Watford
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| Borough of Watford | |
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| Missing image Watford_-_Hertfordshire_dot.png Watford | Missing image HertfordshireWatford.png Watford Shown within Hertfordshire |
| Geography | |
| Status: | Borough |
| Region: | East of England |
| Admin. County: | Hertfordshire |
| Area: - Total | Ranked 347th 21.43 km² |
| Admin. HQ: | Watford |
| ONS code: | 26UK |
| Demographics | |
| Population: - Total (2003 est.) - Density | Ranked 291st 79,467 3,708 / km² |
| Ethnicity: | 86.0% White 8.2% S.Asian 2.7% Afro-Carib. |
| Politics | |
| Missing image Arms-watford.jpg Arms of Watford Borough Council Watford Borough Council http://www.watford.gov.uk/ | |
| Leadership: | Mayor & Cabinet |
| Mayor: | Dorothy Thornhill (Liberal Democrats) |
| MP: | Claire Ward |
Watford is a town and district (styled as 'borough' due to the historical charter granted by Henry VIII) just to the north-west of London. Unlike most English districts, its council is led by a directly-elected mayor, currently Dorothy Thornhill.
Watford is within the M25 motorway with the Watford tube station at the outer edge of the London Underground system. There are faster trains to central London from Watford Junction and Bushey station.
The phrase 'North of Watford' is widely used to describe areas of the United Kingdom that are north of London. This is possibly because Watford was the first place that horses were changed on the route to the north-west from London, though it may also be because Watford is frequently mistaken, in the context of this phrase, for a Northamptonshire village of the same name, about 50 miles further north, which traditionally was an important waypoint on the old east-west and north-south coaching routes.
Watford has 80,000 inhabitants and a professional football club, Watford F.C., which is currently in the Championship. Saracens Rugby Club moved to Watford and shares the same ground, which is in Vicarage Road.
In May 2005, Claire Ward was re-elected as Watford's (Labour) MP but by a narrower margin of victory that her previous two terms in office.
Other Watfords
External links
- Watford history (http://www.hertfordshire-genealogy.co.uk/data/places/watford.htm)
| Districts of England - East of England | 
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Babergh | Basildon | Bedford | Braintree | Breckland | Brentwood | Broadland | Broxbourne | Cambridge | Castle Point | Chelmsford | Colchester | Dacorum | East Cambridgeshire | East Hertfordshire | Epping Forest | Fenland | Forest Heath | Great Yarmouth | Harlow | Hertsmere | Huntingdonshire | Ipswich | King's Lynn and West Norfolk | Luton | Maldon | Mid Bedfordshire | Mid Suffolk | North Hertfordshire | North Norfolk | Norwich | Peterborough | Rochford | St Albans | St Edmundsbury | South Bedfordshire | South Cambridgeshire | Southend-on-Sea | South Norfolk | Stevenage | Suffolk Coastal | Tendring | Three Rivers | Thurrock | Uttlesford | Watford | Waveney | Welwyn Hatfield | |
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Administrative counties with multiple districts: Bedfordshire - Cambridgeshire - Essex - Hertfordshire - Norfolk - Suffolk |