Growth of the suburbs > Suburban revolution

London ringed with leafy suburbs

Transport shaped the development of outer London. Residential districts grew up all around the city from the 1880s onwards. At its peak in the 1920s, nearly all of London’s growth was suburban.

Suburbs offered thousands of Londoners a more comfortable lifestyle than any previous generation had enjoyed. But it was uncontrolled development, which was only halted by the outbreak of war in 1939. After the war, a wide ‘green belt’ was established around Greater London, which restricted new building.