Baldock is a historic market town in the local government district of North Hertfordshire in the ceremonial county of Hertfordshire, England where the River Ivel rises. It lies 33 miles (53 km) north of London, and has a population of approximately 9900. Nearby towns include Royston towards the northeast, Letchworth and Hitchin to the southwest and Stevenage towards the south. The contemporary layout of the town and many buildings in the centre date from the sixteenth century, with the oldest dating from the fourteenth century. The town thrived where the old Great North Road and the Icknield Way crossed. Regardless of the building of the A1(M) motorway in 1963, which bypassed the town, and which was called the Baldock Bypass for some years, it was nonetheless a significant traffic bottleneck until March 2006, when a new bypass removed the A505 road, part of the old Icknield Way east of Baldock. Since the 16th century, Baldock has been a centre for malting, subsequently becoming a regional brewing centre with at least three substantial brewers in operation in the area at the close of the 19th century, in spite of a decline in demand for the varieties of beer produced locally. The 1881 Census notes roughly thirty drinking establishments. During the early twentieth century, a sizeable number of pubs continued to operate, many of which were sustained by the nearby and significantly bigger town of Letchworth, which had no alcohol retailers before 1958, and had only two pubs and 1 hotel bar until the mid-1990s. Its larger population had for a number of years visited both Baldock and Hitchin for refreshment. For all of your residence improvements, be sure that you use trustworthy experts in Baldock to make sure you get the top quality service.