Romford is a large town in East London, England, 14 miles (23 km) northeast of Charing Cross.

[2] The Romford post town covers all of the former municipal borough and extends over a much wider area, including parts of Barking and Dagenham and Epping Forest.

[3] Historically part of the ancient parish of Hornchurch in the Becontree hundred of Essex, Romford has been a market town since 1247.

[4] As part of the suburban growth of London throughout the 20th century, Romford significantly expanded and increased in population, becoming a municipal borough in 1937.

[13] The town developed in the Middle Ages on the main road to London and the regionally significant Romford Market was established in 1247.

[4] Communications played an important part in its development; the main road to London was maintained by the Middlesex and Essex Turnpike Trust from 1721 and Romford became a coaching town in the 18th century.

[16] It was initially intended to terminate at a basin near to the Star Brewery, to transport agricultural products to London and, eventually, to serve growing industrial sites in Romford.

A later proposal included an extension to Collier Row, whereby timber from Hainault Forest could be transported to the Thames for use in the Royal Dockyards.

Initially Eastern Counties Railway services operated between Mile End and Romford, with extensions to Brentwood and to Shoreditch in 1840.

[4] Suburban expansion increased the population and reinforced Romford's position as a significant regional town centre.

[18] Romford formed a chapelry in the large ancient parish of Hornchurch in the Becontree hundred of Essex; as well as the town it included the wards of Collier Row, Harold Wood, and Noak Hill.

[19] Through ancient custom the area enjoyed special status and a charter in 1465 removed the parish from the Becontree hundred and the county of Essex and it instead formed the independent liberty of Havering governed from a court house in the market place.

These changes and the introduction of the Romford Poor Law Union in 1836[19] eroded the powers of the liberty and it was finally abolished in 1892 and reincorporated into Essex.

[21] The suburban expansion of London caused an increase in population during the 1930s[6] and the urban district was expanded further in 1934, taking in the parishes of Havering-atte-Bower and Noak Hill.

[23] To the east of the market place from 1850 middle class suburban housing was constructed with a much larger area of 200 acres (80 hectares) built-over to the south of the railway from 1851 and by 1861 the population had grown to 3790.

[26] The town water supply initially came from the Havering Well, and 1859 a new public well and pump was built at the east end of the market.

The trees in the cemetery include holly, cedar and flowering cherry, and rows of common lime and horse chestnut.

[9] The railway cuts through the town from east to west on a viaduct, with the bulk of the central Romford area to its north.

Climate data for Romford is taken from the nearest weather station at Greenwich, around 10 miles (16 km) southwest of the marketplace.

[18] The retail economy is complemented by a central business district close to the railway station, where the offices of employers such as Aon are located.

[9] Compared to the similar east London areas of Ilford, Stratford and Barking, there is more comparison retail and commercial office employment in Romford and less public sector work.

[9] The total turnover of £413,395,000 in 2002 for Romford was larger than any other comparable town centre in east London and approximately 70% came from the commercial office businesses.

[42] The town is served by Romford railway station; it is situated on the Great Eastern Main Line in London fare zone 6.

[52][53] The Dolphin Centre was a popular swimming and leisure facility located in the town from 1982 to 1995, but the site was redeveloped into the current Axis residential tower block and Asda superstore in the mid-2000s.

The town is strongly associated with the electronic music group Underworld, who cite Romford in their hit "Born Slippy", affiliated to the movie Trainspotting.

[56] According to a Billboard article in 1992, Romford-produced dance music formed part of a trend favouring suburban and provincial "bedroom" record labels over those in central London.

[60] In April 2023, hoodies were banned from the town centre along with Ski masks and motorcycle helmets in an initiative by Romford Business Improvement District, backed by Havering councillors and local Metropolitan Police officers, as a measure against antisocial behaviour.