Editing Staines-upon-Thames (section)

===Commerce and industry===
The first record of a market at Staines is from 1218, when the Sherriff of Middlesex was ordered to change the day on which it was held from Sunday to Friday. It had been discontinued by 1862, but re-established ten years later when the Town Hall was built.<ref name=Reynolds_1962_pp20-21>{{harvnb|Reynolds|1962|pp=20–21}}</ref> In 2022, the market is held in the High Street on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.<ref>{{cite web |title= Your local market |publisher= Staines Market |url= https://www.stainesmarket.net |date= 22 May 2018 |access-date= 20 May 2022 |archive-date= 5 July 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210705144050/https://www.stainesmarket.net/ |url-status= live }}</ref> An annual fair to be held in the settlement was granted to Westminster Abbey by  [[Henry III of England|Henry III]] in 1228. Initially it took place over four days at [[Feast of the Ascension|Ascensiontide]], but the dates were changed to 7–10 September in 1241.<ref name=Reynolds_1962_pp20-21/> By 1792, there were two one-day fairs each year, the first on 11 May for horses and cattle and the second on 19 September, known as the Onion Fair, for [[produce]] and [[jewellery|trinkets]].<ref>{{harvnb|Anonymous|2004|p=18}}</ref> The fairs were abolished in 1896 by the [[Home Secretary]] at the request of the Staines UDC.<ref>{{cite news |title= Labour and wages |date= 10 May 1896 |issue= 2387 |location= London |work= Reynolds' Newspaper}}</ref>
[[File:Staines High Street - geograph.org.uk - 3594174.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association|Metropolitan Drinking Fountain]] (right) erected in 1885 was relocated to the High Street in 2002 as a non-functional monument]]

Domesday Book records six mills in Staines in 1086,<ref name=Staines_Domesday/> one of which is thought to have been at Yeoveney on Staines Moor. The site, close to the [[Wraysbury River]], an [[anabranch]] of the River Colne, is thought to have been the location of a late-medieval [[dye]] works and part of the mill was used for [[fulling]] in the 14th century.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Jones |first1= Phil |last2= O'Connell |first2= Martin |last3= Poulton |first3= Rob |year= 1990 |title= Excavations at Yeoveney, Near Staines, 1982 |url= https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-379-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_80/surreyac080_105-119_jones.pdf |journal= Surrey Archaeological Collections |volume= 80 |pages= 105–119 |access-date= 22 January 2021 |archive-date= 22 January 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210122222350/https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-379-1%2Fdissemination%2Fpdf%2Fvol_80%2Fsurreyac080_105-119_jones.pdf |url-status= live }}</ref> First recorded in 1682, Pound Mill was also on the Wraysbury River. It was bought by John Finch in 1747 and was a flour mill until the early 19th century, when it was used to grind [[mustard seed|mustard]]. The mill is immortalised in the road name, "Mustard Mill Road".<ref name=Mills_1993_pp26-27>{{harvnb|Mills|1993|pp=26–27}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Maryfield|2006|p=123}}</ref>

Hale Mill, on the main channel of the Colne, is thought to have its origins in the 13th century, but it was rebuilt in 1388 and became a fulling mill in the 15th century. Many of the mills in the local area were purchased in the second half of the 18th century by Thomas Ashby, a miller originally from [[Maidenhead]].<ref>{{harvnb|Maryfield|2006|pp=80–81}}</ref> Ashby founded a [[brewery]], subsequently taken over by his sons, which became a major employer in the town.<ref name=Maryfield_2006_pp98-99>{{harvnb|Maryfield|2006|pp=98–99}}</ref> Brewing ceased in Staines in the 1950s, but bottling continued at the plant until the 1970s.<ref name=Mills_1993_pp26-27/>

[[File:Staines_High_Street_-_geograph.org.uk_-_2835.jpg|thumb|right|''Release every pattern'', by [[David Annand]], celebrates [[linoleum]] manufacture in Staines.]]
Staines became a centre for [[linoleum]] manufacture in 1864, when [[Frederick Walton]], the inventor, opened the first factory to produce the floor covering on the Hale Mill site, to the north of the town centre. At its height in the 1920s, the Staines plant covered {{cvt|20|ha|acre}} and was one of twenty producers in Great Britain.<ref name=Mills_1993_pp30-31/><ref>{{harvnb|Crocker|1999|p=69}}</ref> Following the end of the Second World War, there was a decline in lino sales as [[Vinyl polymer|vinyl]] floor coverings became more popular. The Staines lino factory closed in 1973.<ref name=Mills_1993_pp30-31/>

The Elmsleigh Shopping Centre was opened by [[Elizabeth II]] on 22 February 1980,<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title= Court Circular |date= 23 February 2022 |page= 14 |issue= 60558}}</ref> providing {{cvt|250,000|sqft|m2}} of retail space.<ref>{{harvnb|Booker|Panter|1981|p=3}}</ref>{{refn|The Elmsleigh Centre was named after Elmsleigh House, the late-Victorian residence of the Ashby family, which was later used as offices by the Staines UDC.<ref>{{harvnb|Goble|2016|p=27}}</ref>|group=note}} Much of the High Street was pedestrianised in 2002<ref>{{harvnb|Jackson|2002|p=19}}</ref> and the Two Rivers Shopping Centre, on the site of the old linoleum works, was opened in 2002.<ref>{{cite web |title= UK Two Rivers Shopping Centre |date= 9 August 2019 |url= https://www.hubparking.com.au/case-histories/uk-two-rivers-shopping-centre/ |publisher= Hub Parking Technology |access-date= 9 May 2022 |archive-date= 6 March 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220306071632/https://hubparking.com.au/case-histories/uk-two-rivers-shopping-centre/ |url-status= live }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Goble|2016|p=26}}</ref>

In the 21st century, proximity to London, [[London Heathrow Airport|Heathrow Airport]] and the [[M25 motorway]] has attracted large company branch offices, including: [[Bupa]] (healthcare)<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.indeed.co.uk/cmp/Bupa/reviews?fcountry=GB&floc=Staines-upon-Thames |title=Working at Bupa in Staines-upon-Thames: 52 Reviews &#124; Indeed.co.uk |access-date=27 September 2020 |archive-date=22 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122222430/https://www.indeed.co.uk/cmp/Bupa/reviews?fcountry=GB&floc=Staines-upon-Thames |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Wood Group|Wood]] plc (oil & gas).<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://local.standard.co.uk/company/482623033925632 |title=Wood PLC, Compass Point, 79-87 Kingston Road, Staines-upon-thames, Middlesex, TW18 1DT |access-date=27 September 2020 |archive-date=22 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122222355/https://local.standard.co.uk/company/482623033925632 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Siemens]] Building Automation Division and [[British Gas]] (part of [[Centrica]]) have their national headquarters here.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.centrica.com/sites/default/files/1763_centrica_location_maps_uk_and_roi.pdf|title=See all our locations in the UK and Republic of Ireland|author=<!--Staff writer(s)-->|date=2015-06-29|publisher=[[Centrica]]|access-date=2016-02-18|quote=3. British Gas Head office, The Causeway, Staines|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160301065610/https://www.centrica.com/sites/default/files/1763_centrica_location_maps_uk_and_roi.pdf|archive-date=1 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Samsung]] R&D Institute UK (SRUK), Samsung's UK R&D division, is based in the town.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://research.samsung.com/sruk |title=SR United Kingdom |website=Samsung Research |publisher=Samsung |access-date=September 20, 2020 |archive-date=19 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201019234928/https://research.samsung.com/sruk |url-status=live }}</ref>