Ponders End, United Kingdom

In 1866 the London Jute Works Company established a factory on the Navigation in a desolate area known locally as Spike Island. Many of the new employees came from Dundee, the traditional centre of the jute industry in Scotland. The jute works closed in 1882, to be replaced by the Ediswan factory. Over the years the factory was enlarged, eventually covering 11.50 acres (4.65 ha), and employing many people, notably girls, from the area. Ediswan produced electric lamps, and the factory was colloquially known as The Lamp. They also manufactured appliances for the shipping and aviation industries, mechanical pianos and butter makers.

On 30th September 1940, during the Blitz, German Luftwaffe bombers were flying over the Lea Valley, possibly for a raid on the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield Lock. Instead, however, several bombs were dropped on Ponders End two miles to the south. One of these was a direct hit on the Two Brewers Pub at the corner of High Street and South Street. The detonation killed 20 people who were sheltering in the basement. The pub was never rebuilt and, 74 years later, a memorial garden was opened on the site where it once stood.

To the south of Ponders End Lock a factory making white lead was built in 1893. Further south of that factory, the Cortecine works produced floor-cloth and carpet backing. By 1906 over 2000 people were employed in local factories. Another major industry in the late 19th century was horticulture. Tomatoes and cucumbers were the principal produce, but flowers and fruit were also grown in the many orchards and greenhouses to the north of the locality. During World War I, a huge munitions factory, the Ponders End Shell Works, was built in Wharf Road. The factory building was sold after the war. Further factories were built in the 1930s alongside the newly-built Great Cambridge Road.

As of 2009 little remains of manufacturing, and much of the area has given way to warehousing and residential developments. Aesica pharmaceutical manufacturers (formerly Thomas Morson Ltd) closed its plant in 2011. Wright's Flour Mill, the oldest working industrial building in the borough remains, some of its buildings having been constructed in the 18th century.

On 7 August 2011 Ponders End was the scene of copy-cat riots which spread from Tottenham to neighbouring districts.

In spring 2017, Camden Town Brewery completed a new facility in Ponders End on the western bank of the Lee Navigation.

In August 2020, Beavertown Brewery opened "Beaverworld", a new brewery on a six-acre plot on the western bank of the Lee Navigation, creating up to 150 jobs.

In 2021 the new Electric Quarter development, comprising 167 homes, was completed. The homes were built on the site of the former police station which closed in 2011. A new library and medical centre were also opened in new buildings facing Ponders End High Street.