian, Lynn Davies in 1989.

[33] Its home ground is Yate Outdoor Sports Complex, which it shares with Badminton and Pucklechurch Hockey Club.