Church End, commonly known locally as "Church Road", is a small locality in the

London Borough of Brent The London Borough of Brent () is a London boroughs, London borough in north-west London. It borders the boroughs of London Borough of Harrow, Harrow to the north-west, London Borough of Barnet, Barnet to the north-east, London Borough of Camden ...

and a sub-district of Willesden. The population is predominantly

Afro-Caribbean Afro-Caribbean people or African Caribbean are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern African-Caribbeans descend from Africans taken as slaves to colonial Caribbean via the ...

. The street Church Road is the main thoroughfare of the neighbourhood, which also includes a short

crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is often shown wearing a crescent moon on his ...

at the northern end, just off Willesden Magistrates Court. To the west, the Dudding Hill Line and

Taylors Lane Power Station Taylors Lane Power Station is situated in Willesden, north-west London. The first power station on the site, known as Willesden power station, was coal-fired and operated from 1903 to 1972 and was subsequently demolished. Taylors Lane is now an ...

separates it from Brentfield Road in Stonebridge. The nearest train station at its northern end is

Neasden Neasden is a suburban area in northwest London, England. It is located around the centre of the London Borough of Brent and is within the NW2 ( Cricklewood) and NW10 (Willesden) postal districts. Neasden is near Wembley Stadium, the Welsh Har ...

and at its southern end is

Harlesden Harlesden is a district in the London Borough of Brent, North West London. Located north of the Grand Union Canal and Wormwood Scrubs, the Harrow Road flows through the centre of the area which goes eastwards to Central London and west towards ...

. Bus routes 260 and 266 serve Church Road, with 297 at the northern end and 18/N18 at the southern end.

Church End Estate

Church End is a deprived community with a large Caribbean and newer Somali population. Hassan Farah was credited with getting four local British Somali youngsters from the Queen's Road Community School to

Oxbridge Oxbridge is a portmanteau of Oxford and Cambridge, the two oldest, wealthiest, and most famous universities in the United Kingdom. The term is used to refer to them collectively, in contrast to other British universities, and more broadly to de ...

. The 2020

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

has had a serious effect on this community. At least 36 residents have died, making this cluster the second worst in England and Wales. Many of the victims have been men, like Farah in their 40s and 50s- whole families have been wiped out. Brent has the highest age-standardised coronavirus death rate in the country, excess deaths being three times the national average.

History

Church End arose as the area around St. Mary's Church near Willesden. It was known as "the Churchend" in the late 16th century. During the 18th century, a village and inns developed around the church. The arrival of the railways in the 19th century lead to further development, though the area remained agricultural to begin with. An 1876 book noted "There are a few houses about the ch., at what is called Church End" and recorded there being two inns, the White Horse and the White Hart. Industry and "poor housing" grew the area to be contiguous with Harlesden, though Roundwood Park was still green space. By the 20th century it was one of the poorest parts of London and from the 1960s was known for high rates of unemployment. Road widening and building in the 1960s changed the character of the area. The council transferred Church End Estate and Roundwood Estate to Fortunegate in 1998 in a regeneration scheme. A regeneration plan for the Church End Neighbourhood Centre was approved by the council cabinet in 2016.

Crime

Church End Estate, along with Roundwood Estate and some of Harlesden, is associated with the Church Road Soldiers

street gang A gang is a group or society of associates, friends or members of a family with a defined leadership and internal organization that identifies with or claims control over territory in a community and engages, either individually or collectivel ...

. Gang violence led to the fatal shootings in Church End in 2016 of two men in their twenties who were uninvolved in gangs, Oliver Tetlow and James Owusu-Ajyekum.

Notable residents

* Nines *

Ice City Boyz Ice City Boyz, often abbreviated as ICB, also known as CSB (Crime Scene Boyz) and CRS (Church Road Soldiers), is a British hip hop collective from Church End, London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United King ...

References

External links