Bromley News
The latest Bromley news: planning decisions, council and crime updates, business and community stories, each linked back to its official source.
Top story
Astley Day Centre Bromley: Charity Takes Over in £8m Deal
The Astley Centre is now run by Diagrama Foundation on a five-year £8m contract, with three more years possible. What changes for families, and what does not.
More stories
Bromley Council
Bromley Council Budget: £4.6m Overspend After 3 Months
Bromley's first budget check of the year forecasts a £4.6m service overspend, general reserves down to £16.9m by March and a schools deficit heading for £57.6m.
Orpington
Orpington Data Centre: Green Belt Site Needs Full EIA
Bromley has ruled that a data centre proposed on green belt land at Charmwood Lane, Green Street Green, needs a full assessment. No application is lodged yet.
Bromley Council
Bromley Parks: 8-Year idverde Deal Goes to Vote Wednesday
Bromley's Executive decides Wednesday whether idverde keeps the parks to 2035, with park security folded in and the grounds quality target raised to 90%.
Orpington
Poverest Centre Closure: Orpington Has Until 18 October
Bromley again proposes closing Orpington's Poverest adult education centre after a court quashed its 2025 decision. The nine options, costs and how to respond.
Food and drink
Bromley Restaurant Week 2026: 45 Offers From £5 to £25
Bromley's first Restaurant Week runs 12 to 20 September, with 45 offers from £5 to £25 at 24 town centre venues. Every deal, and how to claim one.
Crime
Bromley High Street Stabbing: Boy, 14, Charged, Six Bailed
A boy of 14 is charged with affray and two weapon offences after the Bromley High Street stabbing. Six of the eight people arrested are on bail.
Air quality
Bromley Air Quality Plan: Wood Burners Are 25% of PM2.5
Bromley's draft air quality plan puts a quarter of the borough's fine particle pollution on home wood burning. The consultation is open until 18 October.
Schools
Orion Scotts Park Ofsted: Strong in 3 of 7 Areas, No Grade
Ofsted graded Bromley's Orion Scotts Park strong for behaviour, early years and leadership, and expected standard in four more. Safeguarding standards met.
Dogs
Bromley Dog Rules: Cemetery Ban Dropped, £100 Fine Stays
Bromley's dog control order runs three more years from 1 October, unchanged. The cemetery ban put to residents is out: 331 of 719 who answered opposed it.
Bromley
St Olave's pupil takes 12 grade 9s while bowling for Kent
Arnav Singh, 16, scored 9s in all 12 GCSEs, 98% in English Literature, while playing county cricket, for St Olave's and for Bromley CC. His mum tells the story.
Orpington
Orpington Post Office to Close 28 October, No Successor Yet
Orpington's High Street Post Office shuts on Wednesday 28 October. Post Office Ltd is still reading applications for a replacement. The nearest are a mile off.
Health
Bromley Blood Pressure Checks: Free Drop-Ins 7-11 September
Free blood pressure checks, no booking, in Mottingham, Bromley and Penge, 7 to 11 September. An estimated 23,192 adults in the borough have it undiagnosed.
Regeneration
Elmfield Road Bromley: First Designs Shown 10 September
Bromley Council shows its first Elmfield Road designs on Thursday 10 September at Devonshire House, 4pm and 6pm. Construction is not due until spring 2027.
Food hygiene
Bromley Food Hygiene: 15 on a 1, and It Is Not the Food
Every one of Bromley's 15 businesses rated 1 scored the worst mark for management, not food. One scored perfectly on food and premises and still got a 1.
Infrastructure
Thames Water Bromley: £15m Done, Biggin Hill Digs to 2027
Thames Water has finished a £15m rebuild of its Shortlands booster station. Its other Bromley job, 3.9km of new main at Biggin Hill, now runs to September 2027.
SEND
Bromley SEND Local Offer Moves to bromleysend.org
Bromley's SEND Local Offer is now at bromleysend.org. The EHC plan pages did not move with it, and a free family event is set for the October half term.
Planning
David Bowie House Bromley: Decision Due 23 September
Bromley Council's register gives 23 September as the decision date for the Bowie childhood home, and logs a committee call-in only 1 in 87 get.
Environment
Bromley Fly-Tipping: 7 Vans Seized, 11 Crushed
Bromley has seized seven vehicles and crushed eleven in six months. Hand your rubbish to an unregistered carrier and the £5,000 fine is yours.
Business
Russell & Bromley Creditors: £40.4m Owed, £8.5m in Hand
The administrators' August 2026 report: £8.5m held at 20 July, employee and HMRC preferential claims to be paid in full at 100p, unsecured dividend still not quantified.
Trading Standards
Bromley Rogue Roofers: Demands Top £270,000 in 4 Cases
An Orpington resident paid £90,000 for a roof on a small terraced house. Trading Standards is warning of four Bromley cases, with demands topping £270,000.
Council
Bromley Council Pays £11,660 for 20 Months Missed Support
A young person in Bromley went 20 months without the support his EHC plan promised. The council fixes just 2% of upheld cases early, against 14% elsewhere.
Schools
Bromley GCSE results 2026: 91.5% top grades at St Olave's
St Olave's put 91.5% of grades at 9 to 7 and Bromley High 74%. Seven Bromley schools published figures, the council none, and here is how to read them.
Planning
Bromley Central Library's old home cleared for shops or gyms
Permission granted on 18 August turns the old library floors by the Churchill Theatre into shops, cafes, gyms, clinics or offices, and reclads the facade.
Recycling
Waldo Road Tip Reopens in November, 21 Months Shut
Bromley's Waldo Road tip reopens mid-November, about six months later than the council forecast. You will need a booking. Where to take waste until then.
Jobs
Bromley Claimant Count: Under-25s Up 24% in Two Years
Bromley's claimant count barely moved in a year, at 7,320. Underneath it, 18 to 24-year-olds are up 23.9% in two years, the fourth-steepest rise in London.
House prices
Bromley House Prices Down £7,231 as Neighbours Rise
Bromley's average home lost £7,231 in a year, to £518,235. Bexley and Lewisham rose over the same period. The June Land Registry figures, by property type.
Housing
St Paul's Cray: 68 affordable homes rise, 3,430 waiting
Foundations are complete on 68 council homes at Bellegrove, a £29m scheme due late 2027. Bromley's housing register holds 3,430 households.
Libraries
Shortlands Library shut for years: subsidence and asbestos
Bromley Council: Shortlands Library shut for months if not years as two front trees cause subsidence, cracked asbestos walls and a sinkhole. Where the library is now.
Schools
Bromley A level results 2026: 53% at A* or A at Newstead
Newstead Wood published 53% of entries at A* or A, Bromley High 58% and Langley Park Girls 20%, against 32.7% across London. Ofqual now breaks results down by borough too.
Parks
Shaftesbury Park playground reopens after £105,000 revamp
New swings, a rebuilt climbing frame and a restored pond are open at Shaftesbury Park in Plaistow, paid for with a £75,000 Veolia grant and £23,000 of jubilee parks money.
Housing
52 affordable homes approved for Orpington and Mottingham
Bromley has approved 42 council homes on Poverest Road, Orpington and 10 more on Castlecombe Road, Mottingham, all for households on its housing register.
Roads
Bromley road repairs: FM Conway takes on £106m contracts
FM Conway now fixes Bromley's roads, pavements, street lights and drains under three contracts worth an estimated £106m over six years from 1 July 2026.
Food hygiene
Bromley food hygiene ratings July 2026: all 66 scored 4 or 5
Inspectors rated 66 Bromley borough food businesses in July 2026: 64 took the top score of 5 and two cafes took a 4. Not one fell below 'good'. The full list, linked.