1920

1921

Tom Webster establishes a bus service from Laindon Station to Wash Road. Old Tom Motor Services, as his business became known, operated from premises at Manor Road in Laindon until 1936, when he sold out to 'New Empress Saloons Ltd' - operators of the City services.

The Vange and Pitsea Working Men's Social Club established. The club and headquarters, based in the High Road, Vange, is still active and a notable venue for live entertainment.

19 June

1921 Census statistics for Basildon district now stand at 4,489.

1922

Pitsea War Memorial unveiled in the Broadway. Years later in 1969 it was moved to Howard Park, Pitsea, where it can be seen today.

15 November

Elected MP

1923

6 December

Mr. Philip Christopher Hoffman elected Labour MP for the Essex South Eastern parliamentary constituency - including Basildon. Majority 1,600.

1924

A Post Office is established at Henderson's General Stores in Lower Dunton Road, Dunton, between First and Second Avenues. Run as a family concern, a further store & cafe opened at the Junction of Hillcrest Avenue and First Avenue in a house called 'Everest'. Although both had closed by the mid 1960s, Everest, which stood on the Dunton Hills estate, was among the last properties to be demolished (following a fire), during the final wave of Development Corporation compulsory purchase orders issued in 1984.

18 September

First edition of the "Laindon Weekly News" newspaper appears. Priced at 1d, it is believed to have only lasted 3 or 4 editions. The proprietors, E.J. Baigent and Son of High Road, Laindon, later produced "The Laindon Advertiser and Timetable".

29 October

Elected MP for the Essex South Eastern constituency including Basildon.

1925

The first Pitsea Market is opened on land at Station Lane. The market would later move in 1969 to the former field abounding Station Lane and High Road, before a second move in the mid 1970s, which saw it resited to the rear of the Railway Hotel public house.

25 March

London to Southend A127 Arterial Road opened by H.R.H. Prince Henry. Work on building the new purpose built road, the first of its kind in England, began in 1921. A ribbon cutting ceremony took place at Rayleigh Weir; the Prince, 3rd son of King George V, then departing to Southend to conclude the event. Initially single carriageway through Basildon, it was later duelled and a cycle path added around 1937. In 1936 it became a Trunk Road as defined under the new Trunk Roads Act 1936. A planned realignment of the section between the Dunton Wayletts junction and the Nevendon A132 junction was proposed in the 1990s, but was rejected on a number of issues.

1926

3 April

Manor Mission in Manor Road, Laindon, opened. The original church began as a hut in the grounds of Laindon Manor Hall and was called Manor Hall Mission. Manor Mission was built on land originally owned by the Manor and since completion of the new building, was renamed Manor Mission. The Manor House was demolished many years ago and the area redeveloped.

1927

26 October

A purpose-built Sanatorium for children suffering from tuberculosis opens at Dry Street in Langdon Hills. The opening ceremony was performed by the Mayor of West Ham, Alderman Ernest Reed, whose council had purchased the 100 acre site including a large farmhouse. Years later in the 1950s, the hospital closed and the building found a new use - this time for dogs - as the privately owned Wootton House Boarding Kennels. A service it still provides today. In 1964 much of the grounds were purchased by Essex County Council for conservation.

1928

The 'new' Fortune of War Hotel public house opens. This public house sited on the corner of the former roundabout where the Laindon High Road once crossed the A127 London/Southend road was built to replace an earlier building also called 'Fortune of War' that still stands at the northern end of High Road (now Wash Road West), Laindon. During the 1980s it was briefly known as The Hustlers before spending its final years as 'The Fortune'. It was demolished in 2003. The site now comprises residential homes and flats.

Hickley established. Known locally for years as Hickley's & Sons, this long established business specialised in motor repairs and garage services in the High Road, Pitsea. They also had an electrical outlet adjacent to the garage, offering radio/television sales and repair, plus another shop at Vange, and from 1959 a shop at 2 Broadway North. They survived until at least the mid 1990s.

1929

Joseph Toomey opens a new business selling motor cycles called Laindon Accumulators.

Laindon High Road school opened.

The Broadway Cinema in Pitsea opens. With seating for 700, the venue would often provide variety shows as well as films. During the 1940s it became part of the local Radion group of cinemas, and by February 1955 had been acquired by Granada Cinema Circuit who renamed it Century. It closed as a cinema in 1970 and is now in use as a bingo hall and bears the name Gala. Outwardly the buildings appearance remains little altered from when it was first built.

March

The Laindon Picture Theatre opens in High Road, Laindon. Later renamed the Picture Palace and later still The Radion, it provided seating for 680 and a stage where variety shows would often take place. The cinema would remain open until 1969 when the building was demolished to make way for a new High Road dual carriageway.

30 May

Mr. John Richard Oldfield elected Labour MP for the Essex South Eastern parliamentary constituency - including Basildon. Majority 626.