| Rayners Lane | |
|---|---|
 Shops on the junction of Rayners Lane and Village Way | |
  Rayners Lane Location withinGreater London | |
| Population | 9,143 (2021, ward)[1] |
| OS grid reference | TQ128873 |
| London borough | |
| Ceremonial county | Greater London |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Harrow |
| Postcode district | HA2 |
| Post town | Pinner |
| Postcode district | HA5 |
| Dialling code | 020 |
| Police | Metropolitan |
| Fire | London |
| Ambulance | London |
| UK Parliament | |
| London Assembly | |
| 51°34′25″N0°22′25″W / 51.5737°N 0.3735°W /51.5737; -0.3735 | |
Rayners Lane is a suburban district in theLondon Borough of Harrow that forms the western part ofHarrow in northwest London. Located betweenPinner andWest Harrow,[2] it takes its name from a road in the area, also called Rayners Lane (formerly also speltRayner's Lane) which runs from Marsh Road in Pinner to Eastcote Lane inSouth Harrow.
The first documented use of Rayner as a place name inPinner was from 1856 when two fields, Upper Rayners Field and Lower Rayners Field, were mentioned in aconveyance. These were named after the Rayner family, who moved fromRuislip to Pinner at the start of the 19th century.[3] It is assumed the Rayners Lane roadway was given that name sometime before the Rayner family left the area in the 1870s.[3] The roadway was often called Bourne Lane, because it crossed several streams, including theYeading Brook.[3] During the medieval period, it functioned as a nameless service road linking Pinner andRoxeth.[4] It was used to transport grain to the mill onPinner Green.[citation needed]
TheMetropolitan Railway was extended toUxbridge fromHarrow on the Hill in 1904, passing across Rayners Lane.[citation needed] Ahalt was built at Rayners Lane, opening in 1906. Despite this, the area remained rural, with a single farmstead north of the halt.[5]
The area saw wide-ranging development in the 1930s. The developments were part of the Metropolitan Railway's plans to bring customers to its railway by developing the surrounding countryside – an area marketed asMetro-land.[6]
The first development in Rayners Lane was in 1927 when Metropolitan Railway Country Estates Ltd. purchased land north of the station. The development, namedHarrow Garden Village, was built by E.S. Reid and was laid out on garden suburb principles.[7]
Further developments followed after Tithe Farm south of the Piccadilly Line was sold to T.F. Nash Ltd. in about 1930. This was the widest-scale development in the Pinner area and consisted of cheap, mostly terraced housing.[8] Nash excelled at advertising the estate,[5] and in 1933 he constructed a temporary 35-foot illuminated wooden arch across Alexandra Avenue as part of an advertising promotion.[8]
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Other developers were also active in the area. H.J. Mark was a prolific architect who designed many buildings on the Alexandra Avenue shopping parade.[5]Charles Holden andReginald Uren redesigned thestation which was completed in 1938[9] and served the Metropolitan and Piccadilly tube lines.
In October 2002, Rayners Lane Conservation Area was designated byHarrow Council. This covers the area around the station and the shopping parades on Alexandra Avenue. The designation aims to protect the character of the area and identify opportunities to preserve and improve it.[5]
Rayners Lane lies within theLondon Borough of Harrow, governed under the local authority ofHarrow London Borough Council. TheRayners Lane ward was established in The London Borough of Harrow (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1978,[10] comprising areas that were previously part of the Pinner South andRoxbourne wards.[11] Thefirst elections in the ward were held in May 1978 in which threeConservative councillors were elected.[10][12]
Ward boundaries were revised in 2000[13] and most recently in 2020, taking effect in the2022 council elections.[14] As a result of the 2020 changes, the Rayners Lane ward lost the Harrow Garden Village area north of the station to thePinner South ward. It also had its total number of councillors reduced from three to two.[14] In 2022, Krishna Suresh (Labour) and Thaya Idaikkadar (Conservative) were elected as councillors to represent the ward[15] while theConservative Party took control of the council.[16]
Rayners Lane is in theBrent and Harrow constituency for theLondon Assembly which has been represented since 2021 byKrupesh Hirani (Labour).[17] It is also in theHarrow West parliamentary constituency[18] which has been represented since 1997 byGareth Thomas (Labour).[19] The Pinner South ward is part of theRuislip, Northwood and Pinner parliamentary constituency[18] represented since 2019 byDavid Simmonds (Conservative).[20]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Krishna Suresh | 1,399 | 44.1 | +1.2 | |
| Conservative | Thaya Idaikkadar | 977 | 30.8 | +1.9 | |
| Labour | Tarza Ahmed Sharif | 962 | 30.3 | −8.6 | |
| Conservative | Mala Morjaria | 886 | 27.9 | +0.0 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Chris Noyce | 665 | 20.9 | −15.9 | |
| Independent | Sockalingam Yogalingam | 559 | 17.6 | N/A | |
| Liberal Democrats | Gerri Noyce | 426 | 13.4 | −14.7 | |
| Green | Rowan Nicholas Charles Langley | 182 | 5.7 | N/A | |
| Independent | Herbie Crossman | 166 | 5.2 | N/A | |
| Turnout | 3,175 | 45.0 | |||
Rayners Lane is located in the upper part of the Crane Valley within the catchment area of theRiver Crane.[21] The east and west branches ofYeading Brook, the dominant source of the Crane, pass through the surrounding area.[22]
Built atop a railway bridge, theUnderground station marks the highest point in the area. It is a focal point of the Rayners Lane conservation area, which includes the shopping parades north and south of the station. Beyond this area, terraced and semi-detached houses built in the 1930s form much of the district.[5] In the2021 census, 49.04% of households were reported to be terraced, the highest proportion of any ward in theLondon Borough of Harrow.[23] The remainder were 32.29% semi-detached, 11.25% flats and 3.51% detached.[1] Despite being a relatively small area, it boasts many retail chains.
Neighbouring areas of Rayners Lane | |
|---|---|
The largest ethnic group in Rayners Lane ward in the2011 census was Indian (28%), followed by White British (27%) and other Asian (21%).[24] It has one of London's largestTamil communities.[25]
According to the2021 census, 56.1% of the population identified as Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh (including 30.43% as Indian and 20.65% as other Asian), followed by White (25.5%) and Other ethnic group (10.32%).[1] The ward ranked 22nd in theLondon Borough of Harrow for people identifying as White and first for those identifying as Other ethnic group.[23]
In the 2021 census, 39.9% of respondents identified asHindu–the highest of all wards in the London Borough of Harrow[23]–followed by 28.1% asChristian and 13% asMuslim.[1] No Religion was answered by 8.8% of respondents. The ward also ranked first in Harrow among those identifying asSikh at 2.44%.[23]In the 2011 census, it was reported that 34 adherents ofZoroastrianism lived in the Rayners Lane ward.[25]
Of Rayners Lane's residents aged 16 or over, 62.56% were reported as economically active. The main occupations were 'Professional occupations' and ‘Managers, directors and senior officials’.[23]
| Ethnic group | 2011 Census[24] | 2021 Census[1][Note 1] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Population | % | Population | % | |
| Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh[Note 2] | 6,064 | 54.5 | 5,135 | 56.1 |
| Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African[Note 3] | 588 | 5.3 | 447 | 4.9 |
| Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups | 361 | 3.2 | 292 | 3.2 |
| White | 3,840 | 34.5 | 2,330 | 25.5 |
| Other ethnic group | 271 | 2.4 | 944 | 10.3 |
| Total | 11,124 | 100.0 | 9,148 | 100.0 |
The principal point of architectural interest is theGrade II* listed formerAce Cinema, anArt Deco building designed byF.E. Bromige that opened in 1936.[26] Notably, it features a stylised elephant's trunk on the entrance canopy.[5] The building was acquired in 2000 by theZoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe and is now known as the Zoroastrian Centre.[27] It is the only temple of its type in the UK.[citation needed]
Charles Holden andReginald Uren designed the station building atRayners Lane tube station which opened in 1938. It was Grade II listed in 1994, noted for the mature design of its frontage and the variety of the surviving signage and fixtures.[9]
TheRayners Public House was Grade II listed in 2006 byHistoric England. It is a notable example of 1930s public house architecture retaining much of its original joinery and fittings.[28] It closed as a public house in 2006 and is now occupied by the Christ the Redeemer religious training college.[29]
The shops at 464-472 Alexandra Avenue are locally listed byHarrow Council.[30] They were built in theInternational style by R.C. White-Cooper and S.R. Turner in 1937.[5]
Roxbourne Primary School is the only school in the Rayners Lane ward. Outside the ward, nearby schools include Longfield Primary School; Newton Farm Nursery, Infant and Junior School; and Buckingham Preparatory School. A library used to be located on Imperial Drive, but was closed in 2015 as part of budget cuts byHarrow Council despite objections raised during a public consultation.[31][32]
In addition to theZoroastrian Centre, Rayners Lane Baptist Church and aQuakerMeeting House reside nearby. TheBaptist church was founded in 1934 and dedicated to Janet Hoare, a missionary who died in India while still young.[33] Her father became the first minister of the church. The Quaker Meeting House was the first in Harrow, erected in 1935.[33]
Rayners Lane F.C. andBroadfields United F.C. play at the Tithe Farm Sports & Social Club.[34] As of the 2024/25 season, Rayners Lane play in theIsthmian League South Central Division.[35] In 2021, Broadfields United entered agroundshare agreement with Rayners Lane having previously groundshared withHarefield United.[36] They play in theCombined Counties League Premier Division North as of the 2024/25 season.[37]
Rayners Lane also has a sports club called Harrow Town Sports Club which has been in existence since the 1890s.[citation needed] It is the home of the Harrow Town Cricket Club who have played in theMiddlesex County Cricket League since 2002.[38] Venceremos FC and the HT Tennis Club are also based at the sports club.[citation needed]
There are several open spaces in or near Rayners Lane including Rayners Mead, Newton Park and Roxbourne Park.[39]Yeading Brook runs through Roxbourne Park which has a miniature railway open to the public on Sundays and provides access to the Roxbourne Nature Reserve.[40]
Newton Farm Ecology Park is a small area of meadows and woodland located between Alexandra Avenue and Rayners Lane that was converted into a nature reserve in 1990. It is situated on what was once a floodplain where the east branch of Yeading Brook and the Roxbourne River converge.[41]
TheMetropolitan andPiccadilly lines converge atRayners Lane Station. Both lines run services westbound along the same track towardsUxbridge. Eastbound Metropolitan line services run into central London viaHarrow-on-the-Hill while eastbound Piccadilly line services run viaSouth Harrow andActon Town. Some westbound Piccadilly line trains terminate at the station by making use of a reversing siding.
Fourbus routes serve the area. The H12 runs betweenSouth Harrow andStanmore; the H9 and H10 run anticlockwise and clockwise routes of Harrow respectively and the 398 runs between Wood End inNortholt andRuislip tube station.
"Rural Rayners Lane" is mentioned inJohn Betjeman's poemThe Metropolitan Railway (Baker Street Station Buffet). It was published in his 1954 anthologyA Few Late Chrysanthemums and hisCollected Poems in 1958.[42]
FormerCunard officer Commodore Harry Grattidge, one of the last captains of theRMSQueen Elizabeth, lived at number 33 High Worple, Rayners Lane until his death in the 1970s.[citation needed]
Dev Patel is aBAFTA award-winning internationally renowned British actor who grew up in Rayners Lane.[43]
Jai Paul is an electronic music recording artist signed toXL Recordings, whose influential songs of the 2010s have been sampled byDrake andBeyoncé. He and his brotherA. K. Paul grew up in Rayners Lane.[44]
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