page_title: Romford
section_title: Suburban expansion
hierarchical_section_title: Romford / History / Suburban expansion
caption_attribution_description: English: Romford borough 1911
context_page_description: Romford is a large town in East London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located 14.1 miles northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically Romford was a market town in the county of Essex and formed the administrative centre of the liberty of Havering, until it was dissolved in 1892. Good road links to London and the opening of the railway station in 1839 were key to the development of the town and the economic history of Romford is underpinned by a shift from agriculture to light industry and then to retail and commerce. As part of the suburban growth of London in the 20th century, Romford significantly expanded and increased in population, becoming a municipal borough in 1937 and has formed part of Greater London since 1965 when the area was transferred from Essex. It now forms one of the largest commercial, retail, entertainment and leisure districts in London and has a developed night-time economy. The entire town had a population of 122,854 as of 2011.
context_section_description: There was early expansion in the 1840s in the area now occupied by the Waterloo estate, and then known as New Romford, where 200 cottages were built. To the east of the market place from 1850 middle class suburban housing was constructed with a much larger area of 200 acres (81 ha) built-over to the south of the railway from 1851. Through a gradual process of selling off former manors, houses were built radiating from the town in all directions for about a mile. More significant growth occurred between 1910 and 1911 with the construction of Romford Garden Suburb, which included Raphael Park and Gidea Park railway station. Large sections of land to the north of the town at Collier Row were developed in the interwar period and after World War II, the London County Council built the Harold Hill estate to the north east from 1948 to 1958.
  The right to supply electricity to the town was secured by the County of London Electricity Supply Company in 1913. Initially power was generated within the Star Brewery site, with the supply switching to Barking Power Station in 1925. Gas supply began in 1825 with gas works of 25 acres (10 ha) constructed by 1938. Following the Telegraph Act 1899 Romford became part of the Post Office London telephone area and the Romford exchange was recorded as having 240 subscribers in 1916. The town water supply initially came from the Havering Well, and 1859 a new public well and pump was built at the east end of the market. The South Essex Waterworks Company started installing mains water supply in 1863 and had offices in South Street. By 1905 its supply was serving Ilford, Collier Row, Ardleigh Green, Brentwood, and Hornchurch. Sewage works were installed by the local board at Oldchurch in 1862, with further works built in Hornchurch in 1869.
caption: Romford Urban District (1) absorbed Havering-atte-Bower (2) and Noak Hill (3) in 1934[6]
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