The Barbican waterfront at Quay Road in 2005, although currently this area is covered with enclosed seating and umbrellas.|300px|thumb|right
The Barbican is an area on the western and northern sides of Sutton Harbour, the original harbour of Plymouth in Devon, England. It was one of the few parts of the city to escape most of the destruction of The Blitz during the Second World War and the preceding era of slum clearance following the Public Health Act 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c. 63). Two or three streets still retain some of the architecture of a historic fishing port. The Barbican has the largest concentration of cobbled streets in Britain and contains 100 listed buildings. The area is centred around the connecting roads Southside Street and The Barbican, with most businesses (mainly pubs and restaurants) located on or very near to these streets.
History
The cobbled New Street, which runs parallel to Southside Street, pictured in 2019|thumb|right
Plaque applied to buildings restored by the Plymouth Barbican Association|thumb|left
The present Barbican district is generally regarded as being roughly equivalent to the location and size of the medieval walled town of Sutton. A barbican is a fortified gate, and here the name probably derives from the 'Castle Barbican' which was an entrance to Plymouth Castle, the late medieval fortress that guarded access to the Cattewater, prior to the building of the Royal Citadel.
For centuries, the Barbican was home to Plymouth's fish market (now relocated to the other side of the harbour) and is still home to many fishermen. One of the oldest streets in Plymouth running north from the Barbican is New Street, which was formerly called Rag Street.
Much historical research and outreach work is done by the Old Plymouth Society and many of the oldest surviving buildings were restored and are still owned and maintained by the Plymouth Barbican Association.
However, many old and significant buildings were demolished during the late 19th and first half of the 20th centuries, which had decayed into unsanitary and heavily overcrowded slum tenements following the removal of wealthy merchant landowners to country estates and the subdivision of 'Golden Era' Elizabethan properties which had once been grand, reflecting the wealth and prosperity of the city at the time. A government survey following the Public Health Acts indicated that overcrowding in Plymouth Sutton was amongst the worst in western Europe comparable only with Warsaw, with families of up to 10 occupying a single room tenancy.
The Plymouth Gin Distillery has been producing Plymouth Gin since 1793, which was exported around the world by the Royal Navy. During the 1930s, it was the most widely distributed gin and has a protected designation of origin.