Romford is a large

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

east East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England, located northeast of

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre of London" and became the point from which distances from London are measured. ...

. Part of the

London Borough of Havering The London Borough of Havering () in East London, England, forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 259,552 inhabitants; the principal town is Romford, while other communities include Hornchurch, Upminster, Collier Row and Rainham, Lo ...

, the town is one of the major metropolitan centres of

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

identified in the

London Plan The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Greater London area in the United Kingdom that is written by the Mayor of London and published by the Greater London Authority. It is updated from time to time. The regio ...

. Historically part of the

ancient parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

Hornchurch Hornchurch is a suburban town in East London in the London Borough of Havering. It is located east-northeast of Charing Cross. It comprises a number of shopping streets and a large residential area. It historically formed a large ancient par ...

in the

Becontree hundred Becontree was an ancient hundred in the south west of the county of Essex, England.John Marius Wilson, '' Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales'', (1870-72) Its area has been entirely absorbed by the growth of London; with its name reused in 19 ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, Romford has been a

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...

since 1247. It formed the administrative centre of the liberty of Havering until that liberty was dissolved in 1892, and became a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of its own in 1849. Good road links to London and the opening of the railway station in 1839 were key to the development of the town. The economic history of Romford is characterised by a shift from agriculture to

light industry Light industry are Industry (economics), industries that usually are less Capital intensity, capital-intensive than heavy industry, heavy industries and are more consumer-oriented than business-oriented, as they typically produce smaller consum ...

and then to retail and commerce. As part of the suburban growth of London throughout the 20th century, Romford significantly expanded and increased in population, becoming a municipal borough in 1937. In 1965, following reform of local government in London, it merged with the Hornchurch Urban District to form the London Borough of Havering, and was incorporated into Greater London. Today, it is one of the largest commercial, retail, entertainment and leisure districts in London and has a well-developed night-time economy.

History

Toponymy

Romford is first recorded in 1177 as ''Romfort'', which is formed from

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

'rūm' and ' ford' and means "the wide or spacious ford". The naming of the River Rom is a local '

back-formation Back-formation is the process or result of creating a neologism, new word via Morphology (linguistics), morphology, typically by removing or substituting actual or supposed affixes from a lexical item, in a way that expands the number of lexemes ...

' from the name of the town; and the river is elsewhere known as the Beam. The ford most likely existed on the main London to Colchester road where it crossed that river.

Economic development

The town developed in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

on the main road to London and the regionally significant Romford Market was established in 1247. The original site of the town was to the south, in an area known as Oldchurch. It was moved northwards to the present site in the later medieval period to avoid the frequent flooding of the River Rom. The first permanent church on the site of the current Church of St Edward the Confessor was built after permission was granted by Henry IV in 1406. The early history of Romford and the immediate area is agricultural and it is recorded as being the location of a number of mills used to grind corn. The area was a focus of the leather industry from the 15th to the early 19th centuries and there is record of a wide range of industries such as cloth making, weaving, charcoal burning, metal working and brewing. Communications played an important part in its development; the main road to London was maintained by the Middlesex and Essex

Turnpike Trust Turnpike trusts were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom, Acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road toll road, tolls for maintaining the principal roads in Kingdom of Great Britain, Britain from the 17th ...

from 1721 and Romford became a coaching town in the 18th century. Several failed attempts were made in the early 19th century to connect the town to the Thames via a Romford Canal. It was initially intended to terminate at a basin near to the Star Brewery, to transport agricultural products to London and, eventually, to serve growing industrial sites in Romford. A later proposal included an extension to Collier Row, whereby timber from Hainault Forest could be transported to the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...

for use in the Royal Dockyards. Only two miles of canal were constructed and the canal company were unable to reach the town. The development of the town was accelerated by the opening of the railway station in 1839 which stimulated the local economy and was key to the development of the Star Brewery. Initially Eastern Counties Railway services operated between

Mile End Mile End is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in East London and part of the East End of London, East End. It is east of Charing Cross. Situated on the part of the London-to-Colchester road ...

and Romford, with extensions to Brentwood and to Shoreditch in 1840. A second station was opened on South Street in 1892 by the

London, Tilbury and Southend Railway The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR), was a British railway company, whose network connected Fenchurch Street railway station, Fenchurch Street station, in central London, with destinations in east London and Essex, including , , , T ...

on the line to Upminster and Grays, giving Romford a rail connection to Tilbury Docks. The two stations were combined into one in 1934. Light industry slowly developed, reaching a peak in the 1970s with a number of factories on the edge of town, such as the Roneo Vickers office machinery company, Colvern manufacturers of wireless components, May's Sheet Metal Works and brush manufacturers Betterware. Suburban expansion increased the population and reinforced Romford's position as a significant regional town centre. The Liberty Shopping Centre was constructed in the 1960s, and has been modernised and supplemented with further shopping centres throughout the town, including The Mercury Mall, opened in 1990; and The Brewery, opened in 2000 on the site of the old Star Brewery.

Local government

Romford formed a chapelry in the large ancient parish of

in the

Becontree Becontree ( or Both pronunciations are given as Received Pronunciation in the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, but the form is prioritised (). The dialectologist Peter Wright wrote in 1981 that is the traditional pronunciation in the cockney ...

hundred of

; as well as the town it included the wards of Collier Row, Harold Wood, and Noak Hill. Through ancient custom the area enjoyed special status and a charter in 1465 removed the parish from the Becontree hundred and the county of Essex and it instead formed the independent liberty of Havering governed from a court house in the market place. Over time the vestry of Romford chapelry absorbed the local powers that would usually be held by the parish authorities in Hornchurch and in 1849 Romford became a separate parish within the liberty.

Improvement commissioners Boards of improvement commissioners were ''ad hoc'' urban local government boards created during the 18th and 19th centuries in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and its predecessors the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Irel ...

were set up in 1819 for paving, lighting, watching, and cleansing of the marketplace and main streets. As the town grew this arrangement became ineffective at controlling sanitation and in 1851 a

local board of health A local board of health (or simply a ''local board'') was a local authority in urban areas of England and Wales from 1848 to 1894. They were formed in response to cholera epidemics and were given powers to control sewers, clean the streets, regulat ...

was set up for the parish; although its area was reduced in 1855 to cover only the town ward. The remainder of the parish became part of the Romford rural sanitary district in 1875. These changes and the introduction of the Romford

Poor Law Union A poor law union was a geographical territory, and early local government unit, in Great Britain and Ireland. Poor law unions existed in England and Wales from 1834 to 1930 for the administration of poor relief. Prior to the Poor Law Amendment ...

in 1836 eroded the powers of the liberty and it was finally abolished in 1892 and reincorporated into Essex. The

Local Government Act 1894 The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The act followed the reforms carried out at county leve ...

reformed local government and created the Romford Urban District and Romford Rural District to replace the local board and sanitary district; following which the Romford parish was split into ''Romford Urban'' and ''Romford Rural'' along the lines of the urban district. In 1900 the parish was recombined and the urban district expanded to cover all of the former area of the historic chapelry, except for Noak Hill which remained in the rural district and had become a parish in its own right in 1895. The enlarged urban district formed part of the

London Traffic Area The London Traffic Area was established by the London Traffic Act 1924 to regulate the increasing amount of motor traffic in the London area. The LTA was abolished in 1965 on the establishment of the Greater London Council. The traffic area e ...

from 1924 and the London Passenger Transport Area from 1933. The suburban expansion of London caused an increase in population during the 1930s and the urban district was expanded further in 1934, taking in the parishes of Havering-atte-Bower and Noak Hill. It was incorporated as the

Municipal Borough of Romford Romford was a local government district in southwest Essex from 1851 to 1965 around the town of Romford.Vision of Britain Romford UD/MB

in 1937. In 1965 the municipal borough was abolished and its former area was combined with that of Hornchurch Urban District; it was again removed from Essex and since then has formed the northern part of the

. For elections to the Greater London Council, Romford was part of the Havering electoral division until 1973 and then the

Romford Romford is a large List of places in London, town in east London, east London, England, located northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major Metropolitan centres of London, metropolitan centr ...

electoral division until 1986.

Suburban expansion

There was early expansion of 200 cottages in the 1840s in an area known as New Romford that was formerly occupied by an army barracks. To the east of the market place from 1850 middle class suburban housing was constructed with a much larger area of built-over to the south of the railway from 1851 and by 1861 the population had grown to 3790. Through a gradual process of selling off former manors, houses were built radiating from the town in all directions for about a mile, and further 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 In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

built the Harold Hill estate to the north east from 1948 to 1958. The Barrack Ground estate was redeveloped in the early 1960s and the name Waterloo Road estate was applied. The right to supply electricity to the town was secured by the

County of London Electricity Supply Company The County of London Electric Supply Company Limited (C.L.E.S.Co) was a British electricity undertaking. It was incorporated as a public company in 1891 to generate and supply electricity to parts of south west London and two parishes adjacent t ...

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 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. Romford Cemetery was established in 1871.

Governance

, the Romford UK Parliament constituency consists of the Havering wards of Havering-atte-Bower, Hylands and Harrow Lodge, Marshalls and Rise Park, Mawneys, Rush Green and Crowlands, St Alban's, St Edward's and Squirrel's Heath. The MP since 2001 is Andrew Rosindell of the Conservative Party, a native of the town. Since the 2022 election, each ward elects two or three councillors to

Havering London Borough Council Havering London Borough Council, also known as Havering Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Havering in Greater London, England. It is a London boroughs#London borough councils, London borough council, one of 32 in London. T ...

. Romford forms part of the Havering and Redbridge constituency for elections to the

London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds supermajority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject t ...

Geography

The town centre is about above sea level on a gravel terrace rising from the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

. The north of the town has developed on

London Clay The London Clay Formation is a Sediment#Shores and shallow seas, marine formation (geology), geological formation of Ypresian (early Eocene Epoch, c. 54-50 million years ago) age which outcrop, crops out in the southeast of England. The London C ...

and is situated as much as above sea level. A continuous gentle rise in the eastern suburbs towards Gidea Park and Harold Wood peaks around around the Harold Court. On the northern side, Harold Hill peaks at . The semi-rural area north of Collier Row and Harold Hill consists of many rolls of hills, with elevation peaking at the village of Havering-atte-Bower, . The town centre is for the most part contained within a ring road formed of St Edwards Way, Mercury Gardens, Thurloe Gardens, Oldchurch Road and Waterloo Road. The market place and much of South Street and the High Street are pedestrianised. The railway cuts through the town from east to west on a viaduct, with the bulk of the central Romford area to its north. The River Rom flows through the town in underground channels and joins the Thames after flowing through Hornchurch; elsewhere along its course it is known as the River Beam and forms part of the strategic waterways Blue Ribbon Network. Romford has formed part of the continuously built-up area of London since the 1930s and is contiguous with Rush Green to the west, Collier Row to the north,

Gidea Park Gidea Park () is a neighbourhood in the east of Romford in the London Borough of Havering, south-east England. Predominantly an affluent and residential area, it was historically located in the county of Essex. It saw significant expansion in t ...

to the east and

to the southeast. The Romford

post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in t ...

covers Collier Row, Gidea Park, Harold Hill, Harold Park, Harold Wood, Havering-atte-Bower, Rise Park and Rush Green, extending into sections of the

London Borough of Barking and Dagenham The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham () is a London boroughs, London borough in East London. The borough was created in 1965 as the London Borough of Barking; the name was changed in 1980. It is an Outer London borough and the south is wi ...

and Epping Forest District. The Romford postcode area extends further. Romford is located northeast of

in central London; northeast of

Ilford Ilford is a large List of areas of London, town in East London, England, northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. It had a po ...

; north of

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Fo ...

; northwest of Grays; south-west of Brentwood; west of

Basildon Basildon ( ) is a town in Borough of Basildon, the borough of the same name, in the county of Essex, England. It had a recorded population of 115,955 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. In 1931, the town had a population of 1,159. ...

; and southeast of Epping.

Climate

Climate data for Romford is taken from the nearest weather station at

Greenwich Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...

, around southwest of the marketplace.

Demography

The population of the Romford parliamentary constituency was 109,400 in 2022. The population of the London Borough of Havering was 264,700. In 2021 there were 41,800 households in Romford constituency and 101,300 in the borough of Havering.Office for National Statistics – Census 2021 In 2021 12.8% in Romford constituency (10.7% in Havering) were Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh; 8.1% (8.2%) were Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African; 4.1% (3.7%) were Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups; 72.4% (75.3%) were White; and 2.5% (2.0%) were Other ethnic group. In 2021, 29.2% in Romford constituency (30.6% in Havering) report No religion; 51.1% (52.2%) were Christian; 0.4% (0.4%) Buddhist; 2.9% (2.5%) Hindu; 0.7% (0.5%) Jewish; 7.5% (6.2%) Muslim; 2.0% (1.7%) Sikh; 0.4% (0.4%) Other religion; and 5.7% (5.5%) Not answered.

Economy

Romford is recognised in the

as one of 14 regionally significant metropolitan centres in Greater London, with a considerable catchment area. The town has significant retail, office, leisure and cultural floorspace. There is a developed night-time economy, greater than in any other metropolitan centre in Greater London, with of cinemas, theatres and concert hall space; of bars and pubs; of cafés and restaurants; and of fast food and take away venues. The night-time economy is almost as significant as the day economy with around 12,000 visits to Romford during the day and 11,000 visits to pubs, clubs and bars at night. The night-time economy of clubs, pubs and bars has been growing since 2023. Romford Market has been in a long period of decline with 60 regular traders in 2020, down from a peak of over 300.

Transport

Romford town centre has a very high Public Transport Accessibility Level score of 6. The town is served by Romford railway station, in London fare zone 6. The station is a stop on the Great Eastern Main Line. It is served by

Elizabeth line The Elizabeth line is a railway line that runs across Greater London and nearby towns, operating similarly to the Réseau Express Régional, RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries. It runs services on dedicated infras ...

trains between Shenfield and Paddington, with some services extended to Heathrow Airport. Romford is the western terminus of the Liberty line service of the

London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a Urban rail in the United Kingdom, suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, it now serves a large part of Greate ...

, which connects the town to Upminster. Since May 2025, there is a regular off-peak Greater Anglia service between and calling at the station. Romford is a hub of the

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus s ...

network, with services to

Canning Town Canning Town is a town in the London Borough of Newham, East London, England, north of the Royal Victoria Dock. Its urbanisation was largely due to the creation of the dock. The area was part of the ancient parish and County Borough of West Ham, ...

, Stratford, Leytonstone and

; there are also feeder services from the large housing developments at Collier Row and Harold Hill. There are night bus services to Beam Park, Claybury Broadway, Havering Park, Leytonstone, Stratford, Harold Hill and Oxford Circus. The A12 trunk road passes to the north of Romford, while the A118 road from Stratford connects with it at Gallows Corner at the start of the A127 road to Southend.

Culture

In 2005, Havering Council's urban strategy had the stated aims of making Romford a cultural destination, whilst recognising that Hornchurch forms the main cultural hub of the borough with a large theatre and arts spaces. As a former market and coaching town, Romford is well served by public houses and two that are located in the market place are listed buildings. The market and adjacent streets also form a conservation area. Mass entertainment facilities in the town include the Brookside Theatre and Romford Greyhound Stadium, the last remaining dog racing track in London. two multi-screen cinemas; 1980s The town is strongly associated with the electronic music group

Underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

, who cite Romford in their hit " Born Slippy", affiliated to the movie '' Trainspotting''. Romford's position as a focus for electronic music production was reinforced by the presence of the Strictly Underground and Suburban Base record labels, with Suburban Base developing from the Boogie Times record store. According to a

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

article in 1992, Romford-produced dance music formed part of a trend favouring suburban and provincial "bedroom" record labels over those in central London. In 2013, the film '' Death Walks'' was filmed in Romford over a four-month period. The cult TV series '' Garth Marenghi's Darkplace'' was set in the fictional Darkplace Hospital, in Romford. The local newspaper for the town and the borough of Havering is the '' Romford Recorder'', with an average circulation per issue of 8,852 in 2024. There are two radio stations located in the area; Time 107.5 and Bedrock Radio, a community health and hospital radio station. Lumiere Cinema, located within the Mercury Mall, has served as the venue for the Romford Film Festival since 2017, the Romford Horror Film Festival since 2020, and the East London LGBTQ+ Film Festival since 2023. In April 2023, hoodies were banned from the town centre along with Ski masks and motorcycle helmets in an initiative by Romford Business Improvement District, backed by Havering councillors and local Metropolitan Police officers, as a measure against antisocial behaviour.

Sports

Romford F.C., who currently play in the Essex Senior League, is the local football team. The Raiders IHC ice hockey team is based in Romford, at Romford Ice Arena until 2013 and now Sapphire Ice and Leisure. Sapphire Ice also replaced the Dolphin Centre, which was a popular swimming and leisure facility from 1982 to 1995. Romford and Gidea Park Rugby Football Club is based at Crowlands in Romford. Romford Bowls Club is based in

Lodge Farm Park Lodge Farm Park is a public park in Gidea Park in the London Borough of Havering, United Kingdom. It is one of a series of parks which stretch northwards from the railway line between Romford Romford is a large List of places in London, tow ...

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control Areas of London Districts of the London Borough of Havering Metropolitan centres of London Market towns in London District centres of London