A timeline history of Bromley with prints, photographs and maps.
New images added on a regular basis so bookmark this page (click on images to enlarge).HG Wells
David Bowie - The South London Years
Bromley Property
Saxon Bromley
Bromley may have meant 'grove or wood with broom shrubs'.
862 Reference to Bromleag.
Medieval Bromley
1205 Charter for a market granted.
1226 St Peter & St Paul church built.
1327 St Peter & St Paul church rebuilt
1447 Second charter granted two annual fairs (no more) and moved market day to Thursday.
Stuart Bromley
1666 Bromley College was founded in by the Will of John Warner (1581–1666), Bishop of Rochester, to provide housing for "twenty poore widowes of orthodoxe and loyal clergiemen
Georgian Bromley
c. 1756 Print of Old Bishops Palace
1776 Old Bromley Palace rebuilt as an elegant summer residence.
1790s St Peter & St Paul rebuilt.
Sunridge Park Manor designed by John Nash (1752-1835). Humphrey Repton (1752-1818) landscaped the park.
1801 Bromley Hill Place, built as the country estate of Charles Long (1760-1838) a government minister later the Ist Baron Farnborough. Visitors to the estate included the Regency King George IV and his brother William IV as well as the Duke of Wellington and Charles Darwin.
Regency Bromley
1812 The Villa of - Groote Esq near Bromley Kent by John Hassell (1767-1825)
1821 Bromley Common enclosed.
Early Victorian Bromley
1839 Holy Trinity Church opined on southern end of Bromley Common..
1858 Bromley South railway station opened.
Mid Victorian Bromley
1861 Bromley¹s population was 5,505.
1863 Old Market Hall demolished, replaced by Gothic Town Hall (now demolished).
1866 HG Wells born at 47 High Street.
1867 Bromley became a local board.
1875 New Cottage Hospital.
1878 Bromley College of Art opened in Tweedy Road, (now council offices).
Bromley North station opened on Bromley branch of the South East Railway.
Sunridge Park station opened on the South East Railway as a private station for Sir Charles Scott of Sunridge.
Late Victorian Bromley
1890 St Luke¹s Church built.
1893 Bromley South station widened.
1894 Bromley became an urban district council.
1898 Royal Bell Hotel built.
1899 Lyric Theatre opened at 111 High Street. Renamed Grand Hall in 1909, Grand Theatre in 1924, New Theatre in 1947.
Edwardian Bromley
1903 Bromley became a borough.
Sunridge Park Golf Club opened.
1904 Bromley Hill Place converted to a hotel (Farnboro' Court Hotel) with 115 rooms.
1906 New Bromley Town Hall opened on Tweedy Road. Designed by Robert Frank Atkinson (1869-1923).
1910 Fire station opened in South Street.
1911 Palais de Luxe Cinema opened at 219 High Street. Renamed Pullman in 1954 & Astor in 1958 (photo below). Closed down in 1977.
1913 St Augustine built.
Bromley in WW1
1918 Three bombs exploded in Bromley; one, in Bromley Crescent, killed a man, injured seven people and damaged 38 houses, while the other two damaged 12 others.
Interwar Bromley
1922 Bromley War Memorial situated on Martin's Hill. Designed and sculpted by Sydney March (1876–1968).
1931 Farnboro' Court Hotel became Bromley Court Hotel. Owned by businessman Leon Frenkel (1904-?).
1936 Gaumont cinema opened at 44 High Street, on the corner of Ravensbourne Road. Designed by William Edward Trent (1874-1948).
Odeon Bromley opened at 242 High Street. Designed by George Coles (1884-1963). Later Empire in 2006, & Cineworld in 2016. 2019 now Picturehouse.
1938 Bromley Little Theatre established.
Bromley in WW2
1941 St Peter & St Paul damaged by a bomb.
Post war Bromley
1953 David Jones (later Bowie) (1947-2016) moved with his family to 106 Canon Road, Bickley.
1955 David Jones moved to 4 Plaistow Grove, Sunridge Park.
1958 Bromley Technical High School opened at Oakley Road, Keston.
David Jones attended until 1963.
1959 Bromley Technical College opened (included old Bromley College of Art).
1961 Gaumont cinema closed.
1962 Ravensbourne College of Art opened (included Bromley School of Art).
1963 Debenhams department store built on site of old Gaumont.
1963 Bromel Club set up at Bromley Court Hotel. Replaced the Jazz club.
1964 The Yardbirds played Bromel Club.
1965 Davy Jones (later Bowie) played Bromel Club.
Bromley became a Greater London Borough.
Ravensbourne College of Art and Design moved to Rookery Lane, Bromley Common.
1966 12 Aug: Cream played the Bromel Club.
Steven Bailey 9b. 1955) moved with his family to Bromley. Later in Siouxsie and the Banshees as Steve Severin.
1967 4 Jan: The Jimi Hendrix Experience played the Bromel Club.
19 April: Pink Floyd played the Bromel Club.
Telephone House built (Alun Jones, Ward & Partners).
Cosmos House built (Owen Luder Partnership).
Bertie Marshall (b. 1960) moved to Bromley. Later part of Bromley Contingent.
1968 Harrison Gibson store added to the Army & Navy Store group.
Bromley Technical High School for Boys changed its name to Ravens Wood School for Boys and became non-selective.
1971 New Theatre, 111 High Street, destroyed by fire.
Billy Broad (b. 1955 later Billy Idol) attended Ravensbourne School for Boys.
1975 Ravensbourne College of Art and Design moved to Walden Road, Chiselhurst.
Bromley Technical College moved to Rookery Lane, Bromley Common.
9 Dec: Sex Pistols played gig at Ravensbourne College. Seen by Simon Barker.
1976 Bromley Contingent followed the Sex Pistols (Steve Severin, Siouxsie Sue, Bertie Marshall, Simon Barker etc).
Dec: Bromley Contingent appeared on Bill Grundy Show with the Sex Pistols. Their swearing led to a national outcry.
1977 Astor cinema closed down and became a bingo hall.
New Churchill Theatre and Library opened overlooking Church House Gardens and Library Gardens. Designed by Aneurin John, the Borough architect.
1991 The Glades shopping centre opened at 64 High Street.
1992 Pavilion Leisure Centre opened.
2008 Bromley College campus underwent a £26m overhaul and a new four-storey block built, while the existing 10-storey block was refurbished.
2021 Debenhams department store shut down.
Book list
Bromley - ELS Horsburgh (1929 reprinted 1980)
Berlin Bromley - Bertie Marshall (SAF 2006)