Bromley

Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011.

Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, chartered in 1158. Its location on a coaching route and the opening of a railway station in 1858 were key to its development and the shift from an agrarian village to an urban town. As part of the suburban growth of London in the 20th century, Bromley significantly increased in population and was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1903 and became part of the London Borough of Bromley in 1965. Bromley today forms a major retail and commercial centre. It is identified in the London Plan as one of the 13 metropolitan centres of Greater London.

History

Bromley is first recorded in an Anglo-Saxon charter of 862 as ''Bromleag'' and means 'woodland clearing where broom grows'. It shares this Old English etymology with Great Bromley in eastern Essex, but not with the Bromley in the East End of London.

The history of Bromley is closely connected with the See of Rochester. In AD 862 Ethelbert, the King of Kent, granted land to form the Manor of Bromley. In 1185 Bromley Palace was built by Gilbert Glanvill, Bishop of Rochester. Pilgrims came to the town to visit St. Blaise's Well. The Palace was held by the Bishops until 1845, when Coles Child, a wealthy local merchant and philanthropist, purchased Bromley Palace (now the hub of the Bromley Civic Centre) and became lord of the manor. The town was an important coaching stop on the way to Hastings from London, and the now defunct Royal Bell Hotel (just off Market Square) is referred to in Jane Austen's '' Pride and Prejudice''. It was a quiet rural village until the arrival of the railway in 1858 in Shortlands, which led to rapid growth, and outlying suburban districts such as Bickley (which later overflowed into Bromley Common) were developed to accommodate those wishing to live so conveniently close to London.

Bromley, also known as ''Bromley St Peter and St Paul'', formed an ancient parish in the Bromley and Beckenham hundred and the Sutton-at-Hone lathe of Kent. In 1840 it became part of the expanded Metropolitan Police District. The parish adopted the Local Government Act 1858 and a local board was formed in 1867. The board was reconstituted as Bromley Urban District Council in 1894 and the parish became Bromley Urban District. It formed part of the London Traffic Area from 1924 and the London Passenger Transport Area from 1933. In 1934, as part of a county review order, the borough was expanded by taking in from the disbanded Bromley Rural District; an area including parts of the parishes of Farnborough, Hayes, Keston and West Wickham. Bromley became part of the newly created Greater London in 1965, in the new London Borough of Bromley.

Governance

Bromley forms part of the Bromley and Chislehurst Parliament constituency. The current MP is Bob Neill. Peter Fortune is the London Assembly member for the Bexley and Bromley constituency, in which the town is located.

Bromley's most prominent MP was the former Conservative prime minister, Harold Macmillan.

Climate

Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows. The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is " Cfb". (Marine West Coast Climate/ Oceanic climate).

Economy

Bromley is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Bromley had one of the highest gross disposable household incomes (GDHI) in the UK, at £27,169 in 2018.

Bromley was ranked fourth in Greater London by Retail Footprint in 2005, behind the West End, Croydon and Kingston upon Thames. Bromley competes with both Croydon and the Bluewater centre in Dartford as a shopping destination.

Bromley High Street

The town has a large retail area, including a pedestrianised High Street and '' The Glades'' centre, the main shopping mall, which has a catchment of 1.3 million people. The shopping area includes retailers such as Gap, Oasis, Russell & Bromley and Waterstone's, whilst the restaurants includes a branch of the small chain of Belgian-themed Belgo restaurants. Development at the nearby St. Mark's Square has seen further restaurants and a cinema established.

Bromley High Street is also the location for the Bromley Charter Market, which runs on a Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. King John granted a charter for the Market to be held every Tuesday in 1205, with Henry VI revising this charter to every Thursday in 1447. The Market sells food and confectionery items, clothing and other goods like jewellery.

Transport

Rail

The town's main station is Bromley South station, served by Southeastern services to London Victoria (non stop express services, semi fast services via Denmark Hill and stopping services via Herne Hill), Kentish Town via Catford and London Blackfriars, Orpington, Sevenoaks via Swanley, Ramsgate via Chatham, Dover Priory via Chatham & Canterbury East and Canterbury West via Maidstone East & Ashford International. Bromley North station also connects the town with Southeastern shuttle services to Grove Park, where connections can be made for services to London Charing Cross & London Cannon Street via Lewisham.

Buses

Bromley is served by London Buses routes 61, 119, 126, 138, 146, 162, 208, 227, 246, 261, 269, 314, 320, 336, 352, 354, 358, 367, N3 & N199. These connect it with areas including Beckenham, Bexleyheath, Biggin Hill, Catford, Chislehurst, Croydon, Crystal Palace, Eltham, Grove Park, Lewisham, Mottingham, New Addington, Orpington, Penge, Sidcup, West Wickham & Westerham.

Culture

Festivals

Since May 1929 Bromley has had an annual festival of "dance, drama and comedy" in around the towns venues

The large open spaces have lent them themselves to outdoor concerts, festivals and outdoor screenings as well in the venues such as Norman park, Hayes farm, Beckenham Place Park and Croydon Road recreation ground.

Theatres

Bromley has a number of theatres in the borough, in the town centre there are three, a professional, the Churchill Theatre, an amateur, the Bromley Little Theatre (close to Bromley North railway station) and an outdoor amphitheatre located in "Church House Gardens" behind the Churchill theatre.

The Churchill Theatre was opened on 19 July 1977 by the Prince of Wales, and seats 781. It is run on a contract currently held by HQ Theatres Ltd acting as both a receiving and producing house, with productions transferring to the West End or touring nationally. An example being recent tours of ''Club Tropicana The Musical''.

Library

Bromley also has a central library in the same building as the Churchill Theatre with a large book stock, Internet and wifi access, reference library and local studies department. It functions as the central library of the broader Bromley Borough Libraries Service.

Cinema

Bromley Picturehouse was opened in June 2019 in the previous Empire theatre.

Vue Cinemas own a nine-screen cinema, which is part of the Bromley South Central scheme at St Mark's Square, opened on 28 November 2018.

Dance

Bromley has its own team of Morris dancers, ''The Ravensbourne Morris Men'', founded in 1947 as a post war revival team following an inaugural meeting at the then ''Jean's Café'', which was located opposite Bromley South Station.

Civic Society

Bromley Civic Society is a civic society for the historic centre of Bromley. It is a founder member of Civic Voice. It seeks to educate the public about the community's history and to preserve historical sites.

Popular culture

In the famous Monty Python "Spam" sketch Bromley was stated to be the location of the fictional Green Midget Café, where every item on the menu was composed of spam in varying degrees. In another ''Monty Python'' sketch, it was stated that all seven continents are visible from the top of the Kentish Times building in Bromley.

The Bromley Contingent was the name given to the entourage that followed the Sex Pistols and helped popularise the punk movement. It was so called because many of its members were from Bromley, some of whom later became famous as musicians in their own right, like Siouxsie Sioux and Billy Idol.

The 2018 humorous film, ''The Bromley Boys'' is set in Bromley and surroundings in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Based on a real-life memoir by Dave Roberts about following Bromley F.C.