Encountered Oliver's friend in London suburban area (9)

I believe the answer is:

metroland

'london suburban area' is the definition.
(suburban area around London)

'encountered oliver's friend' is the wordplay.
'encountered' becomes 'met' ('meet' can be a synonym of 'encounter').
'oliver's friend' becomes 'Roland' (Roland and Oliver, friends in The Song of Roland).
'met'+'roland'='METROLAND'

'in' is the link.

(Another definition for metroland that I've seen is " London suburbs".)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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