Kenton is a district in north-west

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England, to the east of

Harrow Harrow may refer to: Places * Harrow, Victoria, Australia * Harrow, Ontario, Canada * The Harrow, County Wexford, a village in Ireland * London Borough of Harrow, England * Harrow, London, a town in London * Harrow (UK Parliament constituency) * ...

and historically in

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

. As with surroundings in Harrow,

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 the London Borou ...

and

Kingsbury Kingsbury may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Kingsbury, London, a district of northwest London in the borough of Brent ** Kingsbury tube station, London Underground station * Kingsbury, Warwickshire, a village and civil parish in Warwickshi ...

, the area was a product of Metroland suburbia of the early 20th century. Both the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the LNWR was the largest joint stock company in the world. Dubbed the "Premier Line", the LNWR's main line connec ...

and

Metropolitan Railway The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...

reached the area by the 1920s. The main road through Kenton, the east-west Kenton Road, is a busy and important road that links Harrow to the major

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 in an almost perfectly straight line. Forming part of the modern A5 road, Edgware Road undergoes sever ...

. The road now forms the boundary between the

London borough The London boroughs are the current 32 districts of England, local authority districts that together with the City of London make up the administrative area of Greater London, England; each is governed by a London borough council. The present ...

s of

and Brent.

History

The hamlet was recorded as "Keninton" in 1232. The name derives from the personal name of the Saxon "Coena" and the Old English "tun", a farm – and means "the farm of Coena" and his family who once lived on a site near here. Before the 20th century, the tiny settlement was concentrated around in what was Kenton Lane (the easternmost part of which remains as Old Kenton Lane to the east of Kingsbury station) and is now part of the present-day Woodgrange Avenue and Kenton Road. The Windermere is a

Grade II listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

public house A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

in Windermere Avenue. It is on the

Campaign for Real Ale The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, which promotes real ale, cider and perry and traditional British pubs and clubs. History The organisation was founded on 16 ...

National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors The National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors was a register of public houses in the United Kingdom with interiors which had been noted as being of significant historic interest, having remained largely unchanged for at least 30 years, but us ...

and was built in 1938. The Plough public house was Kenton's first, opening in the early 18th century; the current building is not the original. It is now an Indo-Chinese fusion restaurant and bar. Local Primary Schools include Uxendon Manor on Vista Way and Priestmead Primary School on Hartford Avenue. The local high school is Claremont High School on Claremont Avenue off Kenton Road.

Kenton station Kenton is an interchange station situated on Kenton Road in Kenton, north-west London. It is on the Bakerloo line of the London Underground and the Lioness line of the London Overground, between Harrow & Wealdstone and South Kenton stations ...

was opened by the

on 15 June 1912. The

's Northwick Park and Kenton station (later renamed

Northwick Park Northwick Park is a formerly larger public park in the London Borough of Brent between eastern Harrow and Kenton, north-west London. Most of the park consists of playing fields, kite flying areas, and trees. It has often lent its name to an ...

) followed on 28 June 1923.

Geography

From its original location near The Grange, Kenton expanded toward

Wealdstone Wealdstone () is a district located in the centre of the London Borough of Harrow, England. It is located just north of Harrow, London, Harrow town centre and is south of Harrow Weald, west of Belmont, Harrow, Belmont and Kenton, London, Kenton, ...

and

Stanmore Stanmore is part of the London Borough of Harrow in Greater London. It is centred northwest of Charing Cross, lies on the outskirts of the London urban area and includes Stanmore Hill, one of the List of highest points in London, highest point ...

after the opening of

on the Euston to Watford Junction railway in 1912 and grew into a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

of London from the 1920s. The South Kenton area is distinct from Kenton, being almost contiguous with

North Wembley North Wembley is a district in north-west London, England. It is located in the London Borough of Brent and is mostly made up of the 1930s Sudbury Court Estate. North Wembley forms the north-western part of the district of that is its namesake. ...

and Preston. It is entirely within Brent. Most of the district is part of the HA3 postcode, but the southern part is in HA9 and

is in HA1.

Waterways

The Wealdstone Brook is the only visible waterway within the area. It has two branches, one originating in Wealdstone and the other in Stanmore; these combine underground near the junction of Kenton Lane and Kenton Road. The Western (Wealdstone) branch is in culvert as far as the south side of the Kenton Recreation Ground; the Eastern (Stanmore) branch is mostly in culvert from near the source on Clamp Hill to where it combines with the Western branch. It functions mainly as a land drain devoid of wildlife until it reaches Woodcock Park and was previously heavily polluted by run-off water and illicit connections from adjacent houses; a 2013 Thames Water project in the vicinity of Woodcock Park identified 140 premises discharging into the Brook.

Housing

The coming of the railways was soon followed by suburban development, most of Kenton being built between the Wars. The

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

built the Kenmore Park cottage estate between the wars. There are 654 houses on the site, a housing density of 11.3 per acre (28/ha). Thomas Francis Nash owned building companies which from the 1920s onward built numerous private

housing estates A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex, housing development, subdivision or community) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Popular through ...

in Kenton,

Ruislip Ruislip ( ) is a suburb in the London Borough of Hillingdon in northwest London. Prior to 1965 it was in Middlesex. Ruislip lies west-north-west of Charing Cross, London. The manor of Ruislip appears in the Domesday Book, and some of the ear ...

and other parts of the " Metroland" area of

. F. & C. Costin was another local building company that built much of Kenton between the wars. Local

estate agents An estate agent is a person or business in the United Kingdom that arranges the selling, renting, or managing of properties and other buildings. An agent that specialises in renting is often called a letting or management agent. Estate agents a ...

still use the term "Nash-built" or "Costin-built" to describe properties built by them in Kenton.

Culture and media

Apart from the infamous appearance of several of Kenton's streets in the "

Gourmet Night ''Fawlty Towers'' is a British television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, originally broadcast on BBC Two in 1975 and 1979. Two series of six episodes each were made. The series is set in Fawlty Towers, a dysfunctional fictional ...

" episode of the BBC-TV comedy series ''

Fawlty Towers ''Fawlty Towers'' is a British television sitcom written by John Cleese and Connie Booth, originally broadcast on BBC Two in 1975 and 1979. Two series of six episodes each were made. The series is set in Fawlty Towers, a dysfunctional fictional ...

'' starring John Cleese, the only known reference to Kenton in modern popular culture is the song "Kenton Kev", by the Berlin-based punk-jazz band The Magoo Brothers on their album "Beyond Believable", released on the Bouncing Corporation label in 1988. The song refers to the "pleasant valley" high suburban boredom factor then prevalent in the area, and cites local characters and places, some fairly well known. It is said that "Kenton Kev" refers in fact to Kevin Jones, the US-based property magnate, who was actually born in Kenton. The song was written by

Paul Bonin Paul Bonin is a singer and musician (electric bass, guitar) and a songwriter/composer. His body of published recorded work spans from 1980 to the present day. Biography Early life (1979–1986) Bonin was born in Hammersmith, London and gre ...

, Philip Ulysses Sanders and Melanie Hickford, all of whom grew up and lived in the area.

Demography

Kenton is represented by three

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected t ...

s: Kenton East and Kenton West in Harrow, and Kenton in Brent. All together the population was 35,600 as of 2015. Kenton has a high degree of its population belonging to ethnic minorities, over 70% in all three wards and higher than the Harrow and Brent averages; like much of Harrow and

, there is a particularly large number of people from

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

descent. The Kenton ward in Brent has a female life expectancy of 91.6 years, which is the third-highest in Greater London. The male expectancy was 83.3 years. The crime rate of Kenton East ward in Harrow was 33.5 in 2014/15, which was one of the lowest out of all wards in Greater London. Kenton East also has the lowest proportion of bicycle commuters in Greater London, amounting to only 0.2% of the population.

Governance

Kenton is part of both the

Harrow East Harrow East is a constituency in Greater London created in 1945 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Bob Blackman, a Conservative. Constituency profile The censuses of 2001 and 2011 show the overwhelmingl ...

parliamentary constituency, most recently represented by

Bob Blackman Robert John Blackman Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), MP (born 26 April 1956) is a British politician who has been the chairman of the 1922 Committee and chair of the Backbench Business Committee since 2024. A member of the Conservative ...

(

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

), and the

Brent North Brent North was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 1997 until its abolition for the 2024 general election by Barry Gardiner of the Labour Party. Under the 2023 review of Westminster constituencies, t ...

constituency which is represented by

Barry Gardiner Barry Strachan Gardiner (born 10 March 1957) is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Brent North from 1997 until the seat's abolition in 2024 and Brent West since 2024. He is a member of the Labour Party. The s ...

( Labour).

Public services

Kenton Library, run by Harrow Council, is located in Kenton Lane. Kenton Ambulance Station is located at the eastern end of Kenton, near

Circle.

Northwick Park Hospital Northwick Park Hospital (NWPH) is a major National Health Service hospital situated in the town of Harrow, North West London, managed by the London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust. It is located off Watford Road in the London Borough ...

is located very close by Kenton.

Parks and sports

There are three large open spaces in or near Kenton: Woodcock Park, Kenton Recreation Ground, and

directly to the west in the northern part of Wembley. The Kenton Sports Club and its ground is located on Kenton Lane which consists of cricket, tennis and table tennis.

Education

Secondary schools in the area are: St Gregory's Catholic Science College, Claremont High School, and JFS.

Religion

Kenton has several religious institutions. Churches in the area include the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Kenton

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

Church, Kenton

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

Church, and Kenton

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

Church. Further east on Kenton Road are the All Saints

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Church, and the St Panteleimon

Greek Orthodox Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Greek Christianity, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christians or more broadly the rite used in the Eastern Rom ...

Church, the latter being one of the capital's few Greek Orthodox churches outside North London. The building of St Panteleimon's dates back to 1932. It was originally built as a mission church for St Mary's, used by the Orthodox community from 1989, and acquired fully in 1994. There are two Hindu mandirs: Haridham Swaminarayan Temple on Woodcock Hill, and Shree Kutch Satsang Swaminarayan Temple by Kenton Road. Kenton is also home to one of the UK's

Derasar A Jain temple, Derasar (Gujarati: દેરાસર) or Basadi (Kannada: ಬಸದಿ) is the place of worship for Jains, the followers of Jainism. Jain architecture is essentially restricted to temples and monasteries, and Jain buildings gen ...

s on the east side of Kenton Road which serve followers of

Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religions, Indian religion whose three main pillars are nonviolence (), asceticism (), and a rejection of all simplistic and one-sided views of truth and reality (). Jainism traces its s ...

. By Woodcock Park is also a

United Synagogue The United Synagogue (US) is the largest umbrella body for Orthodox Judaism in Britain. It is structured as a charity which serves the United Kingdom, British Jewish community in the broadest possible way. One of the largest charities in the B ...

. There are no mosques in Kenton itself but the

Harrow Central Mosque Harrow Central Mosque is a Sunni mosque and Islamic community hub in Harrow, England. The current centre opened in 2011 on no. 34 Station Road, adjacent to Harrow Civic Centre and a short distance south of Wealdstone town centre. The purpose-b ...

is quite proximate from some parts.

Transport

Buses

The following

London Bus Buses have been used as a mode of public transport in London since 1829, when George Shillibeer started operating a horse-drawn ''omnibus'' service from Paddington to the City of London. In the decades since their introduction, the red London ...

routes operate through the area:

Tube/trains

Stations in the area are: *

Kenton Station Kenton is an interchange station situated on Kenton Road in Kenton, north-west London. It is on the Bakerloo line of the London Underground and the Lioness line of the London Overground, between Harrow & Wealdstone and South Kenton stations ...

(

Bakerloo line The Bakerloo line () is a London Underground line that runs between in suburban north-west London and in south London, via the West End. Printed in brown on the Tube map, it serves 25 stations, 15 of which are underground, over . It runs par ...

Watford DC Line The Watford DC line is a suburban railway line from London Euston to Watford Junction in Greater London and Hertfordshire. The line is shared by services on London Underground's above-ground section of the Bakerloo line between Harrow & Weald ...

) *

South Kenton Station South Kenton is an interchange station in Kenton, north-west London. It is on the Bakerloo line of the London Underground and the Lioness line of the London Overground, between Kenton and North Wembley stations. It is located between The L ...

(Bakerloo line & Watford DC Line) * Northwick Park Station (

Metropolitan line The Metropolitan line, colloquially known as the Met, is a London Underground line between in the City of London and and in Buckinghamshire, with branches to in Hertfordshire and in London Borough of Hillingdon, Hillingdon. Printed in mage ...

)

Notable people

* Actress

Michele Austin Michele Austin is a British actress. She best known for her role as Yvonne Hemmingway on ITV's ''The Bill'', for which she won the Screen Nation Award for Best Television Actress, and for her portrayal of Chantelle in '' Hard Truths'', for wh ...

, best known as PC

Yvonne Hemmingway ''The Bill'' is a long-running British television police procedural television series which ran from 16 August 1983 to the show’s cancellation on 31 August 2010, named after a slang term for the police. The characters are all police officers ...

in ITV's ''

The Bill ''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, "Woodentop (The Bill), Woodentop" (part of the ''Storyb ...

'', attended Claremont High School in Kenton * Baroness

Shami Chakrabarti Sharmishta Chakrabarti, Baroness Chakrabarti (born 16 June 1969) is a British politician, barrister, and human rights activist. A member of the Labour Party, she served as the director of Liberty, a major advocacy group which promotes civil l ...

, the human rights lawyer, was born in Kenton * Cricketer

Denis Compton Denis Charles Scott Compton (23 May 1918 – 23 April 1997) was an English multi-sportsman. As a cricketer he played in 78 Test matches and spent his whole career with Middlesex. As a footballer, he played as a winger and spent most of his ca ...

(1918–1997) lived in Kenton * TV exercise instructor Mr Motivator (Derrick Evans) lived in Kenton *

Mary Millington Mary Ruth Maxted (née Quilter; 30 November 1945 – 19 August 1979), known professionally as Mary Millington from 1974 onwards, was an English model, call girl and pornographic actress. Her appearance in the short softcore film '' Sex is ...

(1945–1979), 1970s

sex symbol A sex symbol or icon is a person or character widely considered sexually attractive and often synonymous with sexuality. Pam Cook, "The trouble with sex: Diana Dors and the Blonde bombshell phenomenon", In: Bruce Babinigton (ed.), ''British St ...

, was born in Kenton * Actress

Sophie Okonedo Sophie Okonedo (born 11 August 1968) is a British actress and narrator. The recipient of a Tony Award, she has been nominated for an Academy Award, three BAFTA TV Awards, an Emmy Award, two Laurence Olivier Awards, and a Golden Globe Award. She ...

lived in Kenton * Stuart "Psycho" Pearce, football manager and former player, attended Claremont High School in Kenton * Actress

Pam St. Clement Pamela Ann Clements (born 11 May 1942), known professionally as Pam St Clement, is an English actress. She is known for portraying the role of Pat Butcher in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' from 12 June 1986 until 1 January 2012, with a guest ...

, best known as Pat in

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

soap ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...

'', lived in Kenton *

Ken Simmons Kenneth Edwin Laurence Ryder Simmons (29 March 1929 – 25 February 2002) was a respected United Kingdom, British ornithologist born in Kenton, London, Kenton, Middlesex. He spent his early childhood in China and went to school in London, Wi ...

(1929–2002), ornithologist * Journalist and broadcaster

John Timpson John Harry Robert Timpson, (2 July 1928 – 19 November 2005) was a British journalist, best known as a radio presenter. Early life Born at Ridgeholme, 53 The Ridgeway, Kenton, Middlesex, he was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, a boys' ...

(1928–2005) was born in Kenton * Footballer Darren Ward was born in Kenton * Actress

Mary Wimbush Mary Wimbush (19 March 1924 – 31 October 2005) was an English actress whose career spanned sixty years. Active across film, television, theatre and radio, she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1969 film ...

(1924–2005), best known as Julia Pargetter in

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

's ''

The Archers ''The Archers'' is a British radio soap opera currently broadcast on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word Radio broadcasting, channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now pr ...

'', was born in Kenton

Gallery

St Mary, Kenton Road, Harrow - geograph.org.uk - 1692448.jpg, Front entrance to St Mary Church Church of St Mary the Virgin, Kenton - geograph.org.uk - 99150.jpg, Front entrance to St Mary Church Hindu Temple, Kenton, Harrow - geograph.org.uk - 98989.jpg, Shree Kutch Satsang Swaminarayan, Hindu mandir Kenton, Lindsay Drive - geograph.org.uk - 477340.jpg, Lindsay Drive in Kenton South Kenton, Abbott's Drive - geograph.org.uk - 1736587.jpg, Abbott's Drive in South Kenton Kenton, Kenton Road - geograph.org.uk - 1780026.jpg, Kenton Road, near Kenton Park Parade, in 1955; the spire of St Mary's Church on Harrow Hill is visible in the background

References

Notes Further reading * Ebdon, John (1985) ''Ebdon's England'' David & Charles.

External links

Kenton Recreation Ground
– Kenton Recreation Ground featuring The Old Bowls Cafe {{Authority control Areas of London Districts of the London Borough of Harrow Districts of the London Borough of Brent Places formerly in Middlesex District centres of London