Jewel of Hertfordshire

To call St. Albans the jewel of Hertfordshire perhaps isn’t saying a whole lot. After all, to compare it to close neighbours Watford (with its strange one-way system and perpetually underachieving football team) and Hatfield (with its cinema and shopping centre being the only reason to enter its town limits) is perhaps a little unfair, seeing as there is no real competition from either.

St. Albans is small city, with a population of about 60,000 but its impact on history should not be underestimated. We have schooled one Pope, Adrian IV, and Stephen Hawking was falling behind in his physics classes until he went to school there. Back when it was called Verulamium, it was burnt to the ground by Queen Boudicca and the Iceni tribe in Roman times and many of the remains of the old town are still visible today.

St. Albans was the site of a couple of battles during the War of the Roses and currently holds the honour of having the most pubs per person/square mile/dog/Carlisle fan in the country. The actual honour is up for dispute, but the gist is there is are a lot of places to drink. Oh, and we gave the world the tedious and turgid Enter Shikari. Sorry about that last one.

We’re a culturally diverse bunch, as evident by the huge amount of Fiats honking their horns throughout the night after Italy’s dramatic World Cup win in 2006. St. Albans is home to the Curry Chef of the Year® and much of the food around the place is top notch.

The local theatre, The Alban Arena, has had many famous and funny people perform on its stage. Great comedians like Frankie Boyle, Rich Hall and Dylan Moran have all entertained the masses, not to mention the sometimes torturous routines of Lenny Henry. U2 once graced the stage here and I personally believe that St. Albans gave them the bump they needed to go on and take over the world in the annoyingly self-righteous way they did. If that isn’t reason enough to come and visit the wonderful city of St. Albans, then I just don’t know what is.

Every morning, the people of St. Albans wake up to the sight of the Norman Abbey poking out through the mist and they thank their lucky stars that they don’t live in Hemel Hempstead.

Chris Aikman

Tags: culture, Hertfordshire, history, St Albans