Ipoh New Town

Ipoh New Town (10 March 2018)

Ipoh New Town is the section of Ipoh on the eastern bank of the Kinta River. The development of Ipoh New Town began around 1907. Although that is a long, long time ago, but it is still "newer" than Ipoh Old Town, which was established in the third quarter of the 19th century. Both are now the older parts of Ipoh, as the City of Ipoh today encompasses a much larger area. Ipoh New Town overlaps with Taman Jubilee and is often used interchangeably.

Until the turn of the 20th century, Ipoh New Town was padi land, much of which belonging to the local nobleman, Dato Panglima Kinta Muhammad Yusuff. The Hugh Low Bridge was then a simple bridge that acted as the sole artery to the "outskirts". The transformation of rice fields to urban landscape was largely the work of local tycoon Yau Tet Shin, a good buddy of then Resident of Perak, Sir Ernest Woodford Birch.

To make the land east of the Kinta River attractive to new settlers, Yau Tet Shin erected a Chinese theatre there. A makeshift market which was already established there would one day become the Ipoh Central Market, known today as UTC Perak. Around these, Yau Tet Shin laid new roads in simple grid. At that time, cars were a novelty. Nonetheless Yau had the foresight to make the roads wide enough for them. As was expected, New Town became boom town, necessitating a widening of Huge Low Bridge.