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The focal point of Lower Edmonton, situated at the junction of Church Street, Hertford Road and Fore Street (earlier called
Duck Lane here). Houses appeared around the green from the late 17th century and wholly encircled it in the following century.
Fairs were held on Edmonton Green and menageries were exhibited here. A station opened in 1849 and the surrounding area was
built up in the 1880s and 1890s. By the 1930s Edmonton Green had become a major shopping destination, drawing visitors from
a wide catchment area. In the mid 1960s the newly formed Enfield council took over a project planned by its Edmonton predecessor,
sweeping away ‘substandard’ Victorian housing and building a shopping centre, tower blocks and various amenities.
The plan originally included a new civic centre but this element was subsequently abandoned. Edmonton Green was the largest
municipally owned shopping centre in London but by the end of the 20th century found itself losing out to competition at Wood
Green, Walthamstow and further afield, while Enfield Town and Southgate became more appealing to commercial investors within
the borough. The close proximity of high-rise flats to multi-storey car parks proved an encouragement to crime. In one of
the largest mixed-use schemes of its kind, Enfield council has been working with a property developer and a housing association
to wholly redevelop the main facilities at Edmonton Green and the neighbouring housing. The £120 million project involves
the replacement of the existing leisure centre, and the construction of new shopping mall, Asda supermarket, primary care
centre and bus station. The Green Horizons housing association will provide 750 new and 650 refurbished homes. Begun in 2000
and implemented in several phases, the project is due for completion around now. Edmonton Green is the most deprived ward
in Enfield by most measures. It has the highest proportion of council housing of any ward, an ethnically diverse population
and high levels of unemployment and crime.
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