Harlow is a ‘new town’ in Essex on the border of Hertfordshire.
There was a Roman settlement in the area around the 3rd century. Digs during the 1970’s found a roman temple and a mosaic floor built on top of an Iron Age temple. The oldest relics found dated back to possibly 6000BC.
Harlow was built after the Second World War to ease an overcrowded London. It was to become known for being the site of Britain’s first pedestrian precinct and the first residential tower block, The Lawns, this was built in l950 and is now a Grade II listed building.
The town’s economy comes, in the main, from manufacturing and the developments of the Pinnacle and Templefields have bought a huge amount of employment to the area.
Originally there was a biscuit factory on the Pinnacles that was run as a Co-op, it was the source of much employment over the years and at its height had some 500 workers. At its closure, in 2002 after 50years of production, it was owned by Burtons. The £8m production line only installed in 1999 was left to rust in the car park after the factory closed.
Harlow has a large commuter population travelling to London and nearby Stanstead Airport provides many jobs bringing a large number of people to the area. It is also only second to Cambridge, for research with major employers being Raytheon Systems and ClaxoSmithKline having premises in town.
Employment is currently around 10% higher than the national average. The town has a large number of people in social housing, with around 30% of residential properties belonging to housing associations and the local authority plus lots more privately rented.
There is plenty of rental property in Harlow costing around £500 to £600pcm for a l bed flat, £600 to £750pcm for a 2 bed flat and £695 to £1250pcm for a 3 bed house.
Harlow Rugby club play at Ram Gorse and have teams that play at several league levels and have Ladies and Junior sides.
Harlow Town football club have just moved ground to Barrows Farm.
The town has a theatre, The Playhouse, the extensive town centre has a farmers market in the Market Square on the third Saturday of the month.
Some of the shops to be found in the town centre include Juniors, Adams, Dynasty Occasions, River Island, Size Up Clothing, Blue Inc, Zee and Co and Whitehouse.
The town centre and other shopping areas have been redeveloped along with a great deal of the original town buildings. The town has expanded and the new neighbourhood of New Hall is almost complete. The Harlow Gateway scheme is underway with the move of Harlow Football Stadium, a new hotel, apartments and a restaurant near the railway station already completed. The next stage consists of 530 eco-homes to be built on the former sports centre site.
Plans for Harlow North are awaiting permission and will involve, if passed, extension of the town across floodplains to the north of town.
South of the town centre has also undergone regeneration with a new civic centre and the famous water gardens being redeveloped. Also included were new shops, superstore, restaurant and cafes. It is hoped that this will continue over the rest of the district but plans are waiting to be granted permission.
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