Sitting immediately north of Luton railway station, High Town is an inner area of Luton and a ward of the Borough of Luton, within the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire. The name is officially spelled as two separate words, though some local organisations write it as one – Hightown Baptist Church and Hightown Community, Sports & Arts Centre both use the single-word form.
Early Development and the Coming of the Railway
High Town’s growth began around 1841, when landowner Frederick Burr started selling off fields for development. Burr Street and Duke Street were among the first side streets laid out along High Town Road. The arrival of the Hertford, Luton and Dunstable Railway at Bute Street station in 1858, with the line’s completion to Hatfield two years later, accelerated building considerably. Streets including Wenlock Street, Havelock Road, Dudley Street, and North Street followed, mixing small industrial units with housing. The Midland Railway arrived in 1868, opening a second station just north of Bute Street. Its construction required road rerouting and some demolition, and pedestrian access to the town centre from High Town Road became possible via a lattice-sided footbridge.
Industry, Community, and Transport
Ordnance Survey maps surveyed in 1878 record two iron foundries off Cobden Street, a dye works off York Street, a waterworks off Crescent Road, and a cottage hospital alongside the Methodist Chapel on High Town Road. Detached houses with gardens running down to the River Lea had been built on Villa Road and New Bedford Road. By 1900, High Town Road had been developed well beyond Jubilee Street, and a straw plait school and dye works had appeared on Old Bedford Road. Two tramlines ran through the area from 1908 to 1932, one heading along New Bedford Road to Wardown Park and the other along Midland Road and High Town Road to Round Green. The Wesleyan Central Mission, built in 1903 near the Midland Road railway station, operated until 1966 before being demolished in 1970.
Cinema and Later History
A cinema called The Picturedrome and High Town Electric Theatre opened on High Town Road in 1912. It closed in 1937, later reopened as the Plaza, then spent time as a warehouse before being demolished in 1979. By 1922, High Town’s development was largely complete, with streets such as Frederic Street, Reginald Street, and Clarendon Road laid out towards Pope’s Meadow, and housing running the full length of High Town Road to its junction with Hitchin Road.