Hemel, as it is known colloquially, is a town of two halves. The Old Town was granted a town charter by King Henry VIII in 1539, although the area had been inhabited for centuries before. After World War II, the population of London expanded rapidly, and so, in 1949 Hemel was designated for development as a “New Town” to take in some of the overspilling population who were displaced by the Blitz and London’s slum clearance programme. New Hemel Hempstead is located about half a mile south of the Old, and the Waterstones is located here in a modern building in the Riverside Shopping Centre.
The Old Town
New Town
Janet's Adventures in Waterstones 