Harrow Road is an ancient route[1] innorth west London which runs fromPaddington in a northwesterly direction towardsHarrow. It is also the name given to the immediate surrounding area ofQueens Park andKensal 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 a ward of theCity of Westminster. The population of this ward at the2021 Census was 11,381.[2]
Beforeurbanisation 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 (withroad numbers) running from Paddington to Harrow are as follows:
Starting at the junction of Harrow Road andEdgware Road atPaddington Green in theCity of Westminster:
At the junction ofLadbroke Grove the road leaves the City of Westminster and forms the boundary between theLondon Borough of Brent and theRoyal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (except for the length betweenKensal Green station and the entrance toKensal Green Cemetery where it is entirely within Brent) until reaching Scrubs Lane where it becomes entirely within the borough of Brent.
Passing over theRiver Brent which formed the pre-1965 boundary between the formerMunicipal Borough of Willesden and theMetropolitan Borough of Wembley (both now defunct) and from which the modern borough takes its name:
Which passes throughTokyngton
Passing from theLondon Borough of Brent into the London Borough of Harrow at the Sudbury Court Drive junction:
What is now Harrow Road was a track inIron Age Britain. By the 19th century, it had become the main street inPaddington.[3]
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 thePaddington Basin were retained. These includedElgin Towers, constructed between 1966 and 1969, and demolished in 1994.[3]
The 1950 filmThe Blue Lamp is set around Harrow Road and features it prominently.[3]
In one version of theBus Driver's Prayer, the line fromThe Lord's Prayer, "Hallowed be thy name" is replaced with "Harrow Road be thy name."[4]
In Sam Selvon's 1956Lonely Londoners, the newly migrated Tanty lives in Harrow Road. The novel explores the clash of cultures, as she lives in this part of London "like how some people live in small village and never go to 'the city.'"
In theDJ_Khaled track "God Did" from August 2022,Jay-Z mentions Harrow Road in the line "And bloke and 'nem from London, Harrow Road, Weston Inn"[5] which Jay-Z later discussed in a podcast withAsher D.[6]
51°33′16″N0°18′55″W / 51.5545°N 0.31517°W /51.5545; -0.31517