Although the settlement history goes back to the 18th century, Golders Green is essentially a late 19th-century suburban development situated approximately 5.5 miles north-west of Charing Cross.
In the early 20th century its population grew rapidly in response to the opening of a station on the London Underground Northern Line.
It is known for its large Jewish population as well as for being home to the largest Jewish kosher hub in the United Kingdom, which attracts many Jewish tourists.
The name Golders comes from a family named Godyere who lived in the area, and Green alludes to the manorial waste on which the settlement was built.
In 1895 a Jewish cemetery was established adjacent to Hoop Lane, with the first burial in 1897. Golders Green Crematorium was opened in 1902 (although much of it was built after 1905).
Although the area had been served by horse-drawn omnibuses (since at least the 1880s) and later motor buses (from 1907), the tram line of 1910, connecting Finchley Church End with Golders Green Station, led to the development of the area west of Finchley Road.
Both the Golders Green Hippodrome, former home of the BBC Concert Orchestra, and the police station opened in 1913.
Today Golders Green is a vibrant commuter suburb with a busy urban feel.
It has a mix of housing from high density town houses to interwar family housing and there is a busy main shopping street, Golders Green Road.
