High Town is an inner area of Luton immediately north of Luton railway station, and a ward of the Borough of Luton, in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England.
The area and ward are officially spelled as two separate words. This is also the most common spelling of the name, but some organisations and businesses use 'Hightown', e.g. Hightown Baptist Church and Hightown Community, Sports & Arts Centre.
History Around 1841, landowner Frederick Burr began to sell off fields in High Town for development. Burr Street and Duke Street were two of the earliest side streets leading off High Town Road. Added impetus for development came with the railway. The Hertford, Luton and Dunstable Railway arrived from Dunstable at Luton′s first railway station in Bute Street in 1858. Two years later saw the line's completion to Hatfield. Soon after, Wenlock Street, Havelock Road, Dudley Street and North Street were laid out. The latter two had a mix of small industrial units and housing. The Midland Railway arrived in 1868 and a second station was opened immediately north of the Bute Street station. The line's construction necessitated some re-routing of roads and demolition of property in High Town. Direct pedestrian access to Luton town centre from High Town Road was now via a lattice–sided footbridge.
First edition Ordnance Survey maps surveyed in 1878 show two iron foundries off Cobden Street and a dye works off York Street. St Matthew's School on Havelock Road had separate infants and boys and girls departments. The Methodist Chapel on High Town Road had an attached school for girls and infants. Next door was a cottage hospital. A water works had been built off Crescent Road. Detached residences with gardens sloping down to the River Lea had been built on Villa Road and New Bedford Road. One of the plots was for a St John′s College.
High Town Road had been developed up to and beyond Jubilee Street by 1900. A school and dye works for straw plait had been built on Old Bedford Road. Across Hitchin Road there was scattered development on Crescent Rise, Hart Hill Drive and Hart Hill Lane. The Wesleyan Central Mission was built in 1903 near the Midland Road Railway Station. It closed in 1966 and the building was demolished in 1970.
Two tramlines ran from the centre of Luton through High Town from 1908 to 1932, mostly on single track lines with passing places. One line went along New Bedford Road to Wardown Park and the other along Midland Road and High Town Road to Round Green.
A cinema called The Picturedrome and High Town Electric Theatre, opened on High Town Road in 1912. It closed in 1937 but reopened as the Plaza. The building was used as a warehouse prior to demolition in 1979.
By 1922, High Town's development was largely complete. Frederic Street, Reginald Street and Clarendon Road had been laid out towards Pope's Meadow. High Town Road had housing up to its junction with Hitchin Road and nearby Ridgway Road followed on from North Street. The Norton College building had been converted to a hat works. Other industry included a thermo-electric works on a site between York Street and Cobden Street and a cardboard box works off Clarendon Road.
Geography Boundary, elevation and geology The High Town area is roughly bounded by Richmond Hill and the northern edge of People's Park/Pope's Meadow to the north, the Midland Main Line railway to the south, the A6, New Bedford Road to the west, and Hitchin Road to the east. The land rises south to north from a low of where the Old Bedford Road meets Hucklesby Way to a high of at the northern edge of People's Park. Hart Hill, which overlooks High Town from the east reaches . The underlying geology is a mix of two chalk formations called Holywell Nodular and New Pit.
Conservation area, housing and commerce High Town Road from Midland Road up to Havelock Road and York Street is designated a conservation area.
A study published in 2005 described High Town, in comparison to Luton town centre, as "a quieter, older world of small shops and terraced houses, a mixed area that provided work, shelter and leisure to people engaged in the hat trade that flourished in Luton until the late thirties".
From 2008 to 2011, Luton Council spent money to renovate public spaces in the ward after many years of neglect. In 2011 Luton Council finished its largest programme for the area, which involved the refurbishment of shop fronts and re-paving of roads. Shop refurbishment was in a style "befitting the Victorian heritage of much of High Town".
Further along High Town Road beyond the conservation area and on the side streets and adjacent roads are terraces of Victorian houses, many traditionally built in Luton Grey brick. The Paths Estate, an area of 1970s local authority built flats and houses lies west of High Town Road between Wenlock Road and Mussons Path. East of High Town Road is an area of warehouses and factories, set to be redeveloped. Planning documents have named the area High Town East Village. Gillam Court, a development of low rise apartment buildings, was completed in 2017.
The ring road and railway line physically separate High Town from Luton town centre, but there is pedestrian access through the railway station to Bute Street and the Luton Mall shopping complex.
Parks and open spaces There is effectively a 'green chain' of parks and open spaces across the top of High Town. Bells Close Recreation Ground adjoins the hilly, wooded area of People's Park, from where access can be gained to Pope's Meadow. Immediately west of Pope's Meadow across Old Bedford Road is Wardown Park.
Government High Town ward electoral district returns two councillors to Luton Borough Council. In addition to High Town, the ward boundary extends north to include Wardown Park and Wardown Crescent and east of Hitchin Road to include Crescent Road and Pomfret Avenue. Cllr Andy Malcolm (Labour) has been a High Town councillor since May 2011 and Cllr Umme Ali (Labour) was elected in May 2021.
Aysegul Gurbuz, a Labour councillor elected in High Town in May 2015, was suspended by the party in April 2016 after anti-Semitic comments were found on her Twitter account. The case came to national attention, with then Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn telling BBC One's Andrew Marr Show: "Anti-Semitism is absolutely abhorrent and wrong. Anyone that commits any act of anti-Semitism, that makes anti-Semitic remarks, is auto excluded from the party and an inquiry follows immediately". Gurbuz apologised and resigned from Labour the next day. Three years later, she wrote an article for The Independent, in which she explained that she grew up with people who normalised bigoted remarks, and that education and interaction were the keys to tackling racism.
The ward forms part of the parliamentary constituency of Luton South and the MP is Rachel Hopkins (Labour), who was elected in December 2019. Hopkins remained a High Town councillor for another 17 months, until a by-election could be held to find a replacement for her in that role.
Labour's Olly Martins lived in High Town when he became the first elected Police and Crime Commissioner for Bedfordshire, which includes the Luton area. The current Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner is Festus Akinbusoye.
Demography The 2011 Census recorded a population of 9,046 people living in the High Town ward, an increase of 27.8% on the 2001 Census figure. This was the second highest population increase recorded in an electoral ward in Luton between 2001 and 2011, the largest increase being in South ward.
High Town: ethnicity (2011 Census) Ethnic group % High Town WardWhite61.8Mixed5.2Asian17.9Black12.2Other2.9
High Town: religion (2011 Census) Religion % High Town WardChristian54Buddhist0.7Hindu3.4Jewish0.2Muslim11.5Sikh1.3Other religion0.6No religion21.8Religion not stated6.4
High Town has a high proportion of young adult residents, compared to the average across Luton.
Economy
Hat industry About a third of Luton's population was involved in producing hats in the industry's heyday in the 1870s, but by 1999 this had declined to about 1,000, around 0.5% of the population at that time.
However, there are still hat makers and associated trades in High Town.
I Llewellyn & Co, Midland Road Olney Headwear, Old Bedford Road The firm made boater hats for various schools, including Harrow, and one of its customers was the French film star and singer Maurice Chevalier. The firm also made the peaked caps worn by the cast of the BBC TV series Peaky Blinders. The firm permanently closed on 21 December 2020. Ken Peirson, Old Bedford Road Nigel Rayment, Frederick Street. F Ruegger / Millinery UK, Clarendon Road KR Snoxell & Sons, Clarendon Road Walter Wright Limited, Albion Road Barford Brothers' dye works on North Street is the last company in the UK producing dyes for the hat trade. Boon & Lane Hat Blockers on Taylor Street makes wood and metal blocks for shaping hats. A Country Life article in October 2017 stated the firm was the sole British company manufacturing handmade hat blocks. Randall Ribbons on Frederick Street supplies hat trimmings, materials and accessories.
Culture and community
Culture
Art In 2010, two 'pop-up' (temporary) community art spaces were created in empty shops on High Town Road by Luton Borough Council, Luton Culture and community interest company Meanwhile, Space. One of the aims of the High Town Art for All project was to bring the shops back into use as retail spaces, which was successful. The scheme was awarded Best Community Project in Luton's Best 2010 Awards.
There were a further two exhibitions in these former shops. The other was opened by the cultural attaché to the German embassy in early 2011.
Shop 33 on High Town Road, which existed from 2013 to 2015, sold works by local artists and craftspeople. It was run by Luton Community Arts Trust. The Flamingo Arts group took over the premises in 2015 and ran it as an arts workshop until 2017.
Festivals High Town used to host an annual festival that included a tug-of-war competition held between teams representing different pubs. The Friends of High Town residents' association ran a High Town Fun Day in 2010 and 2011, where it revived a tug-of-war contest. The Luton-based 33 Arts organisation ran a High Town Festival in July 2013. A coalition of local organisations and faith groups came together to organise the July 2014 High Town Festival and it has been an annual fixture since then on the first Saturday of July.
The annual Luton Beer and Cider Festival was held at two venues in High Town: The Drill Hall on Old Bedford Road until its closure, then the Hightown Community, Sports and Arts Centre until 2018 (the beer festival's 36th year) and it has not had a permanent home since.
Media High Town Matters was an occasional newspaper, published by anti-racism organisation Hope Not Hate, and delivered free of charge to homes and meeting places in High Town.
Living Luton TV was an internet television channel for the town, based on Midland Road and run as a Community Interest Company. It existed from 2014 to 2017.
Luton at Large was a 'what's on' guide for the town published by JNB Publishing (now trading as Treacle Factory).
Tropical FM TV, which describes itself as an interactive internet-based radio station, used to operate from a building on Midland Road.
The Luton Today website covers news and sport within High Town ward.
Music From 1998 to 2018, High Town was the home of Greenbank Music Village, a converted Wesleyan Chapel building which offered music tuition, rehearsal and recording studios, and a music shop. All of the music services that were found at the Cobden Street site are now on offer just outside High Town, from Moody's house in Round Green.
The partly High Town-based instrumental punk band The Knockouts run music label High Town Records, produce cult fanzine Clod and the Luton Haiku, a daily online ode to the town.
Poetry