[3] Its location on a coaching route and the opening of a railway station in 1858 were key to its development and the shift from an agrarian village to an urban town.

The town was an important coaching stop on the way to Hastings from London, and the now defunct Royal Bell Hotel (just off Market Square) is referred to in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

It was a quiet rural village until the arrival of the railway in 1858 in Shortlands, which led to rapid growth, and outlying suburban districts such as Bickley (which later overflowed into Bromley Common) were developed to accommodate those wishing to live so conveniently close to London.

Thomas Turrell is the London Assembly member for the Bexley and Bromley constituency, in which the town is located.

[14] Bromley was ranked fourth in Greater London by Retail Footprint in 2005, behind the West End, Croydon and Kingston upon Thames.

[5] The town has a large retail area, including a pedestrianised High Street and The Glades centre, the main shopping mall, which has a catchment of 1.3 million people.

[16] The shopping area includes retailers such as Gap, Oasis,Foot Locker and Waterstone's.

Bromley South provides National Rail services to London Victoria (non stop, semi fast via Denmark Hill and stopping services via Herne Hill), London Blackfriars via Catford, Orpington, Sevenoaks via Swanley, Ramsgate via Chatham, Dover Priory via Chatham & Canterbury East and to Ashford International via Maidstone East.

Finally, Shortlands railway station serves primarily residential areas immediately southwest of the town centre.

These connect it with areas including Beckenham, Bexley, Bexleyheath, Biggin Hill, Catford, Chislehurst, Croydon, Crystal Palace, Downham, Elmers End, Eltham, Grove Park, Hayes, Lee Green, Lewisham, Locksbottom, Mottingham, New Addington, Orpington, Penge, Petts Wood, Sidcup, West Wickham & Westerham.

The large open spaces have lent themselves to outdoor concerts, festivals and outdoor screenings, as well in the venues such as Norman Park,[20] Hayes Farm, Beckenham Place Park[21] and Croydon Road recreation ground.

[23] It is run on a contract currently held by HQ Theatres Ltd acting as both a receiving and producing house, with productions transferring to the West End or touring nationally.

[6] In another Monty Python sketch, it was stated that all seven continents are visible from the top of the Kentish Times building in Bromley.

It was so called because many of its members were from Bromley, some of whom later became famous as musicians in their own right, like Siouxsie Sioux and Billy Idol.

Based on a real-life memoir by Dave Roberts about following Bromley F.C., it includes many scenes filmed locally, although Crockenhill F.C.

[36] Bromley CC has a significant success record, with 9 Kent Cricket League championship titles to their name.

[46] The median house price in Bromley Town ward was £327,000 in 2014, compared to £295,444 in Plaistow and Sundridge, and £480,000 in Bickley.

It was largely destroyed by German bombing on 16 April 1941 and rebuilt in the 1950s incorporating the medieval tower and reusing much of the flint and fragments of the original stone building.

It was completed in 1898 in the Perpendicular Gothic style and consecrated by William Walsh, Bishop of Dover, on 22 October that year.

[51] On 3 June 1952, the Duchess of Kent laid the foundation stone of the present church, which was designed by T W G Grant and built by David Nye.

G. Wells Centre' in Masons Hill near the southern end of the High Street which housed the Bromley Labour Club (the building was demolished in 2017).

[citation needed] In August 2005, the wall honouring Wells in Market Square was repainted; the current wall painting features a rich green background with the same Wells reference and the evolutionary sequence of Homo sapiens featured in Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, a former resident of nearby Downe Village.

[56] A blue plaque marks Wells' birthplace in Market Square, on the wall of what is now a Primark store.

[57] A marble plaque appears above the door of 8 South Street, the location of Mrs Knott's Dame school where "Bertie", as he was called as a child, learned to read and write.

He was awarded the Order of Merit, was Vice Chancellor of University of Cambridge, Master of Selwyn Cambridge, Regius Professor of Modern History, Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History, Chancellor of University of Anglia, President of the British Academy, and was a Rugby Union International.

A blue historical plaque can be found on the external wall of her former home on Shortlands Road, Bromley.

Talbot Rothwell, screenwriter of twenty Carry On films, Justine Lord, actress, Peter Howitt, Richmal Crompton, Pixie Lott, Matt Terry, Christopher Tennant, Hanif Kureishi, Peter Frampton, Aleister Crowley, bassist Steven Severin of Siouxsie and the Banshees, Fatboy Slim, Jack Dee, Tom Allen, D. Bernard Amos, Rob Beckett, Alexander Molony,[60] Gary Rhodes, Pete Sears, singer Poly Styrene, Billy Idol, Brian Poole, (of The Tremoloes),Josh Beech, Ruthie Henshall, Trevor Goddard, actor, Billy Jenkins, Alex Clare, cricketer Jill Cruwys,[61] the anarchist Peter Kropotkin,[62] the former Clash drummer Topper Headon, illustrator Charles Keeping, Formula 1 test driver Gary Paffett, IndyCar driver Mike Conway, children's writer Andrew Murray, tenor Roland Cunningham, actor Michael York who attended Bromley Grammar School for Boys,[63] clarinetist Chris Craker, Don Perrin, Canadian author who attended Burnt Ash School in Bromley, and Sir Thomas James Harper, an officer decorated in the Crimean War.

[64] The comedian Chris Addison[65] currently lives in Bromley, as does tennis player Emma Raducanu.

midfielder Tim Cahill, and former Blackburn Rovers striker Jason Roberts lived in Bromley.

Scottish education secretary Michael Russell MSP was born and spent the early years of his life in Bromley.