St Albans : Britain

St Albans : Britain
St Albans (thus spelt, no apostrophe or dot) is the main urban area of the City and District of St Albans in southern Hertfordshire, England, around 22 miles (35.5km) north of central London. It was the first major town on the A5 for travellers heading north and was previously the Roman city of Verulamium. After the Roman withdrawal, and prior to becoming known as St Albans, the town was called Verlamchester or Wæclingacaester.
There are two train stations in St Albans. The City Station is about 750 metres east of the city centre and is served by Thameslink, with trains to London, Luton, London Luton Airport, Bedford, London Gatwick Airport and Brighton. The Abbey Station is about one kilometre south of the city centre and is served by the Abbey Flyer, which is operated by Silverlink. A single train runs between St Albans and Watford Junction, starting a new round trip every 45 minutes during most of the day.
There is easy access to London Luton Airport by both rail and road. London Heathrow Airport is around a 30 minute road journey.
GCSE results for District schools show 63% of pupils achieving 5 A* – C grades, against a national average of around 46%.
The centre of the city suffers significant road traffic congestion because it lacks a proper by-pass. The council estimates that 75% of traffic entering the city is through-traffic. During 2004 the problem was heavily exacerbated by a series of road works, prompting severe criticism of Hertfordshire County Council’s Hertfordshire Highways agency.
A street market is held in Market Place and St Peters Street on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
St Albans is one of several places that, by repute, has the most pubs per square mile in the country (Edinburgh, Nottingham, Otley and Rochdale are other claimants). It also claims to have the oldest pub in England, named Ye Olde Fighting Cocks (Nottingham again provide a counter-claimant in Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem).