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Harlesden

Harlesden is an inner-city town in the London Borough of Brent. Its main focal point is the Jubilee Clock which commemorates Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. It is generally a middle-income area, but has been unfairly portrayed as a crime centre, with a Yardie gang culture, where Jesse Jackson and Prince Charles visited due to its high crime levels and has previously topped the league for the highest murder rate in Britain. The dangerous parts of Harlesden include the disused indistry by Church Road, and the blocks in between Harlesden and Willesden on Robson Avenue. The remaining areas are relatively moderate. It is slowly shaking off this image, and has been praised for its vibrant Caribbean culture and unofficially named London's Reggae capital. The population includes people of Afro-Caribbean heritage, as well as Irish Catholic, Brazilian and smaller Portuguese communities.

Harlesden has a rich culture of boxing, with two Olympic Gold medallists hailing from Harlesden: Audley Harrison who won gold in the Super-Heavyweight division at Sydney in 2000, and James Degale who won gold in the Middleweight division at Beijing in 2008.

History

In the 19th century, Harlesden, then a rural village, began to develop some of its urban appearance with the arrival of the railways. Willesden Junction, Kensal Green and Harlesden stations all had an effect on the developing village. Cottages for railway and industrial workers were built, as was grander housing for the local middle class.

Harlesden increasingly lost its rural nature, with factories replacing farms and woodland. From late Victorian times until the 1930s, housing completed its spread across the area, and Harlesden became part of the London conurbation. Mainly after World War 1, one of Europe's biggest industrial estates was constructed at nearby Park Royal, and large factories there included McVitie & Price (later United Biscuits) from 1910, and Heinz from 1919.

The image of Harlesden today began to take shape in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Continued immigration from Ireland and new immigration from the Caribbean, Indian sub-continent and Africa changed the racial and cultural make up of the area.^[2] More recently the area has now become home to Brazilian and Portuguese communities. Much of the housing is made up of Victorian terraces which have been attracting young professionals unable to afford similar properties in nearby Kensal Green and Queen's Park.

Nearest places

Stonebridge

Church End

Kensal Green

Willesden

Wembley

Neasden

Shepherd's Bush

Acton

Queen's Park

Notting Hill

Tube and railway stations

Harlesden station

Stonebridge Park station

Willesden Junction station

Famous current/former residents

Sabrina Washington

James DeGale

Hastings Banda

Paul Merson

Louis Theroux

Shane Ritchie^[3]

KT Tunstall

Bashy

External links

http://www.harlesdentown.com

http://www.caribvoice.org/Features/harlesden.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1169598.stm

http://www.yourlocallondon.com/willesden