Waterlooville is a town in Hampshire, England approximately 8 miles north of Portsmouth.
The town has a population itself of about 10,000 and is surrounded by Purbrook, Blendworth, Cowplain, Lovedean, Clanfield, Catherington, Crookhorn, Denmead, Hambledon, Horndean and Widley. It forms part of the South Hampshire conurbation. The old A3 London to Portsmouth road still goes through the town.
Legend has it that it was named after the pub that stood at the centre of town, then known as Waitland End. The Heroes of Waterloo was named because on its opening day a long column of weary soldiers, who had just disembarked at Portsmouth returning home from the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, decided to stop there and celebrate their victory. According to local legend, many of them settled there; at any rate the public house was renamed in their honour and the area around the pub became known as Waterlooville.
The original "Heroes" public house was at a crossroads near the main bus-stop. A new pub has taken the name and is located at the northern end of the shopping precinct.
The local electrical shop, called Eric Jackson's Ltd, has been open since 1928 and is the oldest retailer in the town. The business now in its 3rd generation was started by Eric, then Michael and is now run by Peter Jackson.
The town centre was closed to traffic in 1981 when a bypass was constructed to take traffic away from the main shopping area. An underpass was constructed for pedestrians walking up along the Hambledon road. Between 1982–83 the old road was then fully converted to a pedestrian precinct. The bypass, initially anonymous, was named Maurepas Way sometime after the two towns were twinned in 1995.
In 2002 the local council allowed developers to build the Hambledon Road Retail Park and associated car park over the established primary pedestrian route. This resulted in pedestrians and cyclists having to negotiate the busy car park in order to do their regular business in town.
Near the town centre is the rebuilt St George's church. During the 1950s and 1960s the surrounding area saw extensive growth in housing, when large suburban public and private housing estates were constructed. This resulted in the original Victorian church failing to cope with the population growth. Plans for a new church were started and in 1970 the new church was built on the site of the old church. Parts of the old church were retained.
