Harlow Town is in West Essex, 25 miles north of London and 35 miles south of Cambridge along the M11. Harlow is at Junction 7 of the M11, which links up with the M25 at Junction 27.

Stansted Airport lies12 miles north from Harlow at Junction 8 of the M11. The Stansted Skytrain runs regularly from London’s Liverpool Street Station to Stansted Airport, stopping at Harlow Town. West Anglia Great Northern operates frequent services to Cambridge and London Liverpool Street, providing easy access to the London Underground via Tottenham Hale.

Harlow Town is a very modern and well-developed town with a number of leisure facilities including recreational centres and shopping precincts. In an area that was once a number of small villages, was developed into a New Town about 50 years ago, with Sir Frederick Gibbberd as the planner.

The town has cycle ways away from traffic, parks, gardens, entertainment and leisure centres, and shopping areas in the town centre and in the neighbourhood areas around.

Old Harlow is just to the east of the town centre and has the Victoria Hall, a former church with a variety of events from traditional theatre through adaptations of fiction to musicals, mostly by members of the community.

Parndon Wood Nature Reserve, Parndon Wood Road on the southern outskirts of Harlow, has woods trails and a observation hide, conservation centre with toilets, meeting room, laboratory, leaflets, displays and a reference library.

Harlow Town Park a 164-acre town park with river walks, views and a number of attractions include music events, and the Harlow Town Show in the summer, and the annual fireworks display in November. Pets' Corner and adventure playground.

Spotlight on the Latton Bush Centre

The Latton Bush Centre is a major asset to the authority. Within its 80,000 square feet it provides an alternative to commercially leased premises for several Council services.
The Centre provides accommodation for commercial businesses, training organisations and local community groups. It also provides space for short term lettings for a wide section of the community. There are high quality leisure activities available through four bowling greens, a very active tennis club, a Dance Centre and several acres of open space.

The Centre is open for approximately 100 hours per week, with over 120 user groups hiring the Centre's facilities on a regular basis.

The Latton Bush Centre employs 7 full time and 6 part time staff to help provide this considerable range of services to the Community at large.

Income to the Centre is derived from several sources. The most effective is the letting of space to commercial tenants, at a full, but competitive commercial rate. In order to compete successfully, we need not only to be competitive on our commercial rent, but to offer a site that presents the right kind of image to a potential tenant. Therefore, a high level of maintenance is needed, in order that the building both looks attractive, and is a safe and pleasant place in which to work and play. However, we do have an advantage in that we can offer a unique environment, with a wide range of on-site facilities and a sense of community, that exists nowhere else.

Given that the Authority keeps to the agreed mix of community, commercial and council use, the Centre will continue to be an innovative, exciting place in which to work, and follow leisure activities. The Council's Corporate Management Team has identified the Latton Bush Centre as one of the two "Flagship Projects" of the Authority, and intends the Centre to present a high profile, high quality image to the public. The Centre has recently been recommended for BS ISO 9000 accreditation, as evidence of the staff's determination to continue to provide a quality range of services to all of the users of the Latton Bush Centre.
contact Latton Bush Centre on 01279 446080