Welwyn Garden City - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Economy

Ever since its inception as garden city, Welwyn Garden City has attracted a strong commercial base with several designated employment areas. Among the companies trading in the town are:

Air Link Systems
Baxter
British Lead Mills
Carl Zeiss
Carl Zeiss
Carl Zeiss was a German maker of optical instruments commonly known for the company he founded, Carl Zeiss Jena . Zeiss made contributions to lens manufacturing that have aided the modern production of lenses...
The Danish Bacon
Danish Bacon
Danish Bacon is a brand under which Danish bacon is sold in the United Kingdom. The product has "Danish" stamped on the rind between wavy lines...

Company (DBC foodservice)
Emis Professional Publishing
Figleaves.com
Roche
Hoffmann-La Roche
F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. is a Swiss global health-care company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange....
IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
PayPoint
PayPoint
PayPoint plc is a British business offering a system for paying bills in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a former constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...
Ratcliff Palfinger
Schering-Plough
Schering-Plough
Schering-Plough Corporation was a United States-based pharmaceutical company. It was founded in 1851 by Ernst Christian Friedrich Schering as Schering AG in Germany. In 1971, the Schering Corporation merged with Plough to form Schering-Plough. On November 4, 2009 Merck & Co...
Sigma Corporation
Sigma Corporation
is a Japanese company founded in 1961, manufacturing cameras, lenses, flashes and other photographic accessories. All Sigma products are produced in the company's own Aizu factory in Bandai, Fukushima, Japan...
Tesco
Tesco
Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...
VEGA Group
Welwyn Tool Group (formerly Welwyn Tool Company)
Xerox
Xerox
Xerox Corporation is an American multinational document management corporation that produced and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies...

Tesco has a head office at Shire Park, a business park in the north of the town, including a full-size supermarket mock-up for staff training.

The Hertfordshire Constabulary

Hertfordshire Constabulary

Hertfordshire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Hertfordshire in England. Its headquarters is situated in Welwyn Garden City...

has its headquarters in the town.

Welwyn Garden City was once well-known as the home of the breakfast cereal Shredded Wheat

Shredded Wheat

Shredded wheat is a breakfast cereal made from whole wheat. As of January 2010, it was available in three sizes: bite sized , miniature , and full size, which may be broken into small pieces before milk is added .Both sizes are available in a...

, formerly made by Nabisco

Nabisco

Nabisco is an American brand of cookies and snacks. Headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey, the company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Kraft Foods. Nabisco's plant in Chicago, a production facility at 7300 S...

. The disused Shredded Wheat factory with its large white silos is a landmark on rail routes between London and the north of England. The factory, designed by de Soissons and built in 1924 by Peter Lind & Company, is a Grade II listed building. Cereal production moved to Staverton

Staverton, Wiltshire

Staverton is a village and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire.Staverton is near the confluence of the River Avon and the River Biss and is on the south bank of the former; to the south of the village is the Kennet and Avon Canal and a marina serves the canal communities. Staverton is...

, Wiltshire in 2008 when the owner, Nestlé

Nestlé

Nestlé S.A. is the world's largest food and nutrition company. Founded and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, Nestlé originated in a 1905 merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company, established in 1867 by brothers George Page and Charles Page, and Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé, founded in 1866 by Henri...

, decided that the factory was too small. Tesco has made a planning application for a store, leisure facilities and offices on the site.

The former supermarket chain Fine Fare

Fine Fare

Fine Fare was the name of a chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. It was famous for its Yellow Pack budget own-label range.-History:The company started as a single supermarket in Brighton in 1956. It was one of a series of convenience store chains established in the 1950s, the others being...

had its head office in the town at one time, as did ICI

Imperial Chemical Industries

Imperial Chemical Industries was a British chemical company, taken over by AkzoNobel, a Dutch conglomerate, one of the largest chemical producers in the world. In its heyday, ICI was the largest manufacturing company in the British Empire, and commonly regarded as a "bellwether of the British...

's Plastics Division. In 1929 Sir Henry Birkin

Henry Birkin

Sir Henry Ralph Stanley "Tim" Birkin, 3rd Baronet was a British racing driver, one of the "Bentley Boys" of the 1920s.-Background and family:...

built the first supercharged Blower Bentley car at his engineering works in Broadwater Road.

During World War II the Special Operations Executive

Special Operations Executive

The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...

(SOE) had a research department in the town, the Inter-Services Research Bureau, which developed the Welrod

Welrod

The Welrod was a British bolt action, magazine fed, suppressed pistol devised during World War II at the Inter-Services Research Bureau , based near Welwyn Garden City, UK, for use by irregular forces and resistance groups...

pistol and the Welgun

Welgun

The Welgun was a prototype submachine gun developed by the British irregular warfare organisation, the Special Operations Executive. Although it performed well in tests, it was never adopted, and was produced in small numbers only.-Development:...

sub-machinegun. Station IX

Station IX

Station IX was a secret British Special Operations Executive factory making commando equipment during World War II. It was established at a mansion called 'The Frythe' about an hours drive north from London near the town of Welwyn ....

was a secret SOE factory making commando equipment at the old Frythe Hotel.

Welwyn Garden City's proximity to London makes it a convenient commuter town

Commuter town

A commuter town is an urban community that is primarily residential, from which most of the workforce commutes out to earn their livelihood. Many commuter towns act as suburbs of a nearby metropolis that workers travel to daily, and many suburbs are commuter towns...

Transport

Buses are provided by Arriva

Arriva

Arriva plc is a multinational public transport company owned by Deutsche Bahn and headquartered in Sunderland, United Kingdom. It has bus, coach, train, tram and waterbus operations in 12 countries across Europe, employs more than 47,500 people and services over 1.5 billion passenger journeys each...

, Centrebus

Centrebus

Centrebus is a privately owned company that operate a number of services around Leicester and Leicestershire, Grantham, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, mainly in areas where Arriva has scaled down its bus operations. Centrebus also competes with Arriva on some routes in Leicester, Luton and Stevenage...

and Uno

Uno (bus company)

Uno is a bus service operated by the University of Hertfordshire, England, serving members of the general public, and also its own students and staff...

, with some assistance from Hertfordshire County Council

Hertfordshire County Council

Hertfordshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Hertfordshire, in England, the United Kingdom. It currently consists of 77 councillors, and is controlled by the Conservative Party, which has 55 councillors, 17 Liberal Democrats, versus 3 Labour...

. Arriva's 300/301 Centraline service links Welwyn Garden City to the major nearby towns of Stevenage

Stevenage

Stevenage is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England. It is situated to the east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1, and is between Letchworth Garden City to the north, and Welwyn Garden City to the south....

, Hatfield

Hatfield, Hertfordshire

Hatfield is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England in the borough of Welwyn Hatfield. It has a population of 29,616, and is of Saxon origin. Hatfield House, the home of the Marquess of Salisbury, is the nucleus of the old town...

, St Albans

St Albans

St Albans is a city in southern Hertfordshire, England, around north of central London, which forms the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans. It is a historic market town, and is now a sought-after dormitory town within the London commuter belt...

and Hemel Hempstead

Hemel Hempstead

Hemel Hempstead is a town in Hertfordshire in the East of England, to the north west of London and part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2001 Census was 81,143 ....

, as well as neighbouring villages Woolmer Green

Woolmer Green

Woolmer Green is a small village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. The 2007 census figure for the population is 1,429 people .-History:...

and Knebworth

Knebworth

Knebworth is a village and civil parish in the north of Hertfordshire, England immediately south of Stevenage. The civil parish covers an area between the villages of Datchworth, Woolmer Green, Codicote, Kimpton, Whitwell, St Paul's Walden and Langley, and encompasses the village of Knebworth, the...

. The 301 additionally connects both the nearby hospitals in Stevenage and Welwyn Garden City, while the 300 provides a direct link to recreational areas such as Stanborough Lakes

Stanborough park

Stanborough Park, also referred to as Stanborough Lakes is a park in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England.The park features two lakes, which were opened more recently in 1970...

in Welwyn Garden City and Verulamium

Verulamium

Verulamium was an ancient town in Roman Britain. It was sited in the southwest of the modern city of St Albans in Hertfordshire, Great Britain. A large portion of the Roman city remains unexcavated, being now park and agricultural land, though much has been built upon...

Roman town in St Albans. Buses run every 15 minutes Monday-Friday, every 20 minutes Saturday, and hourly on Sunday. Additional bi-hourly service 314 is provided by Centrebus, connecting Welwyn to Codicote

Codicote

Codicote is a large village, and civil parish about seven miles south of Hitchin in Hertfordshire, England. It has timber-framed and chequered brick houses, of special interest being the 18th-century Pond House and the half-timbered "As You Like It" Peking restaurant . Codicote Lodge is 18th...

and Hitchin

Hitchin

Hitchin is a town in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 30,360.-History:Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce people mentioned in a 7th century document, the Tribal Hidage. The tribal name is Brittonic rather than Old English and derives from *siccā, meaning...

. The bus station is located very closely to the railway station too.

Uno buses serve the nearby towns of Hatfield, St Albans, Potters Bar

Potters Bar

Potters Bar is a town in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire, England, located north of Central London. In 2001 it had a population of 21,618....

, Hemel Hempstead, Watford

Watford

Watford is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated northwest of central London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District.Watford was created as an urban...

and Barnet

Barnet

High Barnet or Chipping Barnet is a place in the London Borough of Barnet, North London, England. It is a suburban development built around a twelfth-century settlement and is located north north-west of Charing Cross. Its name is often abbreviated to Barnet, which is also the name of the London...

. Uno buses also serve further out into North London. Uno are the only provider in Welwyn Garden City to offer a regular double decker bus service, although not guaranteed, on the 601 service.

Green Line Coaches

Green Line Coaches

Green Line is a commuter coach brand in the Home Counties of England. It is owned by the Arriva group.Green Line has its origin in the network of coach services established by the London General Omnibus Company in the 1920s and 1930s...

724 runs a service from Welwyn Garden City to Heathrow Airport, stopping at stops such as Watford and Rickmansworth

Rickmansworth

Rickmansworth is a town in the Three Rivers district of Hertfordshire, England, 4¼ miles west of Watford.The town has a population of around 15,000 people and lies on the Grand Union Canal and the River Colne, at the northern end of the Colne Valley regional park.Rickmansworth is a small town in...

.

The nearest railway station is Welwyn Garden City railway station

Welwyn Garden City railway station

Welwyn Garden City railway station serves the town of Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, England. The station is approximately north of London Kings Cross on the East Coast Main Line. Welwyn Garden City station is managed and served by First Capital Connect.-History:A station named Welwyn...

in the town centre. Trains are operated by First Capital Connect

First Capital Connect

First Capital Connect is a passenger train operating company in England that began operations on the National Rail network on 1 April 2006...

and run every 20 minutes Monday to Friday south to London Moorgate and north to Hitchin and Stevenage, with a weekend service of every 30 minutes on Saturday and Sunday south to London's Kings Cross and north to Hitchin and Stevenage.

Welwyn Garden City is well-served by major arterial road routes, namely the A1(M) and the A414. The Great North Road

Great North Road (Great Britain)

The Great North Road was a coaching route used by mail coaches between London, York and Edinburgh. The modern A1 mainly follows the Great North Road. The inns on the road, many of which survive, were staging posts on the coach routes, providing accommodation, stabling for the horses and...

also passes around it next to the A1(M). In addition, there are other links to St. Albans, Harpenden

Harpenden

Harpenden is a town in Hertfordshire, England.The town's total population is just under 30,000.-Geography and administration:There are two civil parishes: Harpenden and Harpenden Rural....

and Luton

Luton

Luton is a large town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 30 miles north of London. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 250,000....

(via B653), Hatfield

Hatfield, Hertfordshire

(via A1000 and A1001) and Hertford

Hertford

Hertford is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. Forming a civil parish, the 2001 census put the population of Hertford at about 24,180. Recent estimates are that it is now around 28,000...

(via B1000). During the growth in car ownership in the 1950s and 1960s the town struggled to build enough garages or hard-standing spaces for the additional vehicles, which has led to many properties losing their traditional hedges and front gardens to accommodate driveways.

Education

Welwyn Garden City has four secondary schools:

Sir Frederic Osborn School
Sir Frederic Osborn School
Sir Frederic Osborn School is a secondary school in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England. The school was built and opened in 1965 as two separate schools - Welwyn Garden City High School and Attimore Hall School. The schools were combined in 1968 and renamed after the town's urban planner...

, a specialist Sports College
Sports College
Sports Colleges were introduced in 1997 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enables secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, PE, sports and dance. Schools that successfully apply to the Specialist Schools Trust and become Sports...
Monks Walk School, a specialist Science College
Science College
Science Colleges were introduced in 2002 as part of the now defunct Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, science and mathematics...

,
Knightsfield School for the Deaf
Stanborough School
Stanborough School, Welwyn Garden City
Stanborough School is a comprehensive secondary school located in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England. The school is directly next to the .-Admissions:...

, a specialist Maths and Computing College (Formerly Welwyn Garden City Grammar School)

Tewin Water School moved from Digswell

Digswell

Digswell is an ancient village in the English county of Hertfordshire which is recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book.Digswell's name may be derived from Deacon's Well. There were two Manors, with 2 water Mills, much land under plough, and a large area of woodland...

to Monk's Walk School in 1998 and was later renamed Knightsfield School to create links with hearing pupils.

The former Sir John Newsom School merged with Stanborough School on 1 September 1998.

Monks Walk School, Stanborough School

Stanborough School, Welwyn Garden City

Stanborough School is a comprehensive secondary school located in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England. The school is directly next to the .-Admissions:...

and Sir Frederic Osborn School

Sir Frederic Osborn School

Sir Frederic Osborn School is a secondary school in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England. The school was built and opened in 1965 as two separate schools - Welwyn Garden City High School and Attimore Hall School. The schools were combined in 1968 and renamed after the town's urban planner...

are part of the Welwyn Hatfield 14-19 Consortium, which includes a variety of secondary schools and Oaklands College

Oaklands College

Oaklands College is a Further education college in Hertfordshire, England in the United Kingdom.- Profile :Oaklands College is a large general Further Education College. It has campus sites in St Albans City, St Albans Smallford, Alban Park, Welwyn Garden City and a further training provision in...

in Welwyn Hatfield

Welwyn Hatfield

The Borough of Welwyn Hatfield is a local government district in southern Hertfordshire, England.Its covers the two towns of Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield, along with numerous smaller settlements from Woolmer Green in the north to Little Heath in the south. Each of the towns has a railway station...

Notable people

Current and former residents of Welwyn Garden City

Lol Coxhill
Lol Coxhill
Lowen Coxhill, generally known as Lol Coxhill is a free improvising saxophonist and raconteur...

, saxophonist (Digswell Arts Trust
Digswell Arts Trust
Digswell Arts Trust was the brainchild of Henry Morris, a pioneering educationalist. Through his enthusiasm, dedication and influence he persuaded the Government and the Welwyn Garden City Development Corporation to establish a Trust for professional artists in Welwyn Garden City, England.It was...

)
Louis de Soissons
Louis de Soissons
Louis E J G de Savoie-Carignan de Soissons , was the younger son of Charles, the Count de Soissons. An architect, he was called for professional purposes Louis de Soissons...

, architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

(Guessens Road and High Oaks).
Danny Mortimer, (chemist
Chemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...

).
Coco Star
Coco Star
Sue Brice, better known by her stage name Coco Star is an English singer-songwriter. She is currently signed to Universal Music and EMI...

aka Sue Brice Singer Toca's Miracle
Toca's Miracle
"Toca's Miracle" is a dance music single by German Eurohouse producers Fragma. It peaked at #1 in the UK charts in April 2000. The song was created by mixing the vocals of Sue Brice's "I Need a Miracle" to the instrumental track of Fragma's "Toca Me".-Original 2000 version:The original version of...

& Songwriter.
Alesha Dixon
Alesha Dixon
Alesha Anjanette Dixon is an English singer-songwriter, dancer, model and television personality. She first found fame in the all-female R&B trio Mis-Teeq, however, the trio separated in 2005 and Dixon continued pursuing her music career as a solo artist, signing to Polydor Records...

, R&B singer, rapper and TV presenter
Robert Duncan
Robert Duncan (actor)
Robert Duncan is an English actor. He is best known for his television role as Gus, the jargon-speaking manager, from Drop the Dead Donkey. He also appeared in Casualty as Peter Hayes between 1995 and 1996.-Biography:...

, actor
Nick Faldo
Nick Faldo
Sir Nicholas Alexander "Nick" Faldo, MBE is an English professional golfer on the European Tour who now mainly works as an on air golf analyst. Over his career, he has won six majors: three Open Championships and three Masters. He was ranked the World No...

, golfer (Sherrardspark Road)
Tom Lewis
Tom Lewis (golfer)
Tom Lewis is a professional golfer from Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England.In 2009, Lewis won the Boys Amateur Championship at Royal St George's. In 2010, he lost to Peter O'Malley in a playoff for the New South Wales Open, and then tied for 12th place at the Australian Open...

, golfer
Ian Fergusson
Ian Fergusson
Ian Kenneth Fergusson is BBC Weather Presenter and a noted UK-based expert on sharks, especially species inhabiting the Mediterranean Sea.- Work in shark research :...

, TV presenter (Panshanger)
Frederick Forsyth
Frederick Forsyth
Frederick Forsyth, CBE is an English author and occasional political commentator. He is best known for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Devil's Alternative, The Fist of God, Icon, The Veteran, Avenger, The Afghan and The Cobra.-...

, author
Lewis Grassic Gibbon
Lewis Grassic Gibbon
Lewis Grassic Gibbon was the pseudonym of James Leslie Mitchell , a Scottish writer.-Biography:...

, author
Rupert Grint
Rupert Grint
Rupert Alexander Lloyd Grint is an English actor, who rose to prominence playing Ron Weasley, one of the three main characters in the Harry Potter film series. Grint was cast as Ron at the age of 11, having previously acted only in school plays and at his local theatre group...

, actor, 'Ron Weasley' in the Harry Potter films
Rob Hague, drummer
Mark Halsey
Mark Halsey
Mark R. Halsey is an English professional football referee who officiates primarily in the Premier League. He was formerly based in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, currently in Bolton, Lancashire....

, football referee
Harry Hibbs, footballer (Mountway)
Ebenezer Howard
Ebenezer Howard
Sir Ebenezer Howard is known for his publication Garden Cities of To-morrow , the description of a utopian city in which people live harmoniously together with nature. The publication resulted in the founding of the garden city movement, that realized several Garden Cities in Great Britain at the...

, town planner (Guessens Road).
David James
David James (footballer)
David Benjamin James is an English footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Bristol City.On 14 February 2009, he achieved the all-time Premier League appearance record with 536 appearances, overtaking Gary Speed. He held this record until being overtaken by Ryan Giggs on the 14th May 2011...

, footballer
Steve Kilbey
Steve Kilbey
Steven John Kilbey is the lead singer-songwriter and bass guitarist for The Church, an Australian rock band. He is also a music producer, poet, and painter....

, bassist and lead singer of The Church (moved to Australia at an early age)
Glyn Maxwell
Glyn Maxwell
Glyn Maxwell is a British poet.-Early life:Though his parents are Welsh, Maxwell was born and raised in Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire. He studied English at Worcester College, Oxford. He began an MLitt there, but in 1987 moved to America to study poetry and drama with Derek Walcott at...

, poet and playwright
Sir Frederic Osborn
Frederic Osborn
Sir Frederic James Osborn was a leading member of the UK Garden city movement and was chairman of the Town and Country Planning Association. He lived in Welwyn Garden City, the garden city he helped create, and a local school was named after him in 1968.-Life:Born in 1885 in London, he left...

, champion of the New Towns (Guessens Road).
Mat Osman
Mat Osman
Mat Osman is an English musician, best known as the bassist in the band Suede. He studied at the London School of Economics, where in 1989 he was awarded a BSc in Economics....

, musician
Edmund Purdom
Edmund Purdom
Edmund Anthony Cutlar Purdom was a British actor.-Early life:Purdom was born in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England and educated at St. Augustine's Abbey School, Ramsgate, then by the Jesuits at St. Ignatius Grammar School and Welwyn Garden City Grammar School...

, actor
Flora Robson
Flora Robson
Dame Flora McKenzie Robson DBE was an English actress, renowned as a character actress, who played roles ranging from queens to villainesses.-Early life:...

, actor (Handside Lane).
Dinah Sheridan
Dinah Sheridan
Dinah Sheridan is an English actress who appeared in the films 29 Acacia Avenue and Genevieve .She made her film debut in 1937, and has frequently appeared on television...

, actor
Lisa Snowdon
Lisa Snowdon
Lisa Snowdon is an English fashion model, television personality and presenter. She was the host of the reality television show Britain's Next Top Model from 2006 until 2009...

, model
Una Stubbs
Una Stubbs
Una Stubbs is an English actress and former dancer who has appeared extensively on British television and in the theatre, and less frequently in films. She is particularly known for her roles in the sitcom Till Death Us Do Part and Aunt Sally in the children's series Worzel Gummidge.-Film and...

, actor (Ravenfield Road)
Mick Taylor
Mick Taylor
Michael Kevin "Mick" Taylor is an English musician, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and The Rolling Stones...

, Guitarist for The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

from 1969–1975
S*M*A*S*H
Smash (band)
Smash are a punk rock trio who enjoyed brief notoriety in the early 1990s in the UK. Smash was formed by Ed Borrie , Salvatore Alessi , and Rob Hague in Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, England.-Career:The band's sound recalled the late 1970s and early 1980s punk and New Wave bands...

, pop group
The Subways
The Subways
The Subways are an English alternative rock / indie rock band. Their debut album, Young For Eternity, was released on 4 July 2005 in the UK and February 14, 2006 in the U.S. Their second album, All or Nothing, was released on 30 June 2008 and their third album Money and Celebrity debuted on the...

, rock band
George Sweeney
George Sweeney (actor)
George Sweeney is a British film and television actor who commenced his acting career in the 1970s.Sweeney has numerous television credits, including Z-Cars , Rumpole of the Bailey , Dixon of Dock Green , Softly, Softly , The New Avengers , The Sweeney , Return...

, actor (Longcroft Lane)
Mark Thompson
Mark Thompson
Mark John Thompson is Director-General of the BBC, a post he has held since 2004, and a former chief executive of Channel 4...

, Director-General of the BBC
Jamie George
Jamie George
Jamie George Jamie George Jamie George (born 20 October 1990 in Welwyn Garden City, England is an English rugby union player. He plays at Hooker for Saracens in the Aviva Premiership. He has also represented the England Rugby Team at under 16, under 18 and under 20 level....

, rugby player

Popular culture

Several films and television programmes were shot in whole or in part in Welwyn Garden City, including

The Tweenies
Superstars
Superstars
Superstars is an all-around sports competition that pits elite athletes from different sports against one another in a series of athletic events resembling a decathlon....

(Stanborough Lakes and Gosling Sports Stadium)
UFO
UFO (TV series)
UFO is a 1970-1971 British television science fiction series about an alien invasion of Earth, created by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson with Reg Hill, and produced by the Andersons and Lew Grade's Century 21 Productions for Grade's ITC Entertainment company.UFO first aired in the UK and Canada...

(Gravel pit in Cole Green Lane)
Holby City
Holby City
Holby City, stylised as Holby Ci+y, is a British medical drama television series that airs weekly on BBC One.The series was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a spin-off from the established BBC medical drama Casualty, and premiered on 12 January 1999...

(Exterior shots of Queen Elizabeth II hospital)
Kellogg Company
Kellogg Company
Kellogg Company , is a producer of cereal and convenience foods, including cookies, crackers, toaster pastries, cereal bars, fruit-flavored snacks, frozen waffles, and vegetarian foods...

's cornflakes "Train Buffet Car" commercial (Railway station)

The film Battle of Britain

Battle of Britain (film)

Battle of Britain is a 1969 Technicolor film directed by Guy Hamilton, and produced by Harry Saltzman and S. Benjamin Fisz. The film broadly relates the events of the Battle of Britain...

shot scenes at Panshanger Aerodrome and the film of Graham Greene

Graham Greene

Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...

's Brighton Rock was made at the Associated British Picture Corporation

Associated British Picture Corporation

Associated British Picture Corporation , originally British International Pictures , was a British film production, distribution and exhibition company active from 1927 until 1970...

's Welwyn Garden City studios.

Welwyn Garden City is sometimes referred to on account of its name or suburban character, for example in
George Orwell

George Orwell

Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...

's Keep the Aspidistra Flying

Keep the Aspidistra Flying

Keep the Aspidistra Flying, first published 1936, is a socially critical novel by George Orwell. It is set in 1930s London. The main theme is Gordon Comstock's romantic ambition to defy worship of the money-god and status, and the dismal life that results....

, a sketch by Mel Smith

Mel Smith

Melvin Kenneth "Mel" Smith is an English comedian, writer, film director, producer, and actor. He is most famous for his work on the sketch comedy shows Not the Nine O'Clock News and Alas Smith and Jones along with his comedy partner Griff Rhys Jones.- Early life :Smith's father, Kenneth, was born...

and Griff Rhys Jones

Griff Rhys Jones

Griffith "Griff" Rhys Jones is a Welsh comedian, writer, actor, television presenter and personality. Jones came to national attention in the early 1980s for his work in the BBC television comedy sketch shows Not the Nine O'Clock News and Alas Smith and Jones along with his comedy partner Mel Smith...

in Alas Smith and Jones

Alas Smith and Jones

Alas Smith and Jones is a British comedy sketch television series featuring Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones. It was broadcast on the BBC from 1984 to 1998...

, the TV series Porridge

Porridge (TV series)

Porridge is a British situation comedy broadcast on BBC1 from 1974 to 1977, running for three series, two Christmas specials and a feature film. Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, it stars Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale as two inmates at the fictional HMP Slade in Cumberland...

and Strange, in the lyrics of Billy's Line by Red Box, and in a song by Edwyn Collins

Edwyn Collins

Edwyn Stephen Collins is an Ivor Novello Award winning Scottish musician, playing mostly electric guitar-driven pop. Collins formed the musical group Nu-Sonics in 1976, which later became Orange Juice...

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