Kensal Rise and Kensal Green

In the last decade there have been changes here that have altered the dynamic of the area. The Irish pubs have gone (except one – Maggie’s), the estate agents have moved in and Tesco has planted its foot on Station Parade. A good or bad thing? We were here in the last century and have watched the changes.

They have been for the better. The impassive façade of John Nodes, Funeral Directors, still stands firm across Chamberlayne Road, but the local sandwiches are now in a different league – avocado, French cheeses, the list goes on.

There are butchers, fishmongers and greengrocers, charity shops, corner shops, cobblers, dry cleaners, florists and Warwick Estate Agents. It’s all here, thriving around the nexus of Station |Parade.

The Victorian villas lining the avenues have stood the test of time, with period rooms and gardens, while further north there are ‘30s family houses once owned by All Soul’s College in Oxford. To the south is the extraordinary Kensal Cemetery, a rival to Highgate.

Developers hunt for sites to build state of the art apartments to cope with the demands from south of the Harrow Road, but there are few such sites left. It’s all protected. The character of Kensal is resilient, while accommodating the new. This a neighbourhood, and one that is alive.

Two schools stand out, not just here but in London. Princess Frederica C of E Primary is rated as ‘outstanding’ and ‘good’ by Ofsted, while Capital City Academy, next to the sports grounds and health club, is as high tech as it gets. Transport is good, with excellent buses, Kensal Green (Bakerloo) and the overland from Kensal Rise.

Queen’s Park

The Queen’s Park, named for Queen Victoria, is a verdant enclave between Chamberlayne Road and Salusbury Road that is a magnet for residents in the area.

The café there is probably as sophisticated as in any London Park, though the animal sanctuary, with its saturnine goats, playground, woodland and impromptu football games preserve a ready cosmopolitanism. There also tennis courts, a small golf course and a petanque pitch if you care for such things.

Either side of the park elegant small villas stretch west and east, built by Solomon Barnett between 1895 and 1900.

To the north are large family houses, relatively undiscovered, while to the south the area is bordered by the main West Coast railway line. In Salusbury Road there are eateries, bars and boutiques, quaintly at odds with the character of the area that not so long ago prevailed when it was less salubrious. They sit well together. There is also the police station, the library, a medical health centre, the whole together providing what the locals zealously describe as a village atmosphere.

Transport is served by Queen’s Park Underground (Bakerloo) and a number of buses immediately south that go to apparently unstrategic destinations. Perhaps that’s why Queen’s Park retains its individuality. Residents car permits are issued by Westminster Council to the east and Brent to the west.

Ladbroke Grove and North Kensington

Ladbroke Grove is an area and a road in North Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, passing through Kensal Green and Notting Hill, running north–south between Harrow Road and Holland Park Avenue

Ladbroke Grove is the nearest tube station to Portobello Road Market. The adjacent bridge and nearby section of the Westway were regenerated in 2007 in a partnership including Urban Eye, Transport for London and London Underground. It is the main road on the route of the annual Notting Hill Carnival. The northern end between the Harrow Road and Kensal House is located in Kensal Green, the middle section between Barlby Road and the A40 flyover is in North Kensington with the southern end between Lancaster road and Holland Park Avenue situated in Notting Hill.

The area and the street are named after James Weller Ladbroke, who developed the Ladbroke Estate in the 1840s. It was originally a predominantly rural area on the western edges of London. Construction at the southern end by Holland Park Avenue began in the 1830s, but the road was not fully developed to Harrow Road until the 1870s.

Hablot Knight Browne, the cartoonist who illustrated Charles Dickens' novels as "Phiz", lived at No. 99 in 1872–80.

Harlesden and Willesden Junction

As Notting Hill and the Portobello once was, so is Harlesden now. It has a rich Afro-Caribbean culture, dappled with Irish, Indian, Portugese and Brazilian, and has the essential qualities of vitality that so marked out W11.

We all know what happened in Notting Hill. The same is happening in Harlesden, already attracting young professionals who prefer not to afford Kensal Rise or Queen’s Park.

To the north and east stretch quiet Victorian cottages in avenues towards Willesden, and are already the target of those with foresight.

The architectural critic Tom Dyckhoff of The Guardian recently wrote:

It is only a matter of time before this dusty corner becomes the Next Big Place.

There are good libraries, while Roundwood Park, Grade II Listed, is regarded as a gem by the locals. They would rather keep it quiet, but the circus comes once a year.

The local schools are rated ‘good’ by Ofsted – two primaries are Roman Catholic and C of E – while transport is soon to be revolutionised by the development of Willesden Junction to accommodate both Crossrail and the High Speed 2 link from the North. That too, apart from the shrewd attention of those with an eye for the Next Big Place, will have a significant effect on the area.

Brondesbury Park

Brondesbury Park is a suburb and electoral ward of the London Borough of Brent. It is the part of Brondesbury which is not interwoven with Kilburn due to the naming of a major tube station (Kilburn) and is centred on Brondesbury Park railway station and the street, an avenue, which shares its name. The area has a number of open spaces, primarily Queen's Park and Tiverton Green. Attractive long open tree lined avenues with a lot of art deco style buildings and Mansion block’s, considered a good area to bring up ones family, bearing in mind some there has been some rather good reports by Ofsted on some of the local schools.

Brondesbury Park is an alternate name for its manor, a specially empowered division of the large parish of Willesden as one of its eight prebends. The manor house is long-demolished. Landscape designer Humphry Repton transformed the focal 10 acres (4.0 ha) of Brondesbury Park, a varying demesne but in most years 54 acres (22 ha) in the 18th and 19th century, when he designed the garden. The house had been bought by his client Lady (Sarah) Salusbury's in 1789. Repton produced one of his famous 'Red Books' for the manor house, which has been republished, along with his Red Book for Glemham Hall in Suffolk.

Repton planned a garden with views across London, but Lady Salusbury wanted shade rather than sweeping views. The grounds of Lady Salusbury's house only amounted to 10 acres (4.0 ha). Repton found very few trees, so had planted hundreds of mature trees and shrubs. Lady Salusbury was so delighted with the work that she gave Repton a bonus of £50.

Some street names allude to the enclosed private park (garden) dominating the north of the area and notable manorial owners. The street named Brondesbury Park leads into Salusbury Road.:

Repton also worked on Wembley Park including what became Wembley Stadium today in the same borough.

Mapesbury Estate

The ward covers parts of the Kilburn and Cricklewood areas. Mapesbury ward is bounded to the north by Dollis Hill ward, to the west by Dudden Hill ward, to the south west by Willesden Green ward, to the south by Brondesbury Park ward, and to the east by the London Borough of Barnet and (further south) the London Borough of Camden.

The area formed part of the Middlesex parish and manor of Willesden, which was held by the chapter of St Paul's Cathedral by the time of the Norman Conquest. The manor was divided into eight prebends to support the various members of the chapter. One of these duly gained the name "Mapesbury" after Walter Map, prebendary from 1173–c1192. Willesden Lane was known as Mapes Lane until the 1860s.

Mapesbury remained countryside until the 1860s, when residential development began. By 1875 there were a number of large suburban villas. Four years later the Metropolitan Railway opened its line in the area, and building lots were let for "first class residences" Mapesbury Farm was leased to builders in 1893, and Mapesbury Road constructed in the following year. The main development took place between 1895 and 1905, consisting of brick-built houses with extensive tree planting. In 1982 Mapesbury was designated a conservation area.