Why move to Bromley?
Bromley is a large town in south-eastern, England Greater London, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Bromley. It is located 9.3 miles south-east of Charring Cross, the traditional centre of London. It had a population of 87,889 as of 2011. It is identified in the London Plan as one of the 13 metropolitan centres of Greater London.
Historically market town, chartered in 1158, Bromley was an ancient parish in the county of Kent. 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 commerce and retail. 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. Part of Greater London since 1965, Bromley today forms a major retail and commercial centre.
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 Essex, but not with the Bromley in Tower Hamlets
The history of Bromley is closely connected with the sea 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 Glanville, 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 Austin’s pride and Prejudice. It was a quiet rural village until the arrival of the railway in 1858 in Shortland’s, 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 High Street
The town has a large retail area, including a pedestrianised High Street and The Glades Shopping centre, the main shopping mall, which has a catchment of 1.3 million people. The shopping area includes retailers such as Next, Marks & Spencer’s, and Waterstone's. Development at the nearby St. Mark's Square has seen further restaurants and a cinema established.
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, one level below the Football League.
Four rugby clubs in Bromley are, Old Ethamivan’s a National League 2 side, Parkhouse FC, Bromley 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.
Transport
The town's main station is Bromley South station, served by South-eastern 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 South-eastern shuttle services to Grove Park, where connections can be made for services to London Charing Cross & London Cannon Street via Lewisham.
Theatres
Bromley has a number of theatres in the borough, in the town centre there are two, a professional, the Churchill Theatre and an amateur, the Bromley Little Theatre close to Bromley North railway station.
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. 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).
Restaurants and shopping
The Glades is a shopping centre in Bromley, England. It has a total of 135 stores trading from a combined floorspace of 464,000sq.ft. Opened as The Glades on Tuesday 22 October 1991. The name "The Glades" was chosen following a competition in which Bromley residents were asked for suggestions. "The Glades" was chosen reflecting the history of Bromley as a wooded area.The centre was rebranded as Intu Bromley in the summer of 2013 following the renaming of parentCapital Shopping Centres Group plc as Intu Properties plc. Following intu Properties' sale of the centre, the intu branding and name was withdrawn from the centre, bringing back its original name.
