Ilford is a town in North-East London, UK in the London Borough of Redbridge.
The area is predominantly residential, mostly of commuters into Central London, although it is locally reckoned a large proportion of London's taxi drivers live in the area.
Ilford is represented in the House of Commons by MPs Linda Perham (Labour, Ilford North) and Mike Gapes (Lab/Co-op, Ilford South)
A number of major businesses have been founded in the town, including the eponymous photographic film and chemicals manufacturer Ilford. Originally called the Britannia Works and growing to occupy a large site in the centre of the town it was founded in 1879 by Alfred Hugh Harman and initially made photographic plates, later coming to worldwide attention for its black and white films and papers, as well as its range of Ilfochrome (formerly Cibachrome and developed in partnership with CIBA Geigy ) and Ilfocolor colour printing materials. In 1989, Ilford was acquired by the USA-based International Paper company, also owners of graphic arts materials manufacturer Anitec and the two companies were merged in 1990 to become Ilford Anitec . Their UK base has moved to Knutsford, Cheshire.
Also a major employer here was the radio, electronics and telecommunications company
Plessey. Founded in
1917 in
Marylebone but moving to Cottenham Road in Ilford early in
1919 then to Vicarage Lane where it remained, becoming one of the largest manufacturers in this field. Plessey were partners in the development of the
Atlas Computer in
1962. The site closed in
1998 when the company was taken over.
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Last updated: 05-13-2005 07:56:04
