Golders Green crossroads was formed when the new Finchley Road crossed North End Road in the 1830s.
The name Golders Green apparently derives from that of a local family, the Goodyers, and was first recorded in 1612. The hamlet of Golders Green originated as a group of cottages on waste ground on each side of the main road.
In 1754, manorial waste at Golders Green stretched for some distance on either side of the main road from Hampstead.
By 1754 there were about 16 houses with small gardens at Golders Green, most of them on small inclosures from the waste and by 1751 there were two inns at Golders Green: the Hoop, commemorated later by the name ’’Hoop Lane’’, and the White Swan. The White Swan had tea gardens for summer visitors to Golders Green in 1882.
In the early 19th century, the manorial waste at Golders Green was enclosed for villas. In 1814 Golders Green contained ’many ornamental villas and cottages, surrounded with plantations’, and in 1828 detached houses spread on both sides of the road as far as Brent Bridge. The green was finally enclosed in 1873-4.
At Golders Green, a straggling hamlet in 1901, new houses were built at the corner of Wentworth Road and Hoop Lane in 1905.
The underground railway arrived in 1907. In that year, trams, and motorbuses, the area began to be developed into suburban streets of semi-detached houses, a process which continued into the 1930s.
At Golders Green cross-roads, near the Underground station, rows of shops were under construction in 1911-12 on a site which in 1904 had been deserted; churches, chapels, a theatre, a cinema, and a large shopping centre followed. The fire brigade opened a sub-station at Golders Green in 1900.
In 1911 the population had grown to 4465, and by 1931 it had reached 17 837.
The Refectory, now a pub, was opened in February 1916, and is thought to by some to be the first ever public restaurant supplied by electricity. The shopping district called ’Cheapside’), was well established by 1914. In June 1918 a Handley Page bomber crashed near to houses in Golders Green and in December 1920 a Handley Page passenger aircraft crashed into houses in Basing Hill.
By 1940 the area had developed into a centre in its own right, separate from Hendon, with a theatre (The Hippodrome 1913), a library (1935) and a cinemas (the Ionic 1913).
It is for its Jewish community that Golders Green is mostly famous. There were Jewish businesses and homes in Golders Green even by 1910, and by 1915 there were thought to be about 300 Jewish families living in Golders Green. By 1959 around a quarter of the population of the Borough of Hendon (which included Golders Green) was Jewish.
More recently, the lower half of Golders Green Road has attracted some Japanese and Asian businesses and many Polish people have moved into the area.
