Harrow () is a large town in

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness Greatness is a concept of a state of superiority affecting a person or object in a particular place or area. Greatness can also be attributed to individuals who possess a natural ability to be better than al ...

, England, and serves as the principal settlement of the London Borough of Harrow. Lying about north-west of

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Clockwise from north these are: the east side of Trafalgar Square leading to St Martin's Place and then Charing Cross Road; the Strand leading to the City ...

and south of

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, and ...

, the entire town including its localities had a population of 149,246 at the 2011 census, whereas the wider borough (which also contains Pinner and

Stanmore Stanmore is part of the London Borough of Harrow in London. It is centred northwest of Charing Cross, lies on the outskirts of the London urban area and includes Stanmore Hill, one of the highest points of London, at high. The district, whi ...

) had a population of 250,149. The historic centre of Harrow was atop the Harrow Hill. The modern town of Harrow grew out at the foot of the settlement, in what was historically called Greenhill. With the arrival of the

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 ...

in the 19th century, the centre of Harrow moved to Greenhill and it grew as the unofficial "capital" of the Metroland suburbia in the early 20th century; Harrow-on-the-Hill station is on one of the railway corridors between London and the Chilterns. Meanwhile, Harrow & Wealdstone station is on the West Coast Main Line and is the eighth oldest railway station, having opened in 1837 one and a half mile north of the hill. Workers were drawn to the area by the opening of several factories in Wealdstone; Harrow was the base of the large Kodak factory, used for the manufacture of photographic materials and R&D, which was in operation for more than a century.

Historically History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

in the hundred of

Gore Gore may refer to: Places Australia * Gore, Queensland * Gore Creek (New South Wales) * Gore Island (Queensland) Canada * Gore, Nova Scotia, a rural community * Gore, Quebec, a township municipality * Gore Bay, Ontario, a township on Manito ...

, county of

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

, the merged Harrow was a municipal borough before it became a part of Greater London in 1965. Today, the historic area is distinguished as Harrow on the Hill and is a conservation area with

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

s of

Georgian architecture Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover— George I, George II, Ge ...

and home to

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (sc ...

, one of the seven major boys' boarding schools in England as defined by the Public Schools Act 1868. The modern-day town meanwhile is an established commercial centre of outer north-west London and houses a campus of the

University of Westminster The University of Westminster is a public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first polytechnic to open in London. The Polytechnic formally received a Royal charter in Aug ...

Etymology

Harrow's name comes from

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...

''hearg'' = '(heathen) temple', which was probably on the hill of Harrow, where St. Mary's Church now stands. The name has been studied in detail by Keith Briggs. The original Greenhill hamlet derived its name from either an unidentified local green hill, or was imported from a manorial surname. It was not recorded in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

but was mentioned as early as 1334 as ''Grenehulle''. In addition, one or more families bearing the ''Greenhulle'' or ''Greenhill'' surname lived there from at least 1247, and are likely to have taken their name from this location. The name Greenhill survives and the local council has continued the name by using it for Greenhill Way, a road which by-passes the mainly-pedestrianised and modernised shopping area based around College Road and St Anns Road. The name is also still used for the local

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 to ...

. It is possible that Greenhill went by an even older name, ''Norbury'', c.1300, but the hamlet of Norbury has not been identified with certainty. The name may have been correspondent to

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario (official name; the city continues to be known simply as Sudbury for most purposes) ** Sudbury (electoral district), one of the city's federal el ...

, being north of what was then Harrow Hill.

History

Harrow, formerly known as Greenhill, was a small

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of farms at the foot of Harrow Hill. For almost a millennium, the centre of Harrow was atop the hill, but this began to change during the 19th century. Circa 1852, the village had 8 houses, 17 cottages, and one inn, with 141 people. This area was part of the hundred of

, in the historic county of

Urban development

Church of St John the Baptist Greenhill 1C

By 1865, a series of roads had been built in Greenhill, including College, Roxborough, Kymberley, Headstone, Clarendon, Byron and St Anns - but few houses. A

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

church, St John's Church, was built in 1866 on a farm and Greenhill became a separate parish in 1896. The church building has been

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

listed since 1994. The

connection dates from 1880 with the building of Harrow-on-the-Hill station, which led to a housebuilding boom and a population of 4,892 by 1902. Developments westward along the railway in the

Headstone A headstone, tombstone, or gravestone is a stele or marker, usually stone, that is placed over a grave. It is traditional for burials in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions, among others. In most cases, it has the deceased's name, ...

and Pinner as well as Roxborough and Wealdstone engulfed Greenhill with new developments, and soon enough there was nothing left of the original village. Grove Hill, Harrow

. In 1899, the junction of Grove Hill and Lowlands Road is said to have been the scene of Britain's first fatal car accident. There is a plaque to commemorate this at the top of Grove Hill where it meets the High Street and Peterborough Hill. In Greenhill, there was a workmen's club from the 1860s and a public hall, Victoria Hall, by 1888. By 1895, most of Greenhill (along with

Roxeth Roxeth was a hamlet in the ancient Harrow on the Hill parish, which now forms part of the London Borough of Harrow in Greater London, England. The ancient parish of Harrow on the Hill, or simply Harrow, was one of the largest parishes in Middle ...

) became part of the

Harrow on the Hill Urban District Harrow on the Hill was an urban district in Middlesex, England from 1894 to 1934.Wealdstone Urban District. It would remain so until 1934 with the creation of Harrow Urban District. One of the oldest surviving buildings in what is today Harrow is the Grade I listed

Headstone Manor Headstone Manor is a 14th-century Grade I listed moated manor house in Headstone, London, Headstone, England, and today a part of the Headstone Manor and Museum. Headstone Manor & Museum is a museum of the site itself as well as Harrow more gene ...

from the 15th century. Harrow contributed to the growing photographic industry in the UK; a large industrial premises was built in 1890 by the American

Eastman Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

company in Wealdstone, and by 1965 there were over 100 buildings on a 55-acre site at Kodak Harrow, employing 5,500 people, including a research centre. This facility operated for 125 years. The long chimney has been a landmark in Harrow ever since. College Road, Harrow

In 1914, a major

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic appe ...

named Sopers opened on Station Road. The site became a Debenhams store; it closed in May 2021 after the collapse of the Debenham's chain. Its facade dated from the 1960s. During the inter-war period Harrow had grown into a suburb. Almost two-thirds of housing stock in the present day Borough of Harrow dates back to the interwar period.

Railway accidents

The modern town of Harrow and much of the borough overall has been defined historically by the growth of the railways, as Harrow expanded and saw housing developments as a result of the building of the

into what was, in early Victorian times, the rural areas to the north-west of London. The borough bow has many train stations. Harrow has been the location of several serious train accidents. On 7 August 1838, Thomas Port died from injuries received in a train accident near Harrow. His gravestone in the parish churchyard of St Mary's, Harrow-on-the-Hill, states: "To the memory of Thomas Port, son of John Port of Burton-upon-Trent in the County of Stafford, Hat Manufacturer, who near this town had both legs severed from his body by the railway train. With great fortitude, he bore a second amputation by the surgeons and died from loss of blood, August 7th 1838, aged 33 years." On 26 November 1870, two trains collided at Harrow & Wealdstone station, killing 9 and injuring 44. On 8 October 1952, three trains collided at Harrow & Wealdstone station, killing 112 people. Of the dead, 64 were railway employees on their way to work.

Battle of Britain

Although

The Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

is generally claimed to have started on 7 September 1940, many sources state that one of the earliest bombing raid from the

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German '' Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the '' Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabt ...

occurred in Harrow and Wealdstone on 22 August 1940. It caused damage to cinemas, houses and a bank, but with no fatalities. Although Harrow was then in

, it was classed as a London area by the civil defence as it came under the jurisdiction of the

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

. The very first air raid on the present day London area is believed to be the accidental bombing of

Croydon Airport Croydon Airport (former ICAO code: EGCR) was the UK's only international airport during the interwar period. Located in Croydon, South London, England, it opened in 1920, built in a Neoclassical style, and was developed as Britain's main airp ...

on 15 August 1940, which was then in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

Post-war

The town was part of the

Harrow Urban District 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) ...

, a district council within the county of

, from 1934 until 1965, which also included parts of

Edgware Edgware () is a suburban town in northern Greater London, mostly in the London Borough of Barnet but with small parts falling in the London Borough of Harrow and in the London Borough of Brent. Edgware is centred north-northwest of Charing Cros ...

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Gre ...

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 ...

and Pinner. The London Borough of Harrow was formed in 1965 as the only London borough unaffected by boundary changes. By the 1950s, Harrow was described as the "capital city of

Metro-land Metro-land (or Metroland) is a name given to the suburban areas that were built to the north-west of London in the counties of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Middlesex in the early part of the 20th century that were served by the Metropol ...

". The borough's council Civic Centre building complex was built in 1970–1972, opened 6 May 1973, on Station Road in Wealdstone. Six storeys high and designed by architect Eric Broughton, the building is considered "outdated and costly" in 2018 and was expected to be imminently redeveloped. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, many new office blocks were built in the town, especially in Lyon Road and the western end of College Road. In 1974, the Kodak Mural designed by Pentagram was completed on the first floor of the recently opened Civic Centre. It contains almost one thousand photographic tiles representing Harrow and designed to commemorate the town and borough's links with Kodak. Havelock Place

The town underwent regeneration in the 1980s with the building of a bus station in College Road and the

pedestrianisation Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town reserved for pedestrian-only use and in whi ...

of St Anns Road. A statue called "Skipping Katie" was unveiled by the local council in May 1987 to celebrate the completion of the pedestrianisation. The landmark was designed by James Butler inspired by watching his daughter

skip Skip or Skips may refer to: Acronyms * SKIP (Skeletal muscle and kidney enriched inositol phosphatase), a human gene * Simple Key-Management for Internet Protocol * SKIP of New York (Sick Kids need Involved People), a non-profit agency aidi ...

. A plaque on Katie was unveiled in 2004 by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

and the

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, was a substantive title that has been created three times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not prod ...

to mark the 50th anniversary of the London Borough of Harrow. In the autumn of 1987,

Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...

visited Harrow, where she officially opened the new St Anns shopping centre amid a large crowd of locals. Located opposite the central train station on College Road, the centre was built on demolished buildings including Heathfield School for Girls, which moved away to Pinner in 1982. Nearby St Anns shopping centre, another indoor retail outlet was built which was opened as St George's Shopping and Leisure Centre on St George's Day in 1996. The town's

Woolworths Woolworth, Woolworth's, or Woolworths may refer to: Businesses * F. W. Woolworth Company, the original US-based chain of "five and dime" (5¢ and 10¢) stores * Woolworths Group (United Kingdom), former operator of the Woolworths chain of shop ...

store on Station Road closed and was replaced by a new branch inside St George's. Other landmarks built during the decade include the Hygeia building in 1991, which has an erected golden coloured sculpture of Roman goddess Hygeia facing the bus station. Furthermore, in 1991, Lower Mead stadium on Station Road, the home of

Wealdstone F.C. Wealdstone Football Club ( ) is an English semi-professional football club based in Ruislip, London Borough of Hillingdon, and affiliated to the Middlesex County Football Association. They currently play in the National League, the fifth tier o ...

, was sold to

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues an ...

and demolished. In its place a new large Tesco superstore was built.

21st century

Bradstowe House seen from the roundabout

The town centre has undergone a new wave of redevelopment. In 2011, the one-way single lane section of Station Road was widened to allow two-way bus traffic. The 11 storey luxury apartments of Bradstowe House was completed in 2016 after long delays. Former office buildings on Lyon Road (including Coal House, once belonging to the National Coal Board) have been regenerated into new mixed use buildings in the 2010s, whereas on Pinner Road behind St George's centre a new eight storey development called Trident Point was built which includes a

Morrisons Wm Morrison Supermarkets, trading as Morrisons, is the fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Scotland, as well as one in Gibraltar. The company is headq ...

supermarket opened in 2013. The former post-office sorting building on College Road, next to the train station, remained vacant for some years until plans for a 19-storey skyscraper was approved by the council in 2015. The development, called Harrow Square, was partly completed with 318 apartments across four buildings in 2018. It includes a bottom floor library still under construction which will replace the current Gayton Library on St John's Road. The building next to it, formerly First National House, has been refurbished into luxury apartments called The Hub. The borough received a £1 million grant from the Mayor of London that will go towards a new public square and a "pop-up test eatery" at the site of the former Cumberland Hotel on Lyon Road, expected to be completed by 2020. The 1930s

art deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

facade of the Safari Cinema, which has been hidden since the 1960s, is set to be restored from 2020. The council aims to invest over a billion in the town centres of Harrow and Wealdstone and the Station Road corridor in between.

Geography

The borough of Harrow has a leafy, suburban character, much of which is a legacy of it being at the centre of the Metroland developments of the early 20th century. The town centre is about above sea level, almost below the top of Harrow Hill, which is an outlying knoll.Mills, A., ''Dictionary of London Place Names'', (2001) The hill is half a mile south of the town centre, and the settlement contains historic architecture and has a village atmosphere. The steep climb towards the hill is clearly visible from Lowlands Road. Other parts of Harrow are not as affluent but are still mostly leafy, particularly the northern part called

Harrow Weald Harrow Weald is a suburban district in Greater London, England. Located about north of Harrow, Harrow Weald is formed from a leafy 1930s suburban development along with ancient woodland of Harrow Weald Common. It forms part of the London Bor ...

. The rural northern slopes of Harrow, around Harrow Weald Common, are part of the

Green Belt A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which h ...

and contain a conservation area and a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle ...

(SSSI) adjacent to another SSSI called Bentley Priory Nature Reserve which comes under

. The area also has the highest elevation in Harrow, as high as above sea level. Harrow Hill from Watford Road

There is also agricultural land close by the town, on fields at the eastern side of Harrow on the Hill, on Watford Road. This open farmland is only half a mile away from Harrow's town centre and is adjacent to Northwick Park Hospital and Northwick Park open space. The farm borders Harrow Park and other open spaces and golf courses that are within Harrow on the Hill; other open spaces include: The Grove open space and Harrow Recreation Ground near the town centre; West Harrow Recreation Ground; Kenton Recreation Ground; Alexandra Park in

South Harrow South Harrow is the southern part of the town of Harrow, located south-west of Harrow-on-the-Hill in the London Borough of Harrow. Its development originally spread south and west from the hamlet of Roxeth in the urbanisation process and eas ...

; Newton Park in

Rayners Lane Rayners Lane is a suburban district in the London Borough of Harrow that forms the western part of Harrow. Located between Pinner and West Harrow, it takes its name from a road in the area, also called Rayners Lane (formerly also spelt ''Rayner' ...

; Byron Recreation Ground in Wealdstone; and the grounds of

. Much of Kenton, and before 1716 all of Pinner, were parts of Harrow. Pinner is now a separate district within the borough of Harrow.

is the district north of Wealdstone, and both of these are historically also part of Harrow. It is the principal settlement of the London Borough of Harrow, which also includes the towns of Pinner and

. The Harrow postcode area covers the entire borough and stretches into neighbouring boroughs: west into Ruislip and Northwood, and east to

and

. The postcodes for Harrow town itself are HA1, HA2 and HA3. Harrow 15 mile radius

Harrow is from Pinner, each from Wembley, Stanmore and Northolt, and from Ruislip.

Economy

Central Harrow forms a commercial hub in the north-west of Greater London, with many retail outlets and commercial offices, and increasingly residential apartments in more recent regeneration schemes. Harrow is classified as one of 13 metropolitan centres in the London Plan. The area has two shopping centres, St Anns and St George's, containing

chain store A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many p ...

s typical of British high streets. There are also parades of shops throughout Station Road and the ascending, traditional College Road, and over of a fully pedestranised shopping/café streets roads (north of St Anns). A large Debenhams department store ( of floorspace) was on Station Road. After Debenhams was liquidated, the site is to become an independent department store called The Landmark due to open on 14 October 2021. There are also large

and

superstores. As of 2012, Harrow has of total town centre floorspace, the lowest of London's metropolitan centres. Yates's, Harrow, HA1 (8486322806)

The creation of St George's in 1996, less than a decade after St Anns, gave Harrow a stronger competitive retail standing. On one index, the town centre's league position went from 106th (out of 1,000) to 71st (out of 1,400) from the mid-1980s to mid-1990s. Harrow's competing shopping centres were recognised to be

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxb ...

and Brent Cross Shopping Centre. A 2003 council report showed that Harrow was less competitive as a retail centre by comparison. In 2015, Harrow ranked 99th in the Hot 100 UK retail locations published by

CACI CACI International Inc. (originally California Analysis Center, Inc., then Consolidated Analysis Center, Inc.) is an American multinational professional services and information technology company headquartered in Northern Virginia. CACI prov ...

; it was 5th in Greater London, behind

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an exten ...

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable as ...

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, c ...

and

Enfield Town Enfield is a large town in north London, England, north of Charing Cross. It had a population of 156,858 in 2018. It includes the areas of Botany Bay, Brimsdown, Bulls Cross, Bullsmoor, Bush Hill Park, Clay Hill, Crews Hill, Enfield High ...

. In 2018, Harrow was ranked 59th in the nationwide "High Street Investment Ranking" carried out by Knight Frank, and 6th in Greater London beaten by Uxbridge and

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, Californi ...

. The Wealdstone district has a strong industrial connection, having been the location for the manufactures

Winsor & Newton Winsor & Newton (also abbreviated W&N) is an English manufacturing company based in London that produces a wide variety of fine art products, including acrylics, oils, watercolour, gouache, brushes, canvases, papers, inks, graphite and colour ...

(artists' materials), Whitefriars Glass, and

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

Demography

The town includes its localities within the Harrow post town: Harrow on the Hill,

North Harrow North Harrow is a suburban area of North West London, situated north-west of central Harrow within the London Borough of Harrow. Its residential roads have expanded from North Harrow tube station, a station on the Metropolitan line of the Lo ...

, Kenton,

, Wealdstone and West Harrow. The Borough's population was 250,149 in 2011. Harrow Borough's proportion of Jewish, Muslim and Hindu residents is above average. The

ethnic minority The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...

population includes a large and established

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

community, who originally settled in large numbers in the borough after their expulsion from Uganda in 1972. The highest life expectancy (as of 2009–2013) for females was 89.5 years in Headstone North, and for males was 83.8 years in West Harrow. The lowest expectancies were 82.4 years in Wealdstone and 78.6 years in Greenhill respectively. The median age was highest in Headstone North (40 years) and lowest in Greenhill and Wealdstone (both 33 years). The life expectancies for Harrow are lower than both Pinner and Stanmore in the borough. According to a 2018 survey by the

Office for National Statistics The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament. Overview The ONS is responsible for ...

(ONS), the borough of Harrow was the "happiest" in London and scored higher than the English average. Adversely, in another survey by an estate agent in 2019 the borough was found to be the "least friendly" in London. Average house prices within the borough stood at £479,682 as of 2017.

Governance

Harrow Council has been governed by the Labour Party since 2014. The town of Harrow generally is represented by 13 wards, each represented by three councillors. Harrow is in the Brent and Harrow constituency for the

London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds super-majority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject ...

which has been represented since May 2021 by Krupesh Hirani ( Labour). Prior to this, it was represented by Navin Shah ( Labour) between 2008 and 2021. Keekira Thammaih was the first Indian and a first Asian to be the Mayor of Harrow, England in 2000 – 2001. Since the 2010 general election, most of Harrow town has been part of the

Harrow West Harrow West is a constituency in Greater London created in 1945 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Until 1997, it only returned Conservative MPs; since then, it has elected the Labour Co-operative MP Gareth Thomas on ...

parliamentary constituency, most recently represented by Gareth Thomas ( Labour), but eastern districts such as Kenton fall within the Harrow East constituency which is represented by Bob Blackman ( Conservative).

Education

The John Lyon School, Harrow On The Hill (7380532552)

Harrow is best known for

. An independent

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of " room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exte ...

for boys, founded in 1572, Harrow School is considered one of the finest secondary schools in the world. The nearby John Lyon School is another boys' independent school, while another known school is the North London Collegiate School for girls located further in the borough in

. Harrow is also home to a large

campus, located near Northwick Park and the hospital. It serves as the university's base for Media, Arts and Design. The school dates back to 1897 specialising in art, photography and fashion, becoming a college in the 1960s under the name Harrow College of Higher Education. It merged with Polytechnic of Central London (PCL) in 1990, now known as the University of Westminster. Other educational institutes in or near central Harrow include: Harrow High School,

Whitmore High School Whitmore High School is a state secondary school in the London Borough of Harrow. The school's students are mostly drawn from the wider Harrow area. In March 2015, the school was judged "Outstanding" by Ofsted for the second time. History Wh ...

St Dominic's Sixth Form College St Dominic's Sixth Form College is a selective Roman Catholic sixth form college on Harrow on the Hill, England founded in 1878, originally founded as a boarding school. The college was opened and initiated by Cardinal Hume. The college was a ...

Salvatorian College Salvatorian College is an academy for boys between the ages of 11-16, situated in Wealdstone in the London Borough of Harrow, founded by Gabriel Enderle. The spiritual founder of the college is considered to be Francis Mary of the Cross Jordan. ...

and Harrow College. Greenhill School was built in the 1880s, but the building was demolished in 1967 to make way for shops on St Anns Road. The site is now home to a

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...

Culture

Arts

The borough's Harrow Arts Centre is located in Pinner and includes a theatre and several meeting rooms for various arts groups. The St George's centre has a large Vue cinema. Formerly Sheepcote Road was home to Granada Theatre, opened in 1937, which became a 3 screen cinema in 1973. The building, interior designed by Theodore Komisarjevsky, was

listed in 1988. The cinema went through ownership and name changes from 1989 until it was permanently closed in 1996, six months after the other cinema opening at St George's. After a few years in a derelict condition, the building became a health club gymnasium operated by Gold's Gym. The theatre's original

Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

organ is retained in the building, although currently not accessible to the public, although it reported to remain in perfect working condition. An art-deco cinema called Dominion opened in 1936 adjoining Lower Mead football ground, on much of tge site of Greenhill Farm. It was later purchased by

ABC Cinemas ABC Cinemas (Associated British Cinemas) was a cinema chain in the United Kingdom. Originally a wholly owned subsidiary of Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC), it operated between the 1930s and the 1980s. The brand name was reused in ...

, and the Dominion's original

design was covered in new metal cladding in 1962. In the 1970s the lower floor was converted to a bingo hall and in the 1990s the cinema became the Safari, showing Bollywood films. This closed in the 20teens and it was not until January 2020 when plans to restore the art deco (and building 78 flats at the site) were approved by Harrow council. This is currently under re-construction.

Religion

Some of the major churches in Harrow include the Grade I listed St Mary's Church, St John's Greenhill, All Saints Harrow Weald, Holy Trinity Wealdstone, Christ Church Roxeth, and Kenton Methodist Church. Harrow has a Hindu temple dedicated to Sri Lord Ayyappa and is known as Sri Ayyappan Kovil, located in the Wealdstone neighbourhood. In the same area is the large

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 purpos ...

, and a smaller local mosque, Masjid Imam Muqbil, is located in

. On Bessborough Road in the town is the Mosaic Reform Synagogue, and there is a United Synagogue in the Kenton part of Harrow. There is a

Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheisti ...

centre in

Media

The 1918 novel '' The Return of the Soldier'' is based in Harrow. The wedding of characters Peggy Mitchell and Frank Butcher of ''

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British 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 Ea ...

'' in 1999 was filmed in Harrow. The classroom in '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' was filmed at the Fourth Form Room of

. The school was also used to shoot many scenes of the drama ''

The Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has differ ...

''. The British Asian soap drama ''Cloud 9'' was shot in Harrow in 2013. The exterior of Clark's house in the 2016 film '' Me Before You'' was shot in Harrow. The ''

Harrow Times ''Harrow Times'' is a British weekly local newspaper published by Newsquest, covering the London Borough of Harrow and surrounding areas. The ''Harrow Times'' has been published since March 1997. It also has an online edition. Since the closur ...

'' is a local newspaper for the borough, and formerly the historic '' Harrow Observer'' that dates back to the 19th century. The ''

Brent & Kilburn Times The ''Brent and Kilburn Times'' is a British weekly newspaper published by Archant in the London Borough of Brent, currently published on Thursdays. It provides local news in Kilburn, Wembley and other surrounding areas. History The paper dat ...

'' and '' Watford Observer'' also cover Harrow. Radio Harrow is a local charity radio that broadcasts from Northwick Park Hospital. Launched in 2015 in its current form, its predecessor Radio Northwick Park had already been broadcasting for four decades before. A student radio called Smoke Radio broadcasts from the

campus since 2004.

Sports

Harrow is represented by the

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club

, who play in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

(fifth tier); they are based in Ruislip, moving from their original stadium in Harrow in 1991. Another local club is

Harrow Borough F.C. Harrow Borough Football Club is an English football club based in Harrow, London. They were founded in 1933 and compete in the . Harrow Borough's home ground is Earlsmead Stadium, which has a capacity of 3,070. Harrow Borough moved into Earls ...

who are based at

Earlsmead Stadium Earlsmead Stadium is a football stadium in Harrow, north-west London, England. It is the home ground of Harrow Borough F.C. The stadium has a capacity of 3,070 people, which includes 350 seats and standing under cover for 1,000 people. The re ...

and currently play in the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 t ...

Premier Division (seventh tier). Harrow Leisure Centre and

Harrow Skate Park Harrow Skate Park or Harrow Solid Surf is one of only two remaining 1970's shotcrete skateparks still operating in the United Kingdom. It is located next to Byron Park and Harrow Leisure Centre in Wealdstone in the London Borough of Harrow, Engla ...

are located by Byron Park in Wealdstone. There is a golf course at Northwick Park.

Public services

Harrow borough is patrolled by the

(the

territorial police force A territorial police force is a police service that is responsible for an area defined by sub-national boundaries, distinguished from other police services which deal with the entire country or a type of crime. In countries organized as federations, ...

in Greater London). The service is mainly provided through Harrow Police Station on Northolt Road in South Harrow, and the borough overall has contact points supported by 22 Safer Neighbourhoods teams. Previous police stations at Kirkland House and in Wealdstone have closed down in the 2010s. The borough's basic command unit is combined with the London boroughs of Barnet and Brent. Harrow is served by Northwick Park Hospital and specialists St Mark's Hospital and Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (in

), which are run by

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

. The local Harrow CCG manages public provision of homecare throughout Harrow which is state funded. A private hospital called Clementine Churchill is located in Harrow-on-the-Hill.

Transport

Rail and London Underground

Harrow-on-the-Hill Underground Station - geograph

Harrow is served by many

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...

and National Rail services: * Harrow-on-the-Hill ( Metropolitan line & Aylesbury Line/

Chiltern Railways Chiltern Railways, formally The Chiltern Railway Company Limited, is a British train operating company that has operated the Chiltern Railways franchise since July 1996. Since 2009, it has been a subsidiary of Arriva UK Trains. Chiltern Rail ...

) * Harrow & Wealdstone (

Bakerloo line The Bakerloo line () is a London Underground line that goes from in suburban north-west London to 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 partl ...

, London Overground, London Northwestern Railway and

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

) * West Harrow (Metropolitan line) *

(

Piccadilly line The Piccadilly line is a deep-level London Underground line running from the north to the west of London. It has two branches, which split at Acton Town, and serves 53 stations. The line serves Heathrow Airport, and some of its stations are ...

) *

(Metropolitan/Piccadilly lines) *

(Metropolitan line) * Kenton (Bakerloo line & London Overground) * Headstone Lane (London Overground) * Northolt Park (

Chiltern Main Line The Chiltern Main Line is a railway line which links London () and Birmingham ( Moor Street and Snow Hill), the United Kingdom's two largest cities, by a route via High Wycombe, Bicester, Banbury, Leamington Spa and Solihull. It is one of ...

/Chiltern Railways) n Boundary between Ealing & Harrow* Sudbury Hill Harrow (

/Chiltern Railways) * Northwick Park (Metropolitan line) n boundary between Brent & Harrow*

Sudbury Hill Sudbury Hill is an area of the London Borough of Harrow in northwest London, England. It forms part of the HA1 postcode and Harrow post town. Located immediately north of North Greenford and almost a mile from its namesake Sudbury, Sudbury H ...

(Piccadilly line) Harrow-on-the-Hill is the town's central station, located on College Road/Lowlands Road. The station provides direct Underground and rail links to the West End, the

City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

, and through the

Chiltern Hills The Chiltern Hills is a chalk escarpment in England. The area, northwest of London, covers stretching from Goring-on-Thames in the southwest to Hitchin in the northeast - across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and Bedfordshi ...

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wy ...

. The other major station - and both the largest and busiest of Harrow - is Harrow & Wealdstone, a short distance north from the town, which has direct trains to the West End,

Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after ...

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500. Developed after the Second World War as a new ...

and beyond towards

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

and

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

respectively. Both stations are in Travelcard zone 5. Trains towards Gerrards Cross are served by the smaller Sudbury Hill Harrow station which also provides an alternative route towards the West Midlands. Harrow-on-the-Hill is a much busier tube station compared with the town's other principal station, Harrow & Wealdstone, recording over 10.3 million London Underground passengers in 2018/2019. However, the latter is served more extensively by National Rail services, as well as the London Overground and because of this it's a busier National Rail station. A short railway line called the Stanmore branch line formerly ran from Harrow & Wealdstone via Belmont to , but this line was closed in 1964. On 23 December 1991, the IRA exploded a bomb on a train at Harrow-on-the-Hill station; there were no injuries.

Bus

Harrow bus station is adjacent to St Anns shopping centre and Harrow on the Hill railway station. All buses are managed by Transport for London and links are provided to Ruislip,

, Northwood, Golders Green,

Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing was his ...

Hayes Hayes may refer to: * Hayes (surname), including a list of people with the name ** Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th president of the United States * Hayes (given name) Businesses * Hayes Brake, an American designer and manufacturer of disc brakes * Hay ...

and

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...

. Many local buses have a H-prefix in the range 9–19. During the privatisation of London bus services, Harrow was one of the first places with its own

London Regional Transport London Regional Transport (LRT) was the organisation responsible for most of the public transport network in London, England, between 1984 and 2000. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operatio ...

operating unit, called Harrow Buses and operating from November 1987 in red and cream branded livery. The scheme was not successful and the service gained the nickname "Harrowing Buses" from the local press. Harrow was the place where the first major electronic contactless

smart card A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card (ICC or IC card) is a physical electronic authentication device, used to control access to a resource. It is typically a plastic credit card-sized card with an embedded integrated circuit (IC) c ...

technology was being tested on buses. In a £2 million trial that started in February 1994, cards were provided by London Transport at the bus station and could be used on 21 bus routes in Harrow, the largest trial of its kind in the world. Within two months, 9,000 smart photocards were issued. The scheme was a success by the time it ended in December 1995, and led to the development of the Oyster card in 2003.

Road

There are no trunk roads in the vicinity of Harrow. The A312 road starts in Harrow as Bessborough Road - however the A312's section in Harrow is merely an urban road, and the primary trunk road starts over 3 miles away in Northolt. It is here where there is a crossing with the A40 Western Avenue. The

A406 The North Circular Road (officially the A406 and sometimes known as simply the North Circular) is a ring road around Central London in England. It runs from Chiswick in the west to Woolwich in the east via suburban North London, connecting ...

is 5 miles away via

Neasden Neasden is a suburban area in northwest London, England. It is located around the centre of the London Borough of Brent and is within the NW2 ( Cricklewood) and NW10 ( Willesden) postal districts. Neasden is near Wembley Stadium, the Welsh H ...

Hanger Lane Gyratory The Hanger Lane gyratory is a multi-lane rectangular gyratory – having the Hanger Lane underpass, under its southern limb, for the Western Avenue ( A40). It enables intersection with the North Circular (A406) and the inceptive Ealing Road ...

. There is access to junction 2 of the M1 motorway 6 miles away via the A41 in

Gallery

Station Road, Harrow.jpg, Station Road, Harrow Royal Oak Harrow.jpg, Royal Oak public house on St Anns Road has existed since the early 20th century and is locally listed St_Ann's_Road,_Harrow_2.jpg, St Anns Road St Anns Road, Harrow.jpg, St Anns Road Harrow Era Mix.jpg, Middle section of Station Road, showing shops and the Time Building and apartments on Lyon Road behind it Harrow Bus Station 2.jpg, Harrow's central bus station Fat Controller, Harrow.jpg, Former Fat Controller pub, closed in 2010 Premier Supermarket, Station Road, Harrow - geograph.org.uk - 380202.jpg, Premier Supermarket on Station Road (1963), now an

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

supermarket; the site was originally home to the Harrow Coliseum cinema which was demolished in 1956 Moon on the Hill, Harrow, HA1 (6163372441).jpg, Moon on the Hill pub Harrow Square blocks.jpg, New built Harrow Square blocks Debenhams in Harrow shortly before its final closure (1).jpg, The old Debenhams shortly before its closure in May 2021. The site is becoming an independent department store called The Landmark. Time Building.jpg, The Time Building on Station Road with a Miller-branded clock - formerly home of Time nightclub in 2000; today part converted into residential use

Notable people

Some notable people who were born and/or grew up in the Borough of Harrow are shown below. Peter Andre.jpg, Peter Andre Kate Nash (8179628760).jpg, Kate Nash Stuart Pearce.jpg,

Stuart Pearce Stuart Pearce (born 24 April 1962) is an English professional football manager and former player, who was most recently a first-team coach for Premier League club West Ham United. He was nicknamed "Psycho" for his unforgiving style of play. ...

Diane Abbot Corbyn leadership rally August 2016.jpg,

Diane Abbott Diane Julie Abbott (born 27 September 1953) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987. A member of the Labour Party, she served in the Shadow Cabinet of Jeremy Corbyn as ...

Elton John Cannes 2019.jpg,

Sir Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after Rocket Man (song), his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially s ...

Notes and references

;Notes ;References

External links

Harrow Council Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrow, London Areas of London Districts of the London Borough of Harrow Metropolitan centres of London