By 1930 the medical officer reported 131 Banbury town centre houses unfit for habitation.
[4][5] The estate, which now has a notable South Asian community, was expanded in the 1950s because of the growth of the town due to the London overspill and further grew in the mid-1960s.
General Foods received active political and fiscal co-operation from the council to partly help find jobs for the local London overspill population.
During October 2006, a warehouse block that was being prepared for demolition, belonging to Kraft Foods, caught fire and burned most of the day.
[8][9] In Spring 2010, a lorry load of Kenco Coffee was stolen by a driver who conned his way into the plant.
In 1875 payments were made only by Williamscot, Swalcliffe, Prescote, Great and Little Bourton, Neithrop, Claydon, and Shutford since the rest were freed from their rent obligations.
[19] Hardwick was a Medieval hamlet that did not expand much until the late 19th century and was formally incorporated into the borough of Banbury in 1889.
Output had reached such an extent that in the early 1950s that Banbury's economy had become dependent on the plant's prosperity, with 24%, of the town's workers being employed there.
[5] The former Alcan factory that helped build parts for Spitfire fighters aircraft during the Second World War.
[20] The Alcan Laboratories Club was founded in 1948 by the lab technicians to promote the wellbeing of the workforce in general.
[20][22][23][24] Most of the estate built in the 1970s because of the growth of the town due to the Birmingham overspill and a slum clearance scheme in Smethwick.
[31] Local villagers farmed the parish of Hanwell, Oxfordshire and its related lands on a two-field open field system until 1768, when Sir Charles Cope, 2nd Baronet bought out the rights of copyholders, life and leaseholders and enclosed the common lands.
[31] In 1645 during the English Civil War, Parliamentary troops were billeted in nearby Hanwell village[31] for nine weeks.
[33][34] There is a large green space made up of grassy fields and seating to the north, which may be partly built on if planning permission is granted.
A nearby field to the north has recently been developed following a formal application for the building of another 20 houses and a Sainsbury’s Local corner shop.
Heyfordian Travel also run a service to the Hardwick estate and Hanwell Fields via the local Tesco and the Barley Mow pub.