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Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the
London Borough of Bromley
The London Borough of Bromley () is the southeasternmost of the London boroughs that make up Greater London, bordering the ceremonial county of Kent, which most of Bromley was part of before 1965. The borough's population is an estimated 332,3 ...
. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011.
Originally part of Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, Bromley became 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 rural ...
, 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
The London Borough of Bromley () is the southeasternmost of the London boroughs that make up Greater London, bordering the ceremonial county of Kent, which most of Bromley was part of before 1965. The borough's population is an estimated 332,3 ...
in 1965. Bromley today forms a major retail and commercial centre. It is 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.
The regional planning document was first pu ...
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 wherebroom
A broom (also known in some forms as a broomstick) is a cleaning tool consisting of usually stiff fibers (often made of materials such as plastic, hair, or corn husks) attached to, and roughly parallel to, a cylindrical handle, the broomstick. I ...
grows'. It shares this Old English
Old English (, ), 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 was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
etymology with Great Bromley
Great Bromley is a village and civil parish in the Tendring district of Essex, England. It lies south of Manningtree and east of Colchester and includes the hamlets of Balls Green, Hare Green and Bromley Cross. The A120 trunk road (with the ...
in eastern Essex, but not with the 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, c ...
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
Gilbert Glanvill or Gilbert de Glanville was a medieval Bishop of Rochester.
Life
Glanvill was a clerk of Archbishop Baldwin of Canterbury and the archdeacon of the Lisieux.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
Bromley forms part of the
Bromley is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the
In the famous Spam (Monty Python), 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 (food), 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., it includes many scenes filmed locally, although Crockenhill F.C. was used as a substitute for the Hayes Lane stadium.Bromley Boys Press Kit
Accessed 28 January 2020 Guitarist Billy Jenkins, born in Bromley, released an album titled "Sounds like Bromley" in 1982 and another in 1997 titled "Still Sounds Like Bromley". In a BBC Radio 3 interview he said that "if Kent is the Garden of England then Bromley is one of the compost heaps". He then moved to Lewisham.
The parish church of St Peter and St Paul, Bromley, St Peter and St Paul stands on Church Road. It was largely destroyed by German bombing on 16 April 1941 and rebuilt in the 1950s incorporating the medieval tower and reusing much of the flint and fragments of the original stone building. The most noteworthy historic building is Bromley & Sheppard’s Colleges, Bromley College, London Road. The central public open spaces are; Queen's Gardens, Martin's Hill, Church House Gardens, Library Gardens and College Green.
Another parish church in Bromley is St Mark's Church, Bromley, St Mark's, which stands on Westmoreland Road. The present church is the third. The first was built as a temporary iron church in 1884 to cope with Bromley's growing population, on land slightly to the east of the present church, donated by a local man called Eley Soames. The road name St Mark's Road preserves the rough location of the former site.
The second church was built in brick and stone on the present site, and designed by Evelyn Hellicar, son of the then vicar of St Peter and St Paul's. It was completed in 1898 in the Gothic Revival, Perpendicular Gothic style and consecrated by William Walsh (bishop of Dover), William Walsh, Bishop of Dover, on 22 October that year. The tower, though, was not completed until 1904. Like St Peter and St Paul's, St Mark's was heavily damaged in the The Blitz, London Blitz of 1941. Only the tower survived intact.
On 3 June 1952, the Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, Duchess of Kent laid the foundation stone of the present church, which was designed by T W G Grant and built by David Evelyn Nye, David Nye. Besides the tower, other parts of the fabric of the original church were used in the rebuilding. Inside there are some interesting monuments: to Samuel Ajayi Crowther, John Patteson (bishop), John Cole Patteson and Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah, who were all bishops in the Commonwealth.
The East Street drill hall, Bromley, East Street drill hall was completed in 1872.
Shortlands
Shortlands is a suburb of South East London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It has been part of Greater London since 1965, and was previously part of the historic county of Kent. It is located between Beckenham and Bromley, to t ...
, 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
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.
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
Local boards or local boards of health were local authorities 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, regulate environmenta ...
and a local board
Local boards or local boards of health were local authorities 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, regulate environmenta ...
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
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 ex ...
from 1924 and the London Passenger Transport Area
The London Passenger Transport Board was the organisation responsible for local public transport
Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passe ...
from 1933. In 1934, as part of a county review order
The Local Government Act 1929 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made changes to the Poor Law and local government in England and Wales.
The Act abolished the system of poor law unions in England and Wales and their boar ...
, the borough was expanded by taking in from the disbanded Bromley Rural District
Bromley was a rural district in north-west Kent, England from 1894 to 1934. Its area now forms part of the London Borough of Bromley in Greater London. It did not include the main settlement of the same name, which constituted the Municipal ...
; an area including parts of the parishes of Farnborough, Hayes, Keston
Keston is a village in Greater London, England, located within the London Borough of Bromley, Greater London. Prior to 1965 it was withing the historic county of Kent. It is part suburban, part rural in nature and lies on the edge of Hayes Com ...
and West Wickham
West Wickham is an area of South East London, England, mainly within the London Borough of Bromley with some parts lying in the London Borough of Croydon. It lies south of Park Langley and Eden Park, west of Hayes and Coney Hall, north of ...
. Bromley became part of the newly created Greater London in 1965, in the new London Borough of Bromley
The London Borough of Bromley () is the southeasternmost of the London boroughs that make up Greater London, bordering the ceremonial county of Kent, which most of Bromley was part of before 1965. The borough's population is an estimated 332,3 ...
.
Governance
Bromley forms part of the Bromley and Chislehurst
Bromley and Chislehurst is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom since 2006 by Bob Neill, a Conservative.
Constituency profile
This constituency is relatively prosperous in terms of income, h ...
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. TheKöppen Climate Classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
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
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.
The regional planning document was first pu ...
. 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
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
and Kingston upon Thames
Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable ...
. 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 apedestrianised
Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town reserved for pedestrian-only use and in whi ...
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
Belgo was a chain of London restaurants specializing in simple Belgian cooking and Belgian beer. There were five Belgo restaurants: Belgo Centraal (Covent Garden), Belgo Holborn, Belgo Kings Cross, Belgo Nottingham and Belgo Bromley ; followin ...
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 bySoutheastern
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...
services to London Victoria
Victoria station, also known as London Victoria, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Victoria, in the City of Westminster, managed by Network Rail. Named after the nearby Victoria Street (not the Q ...
(non stop express services, semi fast services via Denmark Hill and stopping services via Herne Hill
Herne Hill is a district in South London, approximately four miles from Charing Cross and bordered by Brixton, Camberwell, Dulwich, and Tulse Hill. It sits to the north and east of Brockwell Park and straddles the boundary between the borou ...
), Kentish Town
Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town. Less than four miles north of central London, Kentish Town has good transport connections and is situated close to the open ...
via Catford railway station, Catford and Blackfriars railway station, London Blackfriars, Orpington railway station, Orpington, Sevenoaks railway station, Sevenoaks via Swanley railway station, Swanley, Ramsgate railway station, Ramsgate via Chatham railway station, Medway, Chatham, Dover Priory railway station, Dover Priory via Chatham & Canterbury East railway station, Canterbury East and Canterbury West railway station, Canterbury West via Maidstone East railway station, Maidstone East & Ashford International railway station, Ashford International. Bromley North railway station, Bromley North station also connects the town with Southeastern shuttle services to Grove Park railway station, Grove Park, where connections can be made for services to Charing Cross railway station, London Charing Cross & Cannon Street railway station, London Cannon Street via Lewisham railway station, 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
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
, Crystal Palace, London, Crystal Palace, Eltham, London, Eltham, Grove Park, Lewisham, Grove Park, Lewisham, Mottingham, New Addington, Orpington, Penge, Sidcup, West Wickham
West Wickham is an area of South East London, England, mainly within the London Borough of Bromley with some parts lying in the London Borough of Croydon. It lies south of Park Langley and Eden Park, west of Hayes and Coney Hall, north of ...
& 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 Spam (Monty Python), 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 (food), 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., it includes many scenes filmed locally, although Crockenhill F.C. was used as a substitute for the Hayes Lane stadium.Bromley Boys Press KitAccessed 28 January 2020 Guitarist Billy Jenkins, born in Bromley, released an album titled "Sounds like Bromley" in 1982 and another in 1997 titled "Still Sounds Like Bromley". In a BBC Radio 3 interview he said that "if Kent is the Garden of England then Bromley is one of the compost heaps". He then moved to Lewisham.
Media
Local news is provided by the ''Bromley Times''.Sport and leisure
The town has four Non-League football clubs. Two teams play their home games at the Hayes Lane Stadium: Bromley F.C. and Cray Wanderers F.C.; the latter is claimed to be the oldest football club in what is today Greater London. The other teams, Holmesdale F.C. and Greenwich Borough F.C., play at Oakley Road. Bromley F.C. are the only professional team in Bromley and play in the National League (division), National League, one level below the Football League. Four rugby union, rugby clubs in Bromley are, Old Elthamians a National League 2 side, Parkhouse FC, Bromley RFC and Beckenham RFC. Beccehamians RFC is a club that was founded in 1933 which plays competitive rugby at Sparrows Den at the bottom of Corkscrew Hill in nearby West Wickham.Education
Bromley has numerous schools, and is home to Bromley College of Further & Higher Education. There are two specialist Media Arts Schools, Hayes School and The Ravensbourne School (Bromley), Ravensbourne School. Bishop Justus Church of England School, Bishop Justus School is a specialist Music College. It also has the Ravens Wood and Darrick Wood Schools. There are many independent schools within the London Borough of Bromley, including Eltham College (in the nearby area of Mottingham – within the borough of Bromley and near the London Borough of Lewisham) and Bromley High (situated in the nearby area of Bickley - also within the borough of Bromley).Demography
Bromley town as a whole, including its neighbourhoods and villages, is formed of six wards: Bickley; Bromley Common and Keston; Bromley Town; Hayes and Coney Hall; Plaistow and Sundridge; and Shortlands. Together they had a population of 87,889 in the 2011 UK census, whereas the borough overall had a population 331,096. The life expectancy in Bromley Town ward (which covers the town centre) was 79.3 years for males and 83.7 years for females, during 2009–2013. The highest in the town were in Shortlands: 86.1 years for males and 88.1 years for females. The lowest for both genders was in Plaistow and Sundridge: 77.5 and 82.1 years respectively. In Bromley Town, 18.5% of the population was of minority ethnicity. The highest in the town was 19.3% in Plaistow and Sundridge, and the lowest was 8.3% in Hayes and Coney Hall. The median house price in Bromley Town ward was £327,000 in 2014, compared to £295,444 in Plaistow and Sundridge, and £480,000 in Bickley. 37% of houses in Bickley were detached, more than other wards. In all wards, over 60% of houses were owned by households, peaking at 88.2% in Hayes and Coney Hall. In 2020, the average cost of a house was £519,619Landmarks
The parish church of St Peter and St Paul, Bromley, St Peter and St Paul stands on Church Road. It was largely destroyed by German bombing on 16 April 1941 and rebuilt in the 1950s incorporating the medieval tower and reusing much of the flint and fragments of the original stone building. The most noteworthy historic building is Bromley & Sheppard’s Colleges, Bromley College, London Road. The central public open spaces are; Queen's Gardens, Martin's Hill, Church House Gardens, Library Gardens and College Green.
Another parish church in Bromley is St Mark's Church, Bromley, St Mark's, which stands on Westmoreland Road. The present church is the third. The first was built as a temporary iron church in 1884 to cope with Bromley's growing population, on land slightly to the east of the present church, donated by a local man called Eley Soames. The road name St Mark's Road preserves the rough location of the former site.
The second church was built in brick and stone on the present site, and designed by Evelyn Hellicar, son of the then vicar of St Peter and St Paul's. It was completed in 1898 in the Gothic Revival, Perpendicular Gothic style and consecrated by William Walsh (bishop of Dover), William Walsh, Bishop of Dover, on 22 October that year. The tower, though, was not completed until 1904. Like St Peter and St Paul's, St Mark's was heavily damaged in the The Blitz, London Blitz of 1941. Only the tower survived intact.
On 3 June 1952, the Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, Duchess of Kent laid the foundation stone of the present church, which was designed by T W G Grant and built by David Evelyn Nye, David Nye. Besides the tower, other parts of the fabric of the original church were used in the rebuilding. Inside there are some interesting monuments: to Samuel Ajayi Crowther, John Patteson (bishop), John Cole Patteson and Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah, who were all bishops in the Commonwealth.
The East Street drill hall, Bromley, East Street drill hall was completed in 1872.
Notable residents
H. G. Wells
Noted author H. G. Wells was born in Bromley on 21 September 1866, to Sarah and Joseph Wells; his father was the founder of the Bromley Cricket Club and the proprietor of a shop that sold cricket equipment. Wells spent the first 13 years of his life in Bromley. From 1874 to 1879 he attended Tomas Morley's Bromley Academy, at 74 High Street. There was a 'H. G. Wells Centre' in Masons Hill near the southern end of the High Street which housed the Bromley Labour Club (the building was demolished in 2017). In August 2005, the wall honouring Wells in Market Square was repainted; the current wall painting features a rich green background with the same Wells reference and the evolutionary sequence of ''Homo sapiens'' featured in ''Origin of Species'' by Charles Darwin, a former resident of nearby Downe Village. Wells wrote about Bromley in an early unsigned article in the ''Pall Mall Gazette'' in which he expressed satisfaction that he had been born in an earlier, more rural Bromley. A blue plaque marks Wells' birthplace in Market Square, on the wall of what is now a Primark store. A marble plaque appears above the door of 8 South Street, the location of Mrs Knott's Dame school where "Bertie", as he was called as a child, learned to read and write. H. G. Wells featured Bromley in two of his novels: ''The War in the Air'' (which refers to Bromley as Bunhill) and ''The New Machiavelli'' (in which Bromley is referred to as Bromstead). However, H. G. Wells refused the offered freedom of the town, stating: "Bromley has not been particularly gracious to me nor I to Bromley and I don't think I want to add the freedom of Bromley to the freedom of the City of London and the freedom of the City of Brussels – both of which I have." He described Bromley in one of his novels as a "morbid sprawl of population".Other residents
Owen Chadwick was born in Bromley in 1916. He was awarded the Order of Merit, was Vice Chancellor of University of Cambridge, Master of Selwyn Cambridge, Regius Professor of Modern History, Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History, Chancellor of University of Anglia, President of the British Academy, and was a Rugby Union International. Other world-famous authors who hail from Bromley include Captain W.E. Johns (author of the Biggles adventures), David Nobbs (author of ''The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin'' and writer for Les Dawson and ''The Two Ronnies''), and Enid Blyton who wrote influential children's fiction such as the Secret Seven and Famous Five stories. A blue historical plaque can be found on the external wall of her former home on Shortlands Road, Bromley. Other famous people who lived in Bromley include David Bowie, Charles Darwin, Talbot Rothwell, screenwriter of twenty Carry On films, Justine Lord, actress, Peter Howitt, Richmal Crompton, Pixie Lott, Matt Terry, Christopher Tennant, Hanif Kureishi, Peter Frampton, Aleister Crowley, bassist Steven Severin of Siouxsie and the Banshees, Fatboy Slim, Jack Dee, Tom Allen (comedian), Tom Allen, Rob Beckett, Gary Rhodes, Pete Sears, singer Poly Styrene, Billy Idol, Josh Beech, Ruthie Henshall, Trevor Goddard, actor, Billy Jenkins (musician), Billy Jenkins, Alex Clare, cricketer Jill Cruwys, the anarchist Peter Kropotkin, the former Clash drummer Topper Headon, illustrator Charles Keeping, Formula 1 test driver Gary Paffett, IndyCar driver Mike Conway, children's writer Andrew Murray (children's writer), Andrew Murray, tenor Roland Cunningham, actor Michael York (actor), Michael York who attended Bromley Grammar School for Boys, clarinetist Chris Craker, Don Perrin, Canadian author who attended Burnt Ash School in Bromley, and Sir Thomas James Harper, an officer decorated in the Crimean War. The musical conducting brothers Stephen Cleobury, Stephen and Nicholas Cleobury were born in Bromley. Actor Jerome Flynn, who starred in ''Game of Thrones'' as Bronn (character), Bronn, was born in Bromley. Gus Lobban and Jamie Bulled of the band Kero Kero Bonito grew up in Bromley: their music video for the song 'You Know How It Is' features several local landmarks. Deborah Linsley, the victim of one of Britain's most high-profile unsolved murders in 1988, grew up in Bromley. Richard Reid, also known as the "Shoe Bomber", was born and lived in Bromley. He is notable as the suspect for the 2001 shoe bomb attempt. In the 20th century, the Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul produced, in quick succession, three Church of England Bishops: Henry David Halsey – Bishop of Carlisle, Philip Goodrich – Bishop of Worcester, David Bartleet – Bishop of Tonbridge. Sculptor Nicholas Cornwell and Maisy James the Big Brother 12 housemate. Sometime before 1881 the engineer and industrialist Aveling and Porter#Richard Thomas Porter, Richard Porter moved to Beckenham where he remained until his death in 1913. Hanif Kureishi, the writer and filmmaker was born here, and spent a significant part of his youth, here. His first novel ''The Buddha of Suburbia (novel), The Buddha of Suburbia'' was loosely based on his life here and the people he lived and met here. Comedian Frankie Boyle claims to be a former resident and has described Bromley as a 'lobotomy made out of bricks'. The comedian Chris Addison currently lives in Bromley, as does tennis player Emma Raducanu. West Ham United F.C. midfielder Gary O'Neil, former Millwall F.C. midfielder Tim Cahill, and former Blackburn Rovers striker Jason Roberts (footballer), Jason Roberts lived in Bromley. English darts player Les Capewell was born in Bromley. Scottish education secretary Michael Russell MSP was born and spent the early years of his life in Bromley.See also
* Bromley Civic SocietyReferences
Further reading
*External links
{{Authority control Areas of London Districts of the London Borough of Bromley Market towns in London Metropolitan centres of London Former civil parishes in the London Borough of Bromley