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Luton
Luton Town Hall
Luton Town Crest

Luton

/ˈluË?tÉ™n/ (help·info)

Luton is home to Blue Square Premier team Luton Town Football Club, whose history includes several spells in the top flight of the English league as well as a Football League Cup triumph in 1988. They play at Kenilworth Road stadium, which has been their home since 1905.

London Luton Airport, opened in 1938, is one of England's major airports. During the Second World War it doubled as an RAF base.

The University of Bedfordshire is based in the town.

The Luton Carnival, held on the late May bank holiday, is the largest one-day carnival in Europe.

The town was for many years famous for hat-making and was also home to a large Vauxhall Motors factory; the head office of Vauxhall Motors is still situated in the town. Car production at the plant began in 1905 and continued until 2002, but commercial vehicle production remains.

The earliest settlements in the Luton area were at Round Green and Mixes Hill, where Paleolithic encampments (about 250,000 years old) have been found.^[5] Settlements re-appeared after the ice had retreated in the Mesolithic period around 8000 BC. Traces of these settlements have been found in the Leagrave area of the modern town. Remains from the Neolithic period (4500-2500 BC in this area) are much more common. A particular concentration of Neolithic burials has been found at Galley Hill.^[6] The most prominent Neolithic structure is Waulud's Bank - a henge dating from around 3000 BC. From the Neolithic onwards, the area seems to have been populated, but without any single large settlement.

The first urban settlement nearby was the small Roman town of Durocobrivis at Dunstable, but Roman remains in Luton itself consist only of scattered farmsteads.^[7]

The foundation of Luton is usually dated to the 6th century when a Saxon outpost was founded on the River Lea, Lea tun.^[8] Luton is recorded in the Domesday Book as Loitone and also as Lintone.^[9] Agriculture dominated the local economy at that time, and the town's population was around 700-800.

St Marys Church, Luton town centre

The Wenlock chapel within St Marys

In 1121 Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester started work on St Mary's Church in the centre of the town. The work was completed by 1137.^[10] A motte and bailey type castle which gives its name to the modern Castle Street was built in 1139. The castle was demolished in 1154^[11] and the site is now home to a Matalan store. During the Middle Ages Luton is recorded as being home to six watermills. Mill Street, in the town centre, takes its name from one of them.

King John (1166-1216) had hired a mercenary soldier, Falkes de Breauté, to act on his behalf. (Breauté is a small town near Le Havre in France.) When he married, Falkes de Breauté acquired his wife's house which came to be known as "Fawkes Hall", subsequently corrupted over the years to "Foxhall", then "Vauxhall". In return for his services, King John granted Falkes the manor of Luton. He was also granted the right to bear his own coat of arms and chose the mythical griffin as his heraldic emblem. The griffin thus became associated with both Vauxhall and Luton in the early 13th century.^[12]

By 1240 the town is recorded as Leueton. The town had a market for surrounding villages in August each year, and with the growth of the town a second fair was granted each October from 1338.

In 1336, much of Luton was destroyed by a great fire, however the town was soon rebuilt.

The agriculture base of the town changed in the 16th century with a brick making industry developing around Luton, many of the older wooden houses were rebuilt in brick.

During the English Civil War of the 17th century , in 1645, royalists entered the town and demanded money and goods. Parliamentary forces arrived and during the fighting four royalist soldiers were killed and a further twenty-two were captured. A second skirmish occurred three years later in 1648 when a royalist army passed through Luton. A number of royalists were attacked by parliamentary soldiers at an inn on the corner of the current Bridge Street. Most of the royalists escaped but nine were killed.

The hat making industry began in the 17th century and became synonymous with the town.^[13] By the 18th century the industry dominated the town. Hats are still produced in the town on a much smaller scale.

Luton Hoo, a nearby large country house was built in 1767 and substantially rebuilt after a fire in 1843. It is now a luxury hotel.^[14]

The town grew strongly in the 19th century. In 1801 the population was 3,095.^[15] By 1850 it was over 10,000 and by 1901 it was almost 39,000. Such rapid growth demanded a railway connection but the town had to wait a long time for one. The London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) had been built through Tring in 1838, and the Great Northern Railway was built through Hitchin in 1852, both bypassing Luton, the largest town in the area. A branch line connecting with the L&BR at Leighton Buzzard was proposed, but because of objections to release of land, construction terminated at Dunstable in 1848. It was another ten years before the branch was extended to Bute Street Station, and the first train to Dunstable ran on 3 May, 1858.^[16] The line was later extended to Welwyn and from 1860 direct trains to King's Cross ran. The Midland Railway was extended from Bedford to St Pancras through Leagrave and Midland Road station and opened on 9 September 1867.^[17]

Luton received a gas supply in 1834. Gas street lights were erected and the first town hall was opened in 1847.

Newspaper printing arrived in the town in 1854. The first public cemetery was opened in the same year. Following a cholera epidemic in 1848 Luton formed a water company and had a complete water and sewerage system by the late 1860s. The first covered market was built (the Plait Halls - now demolished) in 1869. Luton was made a borough in 1876.^[18] A professional football club - the first in the south of England - was founded in 1885 following a resolution at the Town Hall that a 'Luton Town Club be formed'.^[19]

The crest also includes a hand holding a bunch of wheat, either taken as a symbol of the straw-plaiting industry, or from the arms of John Whethamsteade, Abbott of St Albans, who rebuilt the chancel of St Mary's Church in the 15th century.

In the 20th century, the hat trade severely declined and was replaced by other industries. In 1905, Vauxhall Motors opened the largest car plant in the United Kingdom in Luton. Electrolux built a household appliances plant which was followed by other light engineering businesses.

In 1904 councillors Asher Hucklesby and Edwin Oakley purchased the estate at Wardown Park and donated it to the people of Luton. Hucklesby went on to become Mayor of Luton. The main house in the park became Luton Museum & Art Gallery.

The town had a tram system from 1908 until 1932 and the first cinema was opened in 1909. By 1914 the population had reached 50,000.

The original town hall was destroyed in 1919 during Peace Day celebrations at the end of World War I. Local people including many ex-servicemen were unhappy with unemployment and had been refused the use of a local park to hold celebratory events. They stormed the town hall setting it alight (see Luton Town Hall). A replacement building was completed in 1936. London Luton Airport opened in 1938, owned and operated by the council.

The first town hall was destroyed in 1919

In World War II, the Vauxhall Factory built Churchill tanks^[20] as part of the war effort. Despite heavy camouflage, the factory made Luton a target for the Luftwaffe and the town suffered a number of air raids. One hundred and seven died^[21] and there was extensive damage to the town (over 1,500 homes were damaged or destroyed). Other industry in the town, such as SKF which produced ball bearings, made a vital contribution to the war effort. Although a bomb landed at the SKF Factory^[22] no major damage was caused.

Post-war, the slum clearance continued and a number of substantial estates of council housing were built, notably at Farley Hill, Stopsley, Limbury, Marsh Farm and Leagrave (Hockwell Ring). The M1 motorway passed just to the west of the town in 1959. In 1962 a new library (to replace the cramped Carnegie Library) was opened by the Queen in the corner of St George's Square.

In the late 1960s a large part of the town centre was cleared to build a large covered shopping centre, the Arndale Centre, which was opened in 1972.^[23], becoming the first shopping mall in Europe. It was refurbished and given a glass roof in the 1990s.

The town centre still has some of the old hat factories

In 2000, Vauxhall announced the end of car production in Luton; the plant closed in March 2002.^[24] At its peak it had employed in excess of 30,000 people. Vauxhall's headquarters remain in the town, as does its van and light commercial vehicle factory.

A major regeneration programme for the town centre is underway, which will include upgrades to the town's bus and train stations as well as improvements to the town's urban environment. St George's Square has been rebuilt^[25] and reopened in 2007. The new design won a Gold Standard Award for the Town Centre Environment from the annual British Council of Shopping Centres awards.^[26]

Work is beginning on an extension to the Mall shopping centre facing St Georges Square, The Mall has already let the largest of the new units to TK Maxx. Planning applications for a much larger extension to The Mall Arndale shopping centre (In the Northern gateway area - Bute Street, Silver Street and Guildford Street) and also for a new centre in Power Court^[27] (close to St Marys Church) have been submitted. On the edge of Luton at Putteridge Bury a high-technology office park, Butterfield Green, is under construction. The former Vauxhall site is also to be re-developed as a mixed use site called Napier Park.^[28] It will feature housing, retail and entertainment use, including a new casino.

The town is situated within the historic county of Bedfordshire, but since 1997 Luton has been an administratively independent unitary authority. The town remains part of Bedfordshire for ceremonial purposes.

Luton is represented by two Members of Parliament. The constituency of Luton North has been held by Kelvin Hopkins (Labour) since 1997. Luton South has been held by Margaret Moran (Labour) also since 1997. Luton is within the East of England (European Parliament constituency).

Lutonians are governed by Luton Borough Council. The town is split into 19 wards, represented by 48 councillors. Elections are held for all seats every four years, with the most recent local elections held in May 2007 and the next due in May 2011. The Council is controlled by the Labour group, who have 26 Local Councillors (a majority of 5). The next largest party is the Liberal Democrats with 17 seats, followed by the Conservative Party with 5 seats.

In 1876 the town was granted its own coat of arms. The wheat sheaf was used on the crest to represent agriculture and the supply of wheat straw used in the local hatting industry (the straw-plaiting industry was brought to Luton by a group of Scots under the protection of Sir John Napier of Luton Hoo). The bee is traditionally the emblem of industry and the hive represents the straw-plaiting industry for which Luton was famous. The rose is from the arms of the Napier family, whereas the thistle is a symbol for Scotland. An alternative suggestion is that the rose was a national emblem, and the thistle represents the Marquess of Bute, who formerly owned the Manor of Luton Hoo.^[29][30]

Luton is located in a break in the Eastern part of the Chiltern Hills. The Chilterns are a mixture of chalk from the Cretaceous period^[31] (about 65-146 million years ago) and deposits laid at the southernmost points of the ice sheet during the last ice age (the Warden Hills area can be seen from much of the town).

Bedfordshire had a reputation for brick making but the industry is now significantly reduced. The brickworks^[32] at Stopsley took advantage of the clay deposits in the east of the town.

The source of the River Lea, part of the Thames Valley drainage basin, is in the Leagrave area of the town. The Great Bramingham Wood surrounds this area. It is classified as ancient woodland; records mention the wood at least 400 years ago.

There are few routes through the hilly area for some miles, this has led to several major roads (including the M1 and the A6) and a major rail-link being constructed through the town.

Luton has a temperate marine climate, like much of the British Isles, with generally light precipitation throughout the year. The weather is very changeable from day to day and the warming influence of the Gulf Stream makes the region mild for its latitude. The average total annual rainfall is 584 millimetres (23 in) with rain falling on 109 days of the year.

The Victorian expansion of Luton focused on areas close to the existing town centre and railways. In the 1920s and 1930s growth typically was though absorbing neighbouring villages and hamlets and infill construction between them and Luton. After the Second World War there were several estates and developments constructed both by the local authority such as Farley Hill or Marsh Farm, or privately such as Bushmead.

Barnfield Biscot Bramingham Challney Crawley Green Dallow Farley Hill High Town Icknield Leagrave

Lewsey Limbury-cum-Biscot Northwell Round Green Saints South ward Stopsley Sundon Park Wigmore

More about Places within Luton

The United Kingdom Census 2001 showed that Luton had a population of 184,371, a 5.8% increase from the last census meaning that Luton is the 27th^[34] largest settlement in the UK. Of this, 43,324 were under 15, 131,660 were between 16 and 74 and 9387 were over 74.^[35] The Office for National Statistics mid-year estimate of the 2007 population is 188,800.^[36] However, the Luton Borough Council Research and Intelligence Team criticise this figure as understating the recent immigration from Eastern Europe, and they estimate the true figure to be in the region of 203,800.^[37][38]

Local inhabitants are known as Lutonians.

Luton has seen several waves of immigration. In the early part of the 20th century Irish and Scottish people arrived in the town - these were followed by Afro-Caribbean and Asian immigrants. More recently immigrants from Eastern Europe have made Luton their home. As a result of this Luton has a diverse ethnic mix, with a significant population of Asian descent, mainly Pakistani (9.8%), Bangladeshi (4.3%) and Indian (4.2%). The 2005 Office of National Statistics figures revealed that town had a white population of 68% (of which white British amounted to 61.3%).

According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, 60% of the inhabitants in Luton are Christian and 15% are Muslim.^[41]

The full statistics are as follows:^[42]

Of the town's working population (classified 16–74 years of age by the Office for National Statistics), 63% are employed. This figure includes students, the self-employed and those who are in part-time employment. 11% are retired, 8% look after the family or take care of the home and 5% are unemployed.^[43]

EasyJet - head office (originally EasyLand, later moved into Hangar 89^[44]) and main base at London Luton Airport

Monarch Airlines - headquarters, at Luton Airport (Prospect House)^[45]

Thomson UK (Thomson Holidays and Thomson Airways) - travel^[46]

Vauxhall Motors - headquarters (Griffin House)^[47]

Notable firms with offices in Luton include:

Anritsu - electronics^{[citation needed]}

AstraZeneca - pharmaceuticals^{[citation needed]}

Selex Galileo - aerospace^{[citation needed]}

Ernst & Young - accountants^{[citation needed]}

Experian - data and analytics^{[citation needed]}

Mazars - accountants^{[citation needed]}

Siemens AG - electronics^{[citation needed]}

Whitbread - hospitality^{[citation needed]}

Shopping

The main shopping area in Luton is centred around The Mall Arndale. Built in the 1960s/1970s and opened as an Arndale Centre, construction of the shopping centre led to the demolition of a number of the older buildings in the town centre including the Plait Halls (a Victorian covered market building with an iron and glass roof). Shops and businesses in the remaining streets, particularly in the roads around Cheapside and in High Town, have been in decline ever since. George Street, on the south side of the Arndale, was pedestrianised in the 1990s.

Contained within the main shopping centre is the Market, which contains butchers, fishmongers, fruit and veg, hairdressers, tattoo parlours, ice cream, flower stall and T-shirt printing as well as eating places.

Another major shopping area is Bury Park where there are shops catering to Luton's ethnic minorities.

Food and drink

Luton has a diverse selection of restaurants - English, Italian, Chinese, Indian, Caribbean, Thai and Malaysian to name a few. No area of the town is specifically restaurant-orientated, but in some areas (such as Bury Park) there is a concentration of Asian restaurants.

There are pubs and clubs in the town centre. A number of these cater for the town's student population; however, there are still a number of traditional pubs in the town.

Transport

Luton has excellent transport links and is situated less than 30 miles north of the centre of London, giving it good links with the City and other parts of the country via the motorway network and the National Rail system. Luton is also home to London Luton Airport, one of the major feeder airports for London and the southeast. Luton is also served by a bus service run by Arriva and a large taxi network. As a Unitary Authority, Luton Borough Council is responsible for the local highways and public transport in the Borough and licensing of Taxis.

Education

Luton is one of the main locations of the University of Bedfordshire. A large campus of the university is in Luton town centre, with a smaller campus based on the edge of town in Putteridge Bury, an old Victorian manor house. The other main campus of the university is located in Bedford.

The town is home to Luton Sixth Form College and Barnfield College. Both have been awarded Learning & Skills Beacon Status by the Department for Children, Schools and Families.^[48][49]

Luton's schools and colleges have also been earmarked for major investment in the government scheme Building Schools for the Future programme, which intends to renew and refit buildings in institutes across the country. Luton is in the 3rd wave of this long term programme with work intending to start in 2009.^[50]

There are 98 educational institutes in Luton - seven Nurseries, 70 Primary schools (9 Voluntary-Aided, 2 Special Requirements), 13 Secondary Schools (1 Voluntary-Aided, 1 Special Requirements), four Further Educational Institutes and four other Educational Institutes.^[51]

Sport

Sport In Bedfordshire Luton is the home town of Luton Town Football Club who have recently been relegated from the football league,^[52] one below the 4th flight of the English league structure. Their nickname, "The Hatters", dates back to when Luton had a substantial millinery industry.

Speedway racing was staged in Luton in the mid 1930s.

The town has three rugby union clubs - Luton Rugby Club who play in National 3 Midlands, Vauxhall Motors RFC who play in Midlands 3 SE and Stockwood Park who also play in Midlands 3 SE.

Wardown Park

Wardown Park is situated on the River Lea in Luton. The park has sporting facilities, is home to the Luton Museum & Art Gallery and contains formal gardens. The park is located between Old Bedford Road and the A6, New Bedford Road and is within walking distance of the town centre.^[53]

Stockwood Park

Stockwood Park is a large municipal park near Junction 10 of the M1. The park houses the craft museum, the Mossman Collection and the period formal gardens which are all free of charge for visitors. There is an athletics track, an 18-hole golf course, several rugby pitches and areas of open space.

The park was originally the estate and grounds to Stockwood house, which was demolished in 1964.

Carnival

Luton Carnival is the largest one-day carnival in Europe. It usually takes place on the late May Bank Holiday. Crowds can reach 150,000^[54] on each occasion.

The procession starts at Wardown Park and makes its way down New Bedford Road, around the Town Centre via St George's Square, back down New Bedford Road and finishes back at Wardown Park. There are music stages and stalls around the town centre and at Wardown Park.

St. Patrick's Day

The festival celebrating the patron saint of Ireland, St Patrick, is held on the weekend nearest to March 17.^[55] Now on its 9th year,^[56] the festival includes a parade, market stalls and music stands as well as Irish themed events.^[57]

Theatre

Luton is home to the Library Theatre, a 238 seat theatre located on the 3rd floor of the town's Central Library. The Theatre's programme consists of local amateur dramatic societies, pantomime, children's theatre (on Saturday mornings) and one night shows of touring theatre companies.^[58]

Luton Museum

Luton Museum and Art Gallery is housed in a large Victorian mansion in Wardown Park on the outskirts of the town centre. The museum collection focusses on the traditional crafts of Bedfordshire, notably lace-making and hat-making. There are samples of local lace from as early as the 17th century.

The Wenlock Jug, a rare example of a jug cast, was almost sold to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art for £750,000 but was export-stopped in October 2005 by culture minister, David Lammy, based on a recommendation by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest, run by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.

Stockwood Craft Museum

Based in Stockwood Park, Luton, the collection of rural crafts and trades held at Stockwood Park Museum was amassed by Thomas Wyatt Bagshawe, who was a notable local historian and a leading authority on folk life. Bagshawe was born in Dunstable in 1901 and became a director of the family engineering firm.


The Berline of King Leopold II, part of the Mossman Collection.

The collection only contains examples from Bedfordshire and the borders of neighbouring counties, giving the collection a very strong regional identity.

Mossman Collection

The Mossman Carriage collection is held at Stockwood Park, Luton and is the largest and most significant vehicle collection of its kind in the country, including originals from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.

The Mossman collection of horse drawn vehicles was given to Luton Museum Service in 1991. It illustrates the development of horse-drawn road transportation in Britain from Roman times up until the 1930s.

Local attractions

Dunstable Downs

Chiltern Hills

Leagrave Park

Leighton Buzzard Light Railway

Galley and Warden Hills Nature Reserve

Luton Museum & Art Gallery

The hat Factory

Luton Hoo

Mossman Collection

Someries Castle

Stockwood Craft Museum

Stockwood Park

Wardown Park

Waulud's Bank

Whipsnade Tree Cathedral

Whipsnade Zoo

Woburn Safari Park

Woodside Farm and Wildfowl Park

Wrest Park

Twin towns

Luton participates in international town twinning; its partners^[59] are:

Notable Lutonians

People who were born in Luton or are associated with town.

By birth

Mick Abrahams, guitarist for Jethro Tull

David Arnold, composer

John Badham, film director

Clive Barker, sculptor and artist

Jonathan Barnbrook, graphic designer, typographer

Leon Barnett, footballer

Kevin Blackwell, goalkeeper, football manager

Danny Cannon, screenwriter, director and producer

Ian Cashmore, actor

Ben Copperwheat, print designer/artist

Steve Dillon, comic artist

Kerry Dixon, footballer

Kevin Foley, footballer

Sean Gallagher, actor

Liam George, footballer

John Gosling, musician

Arthur Hailey, novelist

Neil Halstead, musician

Neil Jackson, Actor

Monty Panesar, cricketer

John Payne, musician

Phil Read, motorcycle racer

David Renwick, scriptwriter

Stu Riddle, footballer

Emma Rhodes, artist and illustrator

Vaughan Savidge, announcer

Billy Schwer, boxer

Andy Selway, drummer

Will Smith, cricketer

David Stoten, artist

Mark Titchner, artist

UK Decay, band

Paul Young, singer

Dean Brill, footballer

By association

Stefan Bailey, footballer

Charles Bronson, prisoner

Diana Dors, actress

Ian Dury, singer

John Hegley, poet

Hilda Hewlett, UK's first female pilot

Sir Alec Jeffreys, geneticist

Eric Morecambe, entertainer

Lee Ross, actor

Colin Salmon, actor

Edward Tudor-Pole, singer and actor

Kenneth Williams, actor

Sarfraz Manzoor, columnist, The Guardian

Newspapers

Herald and Post, delivered free to all Luton households on Thursdays.^[60]

The Luton & Dunstable Express, delivered free to all Luton households on Wednesdays.^[61]

There are also two other newspapers in circulation around Luton:

Luton News, the Herald & Post sister paper which is published every Wednesday.^[62]

Lutonline, a monthly newspaper produced by the local council. Usually delivered with the The Luton And Dunstable Express.^[63]

Radio

BBC Three Counties Radio, the local BBC station, broadcasts from its office in Hastings Street, Luton to Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire.^[64]

Heart 97.6 is the local independent station and broadcasts from Chiltern Road in Dunstable.

Diverse FM^[65] began broadcasts in April 2007 having been awarded a community radio license from Ofcom.

Luton FM, the university's radio station, runs for 28 days during May. In addition, Ramadan FM broadcasts during the month of Ramadan.

Television

Local-News TV is a local news channel for Bedfordshire and Luton. The channel is broadcast solely over the internet with content available on-demand.

Anglia Television the ITV franchise holder for the East Anglia franchise region, which Luton is a part of.

Media references

In the TV series One Foot in the Grave there are often references to places within Luton. The script-writer David Renwick was brought up in the town.

The town was mentioned several times in the seminal sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus. In one sketch a rather half-hearted hijacker demands that a plane headed for Cuba be diverted to Luton. Luton is one of the constituencies returning a "Silly Party" victory in the famous sketch Election Night Special. In the Piranha Brothers sketch Spiny Norman lived in a hangar at Luton Airport. A 1976 episode of the sci-fi series "Space: 1999" was called the The Rules of Luton, inspired by the town name.