Heritage Buildings in Bromley Town Centre

Bromley has a history going back over a thousand years (the manor of Bromleage was given to the bishops of Rochester in 900s AD) and we are fortunate that quite a few of the market town, Civic Pride era buildings, still survive (please use our clickable map to look at these):

Heritage Buildings of Bromley

Move the mouse over the map to select a heritage building (in colour). Then you can click through to the info and old pictures of it.

Heritage Buildings of Bromley
Royal Bell Bishops Palace, Moat, Icehouse & St Blaises Well School of Art & Science Old Town Hall of 1907 and 1937 extension Stanley Hawkins Fire Station Former Magistrates Court Swan and Mitre public house First Church of Christ Scientist Bromley North Station Bromley and Sheppard C17 Colleges Railway Tavern Primark formally Medhursts The Star And Garter Public House Former Dunns Building Market Square buildings Picture House Cinema 194 High Street - The Partridge, formerly the Bank 198 High Street, formally Pamphilons Wine Emporium Scenic Martins Hill & War Memorial 70 High Street Neo-Georgian Shop for 5 Shilling Tailors 54-62 High Street - Laura Ashley & Lord Haw Haw's clock 44 High Street - Former Gaumont Cinema 45 East St - The Old Drill Hall now O'Neils 208-214 High Street - Original 1902 Boots the Chemist 27 Market Sq - Neo-Baroque David Greig shop 180-4 High Street - flamboyant Flemish Arts & Crafts shop, now HSBC Bank

Royal Bell

Royal Bell

The Royal Bell - This elegant Queen Anne style Arts & Crafts building was designed by Ernest Newton.  The establishment has been on the High Street since the 1660s.

Bishops Palace, Moat, Icehouse & St Blaises Well

Victorian Georgian-style facaded building

Bishops Palace: Bromley, or Broomleag, was a manor belonging to the bishops of Rochester since the 900sAD, most of the old Palace is a Victorian facade on a 18th Century building

The Moat, The Icehouse, and St Blaise's Well

School of Art & Science

stylish copper green cupula on hexagonal tower

School of Art & Science, also contained a free library at some point.

Old Town Hall of 1907 and 1937 extension

slate roofed, brick with stone pointing, 2-storey with round columned porch

These beautiful Edwardian buildings date from the Era of Civic Pride.  The Old Town Hall (1907) and Town Hall Extension (1937) were built when the town grew too big to be run by the Vestry

Stanley Hawkins Fire Station

three storey fire station with striking brick and stone stripes

The borough engineer designed this building in a striking twist on the Neo Georgian architecture favoured at the time, in 1905, see more at our post.

Swan and Mitre public house

collection of 1 and 2 storey buildings

The Swan and Mitre is an old coaching inn, at the northern end of the high street.  Though the building dates back to the 17th or 18th Century, most of the current frontage is Victorian.  See more at our post...

First Church of Christ Scientist

A Striking octagonal building built in 1928 by E Braxton Sinclair. See our post...

Bromley North Station

Charming Neo-Classical building, rebuilt from the original wooden station by Southern Rail in 1925.  See more at our post here.

Bromley and Sheppard C17 Colleges

17th Century colleges built to house the widows and spinsters of Clergy, and still house retired vicars and their families today, see our post about it here...

Railway Tavern

A delightful Arts & Crafts building from 1879, by Berney & Sons.  Incorporates glazed tiles, porch, and lots of shell motifs from the heraldic device of the Bishops of Rochester (former Lords of the Manor).

Primark formally Medhursts

pale stone 4 storey art deco shop

The former Medhursts building, the emporium of Fred Medhurst that attracted well heeled clientele for miles about, see our post here...

The Star And Garter Public House

An Art and Crafts fantasy building from in 1898 and was designed by Berney and Sons for Nalder and Collyer, a local Croydon brewer, it's complete with balcony and turret.  See our post here...

Former Dunns Building

mural and black-and-silver iron pump

locally listed, 1960s pleasantly proportioned building after 1920s black-and-white buildings was bombed in WW2, see our post...

Market Square buildings

There has been a market in Bromley since 1205. These attractive 1932 Arts and Crafts buildings replace two previous buildings as part of a remodelling of Market Square, see our post...

Picture House Cinema

curved art deco frontage over semi-circular porch

The recently refurbished Picturehouse Cinema, see our post here...

194 High Street - The Partridge, formerly the Bank

neo-gothic high street building in floodlights

The Partridge, a fine and very decorative neo-classical building, that was built as a bank. See about it at this page...

198 High Street, formally Pamphilons Wine Emporium

Lovely white washed building with good proportions and simple lines.  Original name is inscribed in the arches and it's decorated with carved grapes.  See more here...

Scenic Martins Hill & War Memorial

Yellow broom flowers and war memorial

Martins Hill and the town's War Memorial.   There's a lovely view over to Keston and Crystal Palace from this hillside. See full post here.

 

70 High Street Neo-Georgian Shop for 5 Shilling Tailors

lovely neo-georgian shop

This lovely neo-Georgian shop was built for the chain called 5 Shilling Tailors; among other things it could suit-and-boot your man returning from WW2 (page here)  Unfortunately it is threatened to be demolished in favour of a 16 storey block of flats, see our post here. 

54-62 High Street - Laura Ashley & Lord Haw Haw's clock

Fine art deco clock face on the corner

The Woolfe and Hollander building is now better known as Laura Ashley's.  Formerly a department store, it has a strange claim to fame, that Lord Haw Haw commented about it's clock.  See more on our post here.

44 High Street - Former Gaumont Cinema

Corner plot with striking building with square turret.

Dreams now occupies the former site of the Gaumont Cinema, a 'super-cinema' built to replace the previous town cinema, in a converted theatre, see our post.  Current Site 10 Master Plan will demolish it for a 12-storey and 8-storey blocks of flats.

45 East St - The Old Drill Hall now O'Neils

a white washed pitched roofed hall

The pub chain O'Neils have adapted the town's former drill hall to be a pub.  This was where the West Kent Rifles militia would parade and where troops departed for the front in WW1. See our post here.

208-214 High Street - Original 1902 Boots the Chemist

ornate turn of the century building with juliette balconies and buddliah growing out of it

The former Tunnel Shoes occupy the original 1902 premises of Boots the Chemists. The Art Nouveau wrought iron work in front of the first floor windows is typical of boots in this period. This property is being allowed to go derelict.

27 Market Sq - Neo-Baroque David Greig shop

White stone French Imperial style building

Fantastical Neo-Baroque fronted supermarket from 1912 for the David Greig chain, see our post here

180-4 High Street - flamboyant Flemish Arts & Crafts shop, now HSBC Bank

extravagant shop front striped brick and oriel window

In 1887 the butchers, Covell & Harris built this extravagant Flemish Arts and Crafts shop.  It is now home to the HSBC bank.  See more in our post.

There’s also a collection of pictures of our heritage, both buildings and green spaces, in Bromley town centre:

Arts And Crafts Movement In Bromley…
Heritage Buildings of the Broadway High Street
Heritage Buildings and history of Market Square
Heritage Buildings of the Upper (North) High Street
Town Centre Green Spaces
Famous People
Lost Heritage Of Bromley

We have also produced a selection of self-guided walks: See this page for links including Heritage Walk Bromley North , Family Heritage Treasure Trail (quiz), and Bromley North Heritage Walk. The other 3 of our heritage walks can be downloaded as .pdfs from our page.

broom stem
Letter ‘O’ for our Easter Hunt game