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Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 36,322, and is within the London commuter belt. Office for National Statistics : Census 2001 : Parish Headcounts : Hertsmere Retrieved 2 February 2010 The town's film and TV studios are commonly known as Elstree Studios.
In 1776, Parliament enacted:
Borehamwood was historically part of the parish of Elstree. A separate ecclesiastical parish of "All Saints, Boreham Wood" was created on 26 February 1909, covering the part of Elstree parish east of the Midland Railway. Despite this change to the ecclesiastical boundaries, Borehamwood remained part of the civil parish of Elstree. The name of the civil parish was changed to Elstree and Borehamwood on 24 February 1982. The ecclesiastical parishes of Borehamwood and Elstree were reunited on 1 April 2005, also under the name "Elstree and Borehamwood".
From the 1920s onwards, the town became known as one of the main centres of the UK film, and later television, industries due to the presence of production studios. Following the Second World War, the town's population greatly increased, with large areas of council housing set up for displaced Londoners, many of which are now in private ownership. Fast train connections to central London have resulted in the town becoming a primarily residential suburb. In 1946, the Admiralty started to build highly secret high-performance electronic digital computers at Borehamwood in a redundant wartime factory, firstly for the purpose of real-time gunnery control, and later for surface-to-air guided weapons and missiles, and for specialist cryptography and code-breaking computers for GCHQ.Simon Lavington ed. 2012 Alan Turing and his contemporaries: Building the World's First Computers BCS
Borehamwood is currently undergoing a substantial housing transformation which has seen hundreds of new homes built over the last five years. Two further developments are being built and more are expected.
In addition to the studios, the town is home to many retail shops, hotels, restaurants, offices and light industry. The hotels cater mainly to tourists visiting the Elstree Studios, attendees of the television shows being recorded in the Elstree Studios, and London visitors due to the proximity to London and the considerable lower accommodation rates.
There is one weekly newspaper, the Borehamwood & Elstree Times.
Metroline for London buses runs its number 107 service through the town from New Barnet to Edgware and back. Metroline for London Buses also operate Number 292 which goes to Colindale and Rossington Avenue. Uno (Bus Company) run a bus service that stops at Borehamwood (route 601) going to Welwyn Garden City via St Albans and back. The 644 service also runs from Hatfield to Queensbury via Borehamwood. Intalink operate a bus service to other parts of Hertfordshire.
The A1 road passes just to the east of the town, and the M25 motorway passes about north of it.
| England and Wales | 56,490,048 | 46.3 | 0.5 | 1.8 | 0.5 | 6.7 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 36.7 | 6.0 |
| Borehamwood | 36,322 | 42.25 | 0.62 | 3.33 | 16.96 | 3.82 | 0.11 | 0.86 | 25.53 | 6.24 |
Many films were shot at the studios on Shenley Road including The Dam Busters (1955), Star Wars (1977, and subsequent films in the franchise), Moby Dick (1956), Summer Holiday (1963), and The Shining (1980) starring Jack Nicholson, some of the Indiana Jones films. The facility was partly demolished in the 1980s to make way for a Tesco Extra supermarket on one side and an office block complex on the other.
The area between the supermarket and the office blocks is all that remains of the original studio, which has been much reduced in size and usefulness to production companies as a result. The Shenley Road Studios were later used for the TV series Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and Big Brother, as well as several major feature films. The Inspector Morse TV series' production offices were based in the studios and, although the series was set in Oxford, several exterior locations (banks, shops etc.) were filmed in the streets of Borehamwood.
The former British National Studios off Clarendon Road, referred to locally as "The Douglas Fairbanks studios" (which were bought by Lew Grade's ATV in May 1958), BBC Elstree at TV Studio History, URL accessed 6 November 2015 are now the BBC Elstree Centre. The studios have, over the years, been home to Alfred Hitchcock's film Blackmail, Jim Henson's TV series The Muppet Show was also produced there, and now BBC's popular soap, EastEnders, and their medical drama Holby City. An episode of Judge John Deed included scenes of the Tesco Extra, but with Borehamwood crossed out and Lewes written in its place.
Several other studios including the Gate Studios and the Danziger Studios at nearby Elstree have been demolished. The Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios complex (demolished in the early 1970s) saw the production of many films, including (1968), Where Eagles Dare (1968) and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), as well as ITV television series such as The Prisoner (1967–68).
The newer Millennium Studios were situated on Elstree Way, Borehamwood.
Borehamwood has a large shopping area called Borehamwood Shopping Park, featuring large retail stores.
The hamlet of Well End has a notable pub, the Mops and Brooms, reputedly the site of a battle between travellers and village folk.Rothwell, D., Dictionary of Pub Names Adjacent to the pub is a much older building: Nelson Cottage (c.1600) is now a private residence but was the original Mops and Brooms alehouse. It was renamed the Lord Nelson c.1840–50 and traded under that name until its closure in 1932 and replacement by the current pub, which eventually reverted to the older name.
The town is served by both BBC Radio London and BBC Three Counties Radio. Other radio stations include Heart Hertfordshire and Radio Verulam.
The Borehamwood & Elstree Times is a privately owned, online-only local newspaper covering the local and adjacent area. The Town Crier is a quarterly, council-run community publication for Elstree & Borehamwood residents.
Oaklands College has a site in Borehamwood, where it offers a small range of full and part-time courses.
The TV series Grange Hill was filmed at Hillside School in Borehamwood (as well as BBC Elstree Centre) from 1985 to 1990.
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