Baldock
Baldock is a historic market town inside the local government district of North Hertfordshire in the ceremonial county of Hertfordshire, England where the River Ivel rises. It is positioned 33 miles (53 kilometres) north of London, and features a population of approximately 9900. Nearby towns include Royston to the northeast, Letchworth and Hitchin to the southwest and Stevenage to the south. The modern layout of the town and many buildings in the centre date back to the sixteenth century, with the earliest dating back to the fourteenth century. The town thrived where the old Great North Road and the Icknield Way crossed. In spite of the building of the A1(M) motorway in 1963, which bypassed the town, and which was referred to as the Baldock Bypass for some years, it was nonetheless a major traffic bottleneck until March 2006, when a new bypass removed the A505 road, a part of the old Icknield Way to the east of Baldock. Since the 16th century, Baldock has been a centre for malting, subsequently becoming a regional brewing centre with no less than three large brewers still trading in the area at the end of the 19th century, despite a decline in demand for the kinds of beer made locally. The 1881 Census records about 30 drinking establishments. Throughout the early twentieth century, a large number of pubs remained open, many of which were sustained by the adjacent and considerably larger town of Letchworth, which had no alcohol retailers before 1958, and had only two pubs and a single hotel bar until the mid-1990s. Its bigger population had for many years visited both Baldock and Hitchin for refreshment. For all of your home upgrades, make sure that you use vetted specialists in Baldock to ensure you get the top quality service.