The Flora pub and hotel, Harrow Road, London

The Harrow Road is an ancient route in

North West London The NW (North Western) postcode area, also known as the London NW postcode area, is a group of 13 postcode districts covering around 13,895 live postcodes within part of northwest London, England. It is the successor of the NW sector, originally ...

which runs from

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

in a northwesterly direction towards Harrow. It is also the name given to the immediate surrounding area of Queens Park and Kensal Green, straddling the NW10, W10, W2 and W9 postcodes. With minor deviations in the 19th and 20th centuries, the route remains otherwise unaltered. Harrow Road is also a ward of the City of Westminster. The population of this ward at the 2011 Census was 12,034.

Route

Kensal Green Cemetery Main Gates-2710268983

Before

urbanisation Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly the ...

the entire road was known as the "Harrow Road" but, as various local authorities came into existence and imposed independent numbering schemes and more localised descriptions on the parts of the road within their respective boundaries, the principal name was replaced in a number of places along its course. The current street names (with road numbers) running from Paddington to Harrow are as follows: Starting at the junction of Harrow Road and

Edgware Road Edgware Road is a major road in London, England. The route originated as part of Roman Watling Street and, unusually in London, it runs for 10 miles in an almost perfectly straight line. Forming part of the modern A5 road, Edgware Road undergoes ...

at Paddington Green in the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and London boroughs, borough in Inner London. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It occupies a large area of cent ...

: *Harrow Road (Paddington), passing through

Maida Hill Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district consisting of the northern part of Paddington in West London, west of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn. It is also the name of its main road, on the continuous Edgware Road. Maida Vale is p ...

, Queens Park and Kensal Green. This stretch runs partially alongside and underneath the Westway urban motorway. At the junction of

Ladbroke Grove Ladbroke Grove () is an area and a road in West London 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. It is also a name given to ...

the road leaves the City of Westminster and forms the boundary between the London Borough of Brent and the

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is an Inner London borough with royal status. It is the smallest borough in London and the second smallest district in England; it is one of the most densely populated administrative regions in the ...

(except for the length between

Kensal Green station Kensal Green is a railway station served by London Underground Bakerloo line and London Overground trains. It is located in College Road, London NW10 close to the junction with Harrow Road. It is about 0.5 mile (750m) route distance from the ol ...

and the entrance to

Kensal Green Cemetery Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of Queens Park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, it was founded by the barrister George Frederick ...

where it is entirely within Brent) until reaching Scrubs Lane where it becomes entirely within the borough of Brent. *High Street (

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 ...

), A404 *Craven Park, A404 *Hillside, A404 *Brentfield, A404 Passing over the

River Brent The River Brent is a river in west and northwest London, England, and a tributary of the River Thames. in length, it rises in the Borough of Barnet and flows in a generally south-west direction before joining the Tideway stretch of the Thame ...

which formed the pre-1965 boundary between the former

Municipal Borough of Willesden Willesden was a local government district in the county of Middlesex, England from 1874 to 1965. It formed part of the Metropolitan Police District and London postal district. Willesden was part of the built-up area of London and bordered the C ...

and the

Metropolitan Borough of Wembley Wembley was an urban district and later a municipal borough in Middlesex, England from 1894 to 1965. History Wembley Urban District was created by the Local Government Act 1894 from part of the existing Hendon Rural Sanitary District, and orig ...

(both now defunct) and from which the modern borough takes its name: *Harrow Road (

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

), A404 Which passes through

Tokyngton Tokyngton, also locally known as Monks Park, is a locality that forms the southeastern part of the town of Wembley in Greater London, in the London Borough of Brent, England. Most refer it as being either Wembley or Stonebridge, as the name ''T ...

*High Road (Wembley), A404 *Harrow Road ( Sudbury), A404, changing to A4005 at the junction with Watford Road (which continues the A404) Passing from the London Borough of Brent into the London Borough of Harrow at the Sudbury Court Drive junction: *Sudbury Hill, A4005 *London Road (Harrow), A4005, changing to B457 at junction with Roxeth Hill *High Street (Harrow), B457

History

What is now Harrow Road was a track in Celtic Britain. By the 19th century, it had become the main street in

. In the 20th century, many properties along Harrow Road were developed into high-rise social housing, though some 19th-century houses and commercial buildings north of the

Paddington Basin Paddington Basin is the name given to a long canal basin, and its surrounding area, in Paddington, London. The basin commences 500 m south of the junction known as Little Venice, of the Regent's Canal and the Paddington Arm of the Grand ...

were retained. These included

Elgin Towers Elgin may refer to: Places Canada * Elgin County, Ontario * Elgin Settlement, a 19th-century community for freed slaves located in present-day North Buxton and South Buxton, Chatham-Kent, Ontario * Elgin, a village in Rideau Lakes, Ontario ...

, constructed between 1966 and 1969, and demolished in 1994.

Cultural references

The 1950 film ''

The Blue Lamp ''The Blue Lamp'' is a 1950 British police procedural film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Jack Warner as PC Dixon, Jimmy Hanley as newcomer PC Mitchell, and Dirk Bogarde as criminal Tom Riley. The title refers to the blue lamps that t ...

'' is set around Harrow Road and features it prominently. In one version of the '' Bus Driver's Prayer'', the line from ''

The Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

'', "Hallowed be thy name" is replaced with "Harrow Road be thy name."

References

{{coord, 51.5545, N, 0.31517, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title, format=dms Streets in the City of Westminster Streets in the London Borough of Brent Streets in the London Borough of Harrow Streets in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea District centres of London