Uncategorized – This is Harlesden

Is this gastropub the start of a ‘New Harlesden’?

March 8, 2016March 8, 2016Posted in UncategorizedLeave a comment

I had heard about the Royal Oak having a refurb and didn’t have particularly high expectations. No good reason other than after over 8 years I had grown used to there not being a single pub in Harlesden where I’d want to meet a friend for lunch and a drink (sadly Harlesden Picture Palace doesn’t do food yet). I love spending time in Harlesden, shopping on the high street but let’s get real, if I want to go out for laid back food and drink I normally go to Kensal Rise/Green. If you’ve been to The Chamberlayne, Paradise by Way or Whippet Inn, you’ll get what I mean. So when I saw tweets about the Royal Oak’s 25 Feb opening, I was underwhelmed.

Boy did I get that wrong.

About a week after the Royal Oak re-opened its doors, my wife and I walked past and were intrigued enough to go for lunch there the next day.

What I immediately liked about the Royal Oak was it felt like it gave Harlesden its due respect. Why shouldn’t Harlesden have a pub that serves Sipsmith gin, organic ginger beer and good wine? Sure, I can’t afford it every day but I want to know I can treat myself. I also like the fact that they keep traditional beers on tap (at competitive prices) to cater for regulars of the previous iteration of the Royal Oak.

So what’s the food like? My wife had the beef burger (cooked medium well) with fries and coleslaw – good portions and seriously tasty.

I had to go for the rotisserie chicken. With jerk marinade. Really good, but would be excellent if it was much more spicy, this is Harlesden after all!

For dessert, Treacle tart was great, but sticky toffee pudding needs more sauce please!

After the meal, we walked outside and realised that we were standing only yards away from two gastropubs, a Costa coffee, Holland & Barrett and a new Park Kitchen all a few yards from each other.

Is this the dawn of the ‘New Harlesden’?

Harlesden – when will this up-and-comer, up and come?

March 3, 2016Posted in gentrification, Harlesden, UncategorizedTagged gentrification, Harlesden, Kensal Green, kensal rise, up and comingLeave a comment

I’ll admit it, I was the middle-class guy who only picked Harlesden because other areas we wanted were too expensive. Areas where you don’t need to ask yourself basic questions like – is it safe? It’s also nice if these areas also pass that ‘so where do you live?’ test in a work or social situation. Areas that don’t make people give you that look of concern. The kind of wide-eyed look that wonders if they’ll ever see you again.

Well, we just couldn’t afford those areas. You know, areas like the way too expensive Shepherd’s Bush, Kensal Rise, Kensal Green and the can’t quite get a mortgage for Kilburn, Acton, Willesden Green and Willesden Junction. All out of reach.

That’s why we ended up in Harlesden. For us, Harlesden was that girl at the party no one had dared ask to dance, because we were wary of her psycho ex-boyfriend. But now I’m here, I wouldn’t trade it for most of those areas. Ok, I said most right?

So it’s now 6 years since my wife and I moved to Harlesden. And I feel so damn lucky. We’re on the border of Zone 2/3, can get a bus, overground, underground to pretty much anywhere. And we’re a 5 min walk from Roundwood park. But more importantly, as an African immigrant living in London, it is easy for me to call Harlesden ‘home’. The high street has barbers that cut black hair (at least 10 of em), baskets of plantain, fresh fish a’ plenty and personality that knows no bounds.

http://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/area-guides/greater-london/spotlight-harlesden-property-area-guide

So what are the downsides?

If you’re not used to living in an immigrant community, you’re going to find Harlesden daunting. Somalis, Nigerians, Jamaicans, Antiguans, Polish, Brazilians. Nothing to be ashamed of if that’s too much of a heady mix. I woudn’t want to live in a highly congested areas of ‘Sloane rangers’ or ‘hipsters’, so even if I could afford Chelsea/Fulham/Clapham or Hackney/Hoxton/Shoreditch, there’s no chance I’d want to live there. It’s our hard-earned cash we’re spending on a mortgage/rent so we should be picky about where we live

Many feel there’s still nowhere to meet a friend for a coffee in the daytime or pint in the evening. No equivalent of Queen’s Park’s Alice House or Kensal Rise’s The Chamberlayne or Kensal Green’s Paradise by Way. That just might be changing! There’s the new gastropub, Harlesden Picture Palace or Le Junction. If these aren’t for you, then for now Harlesden is where you live, not where you catch up with friends. That’s why the ease of getting to lots of other more established areas is so handy

Crime – like anywhere else I’ve lived in London. Never had any trouble myself but I’m still not happy when my wife catches the last underground and walks from Harlesden after 11pm. A perception thing I guess

So Harlesden remains an up-and-comer. But for how long?

No change from when we got here 6 years ago – except for the 50% jump in house prices. And the influx of Kensal Rise yummy mummies snapping up houses near the park.

So the real question seems to be not if Harlesden will up and come but how quickly. As long as I can still get my haircut, buy my plaintain and haggle on my fish. That’s fine with me.

How many years do you think it will take for Harlesden to be seen as a ‘good area’ like Willesden Green or Kensal Green?

Place your bets!

“We’re moving to where? Harlesden? Are you high?”

May 21, 2011November 20, 2014Posted in UncategorizedTagged Acton, buying houses, first property, Harlesden, Kensal Green, London, mortgage, moving house, urbanLeave a comment

“You want us to move to where? Are you high? You’ve got to be kidding me. You can move there if you want but I’m staying right here, mista.” That was my then fiancée (now wife)’s reaction in 2008 to me proposing Harlesden as the place for us to buy our first property as man and wife.

Harlesden? The dreaded H? Previous winner of ‘No.1 place in the UK for gun crime’? Yardieville? Ok, so it wasn’t going to be an easy sell, but there was some method to my madness. Here goes…

We had been renting in Shepherd’s Bush when we decided it was time to buy our own place. We had no money for a deposit but were still able to borrow up to £260,000 (that’s right, back in the day when you could get 100% mortgages, baby!).

Our set of criteria was simple – we needed a 2 bed flat no further than west/north west London’s zone 3. So where could we get for our money? Previous up-and-comers like East Acton, Acton, Kensal Green had clearly already up and come because you couldn’t even get a studio for our budget! Next up was Willesden Green – nice looking, definitely on its way up but the most we could afford was a 1 bed flat.

What was left? The trinity of North Acton, Dollis Hill and Harlesden.

After some coaxing, my fiancée agreed that the best way to decide was to actually visit these areas. No offence, but North Acton felt too much like an industrial wasteland and Dollis Hill was way too quiet. It only took 5 mins of walking around Harlesden for my fiancée to feel comfortable enough to put her pistol back on safety and it only took another 30 mins before she decided that she wanted to live here.

Given that my wife is from Jamaica and I’m from Nigeria, this is perfect. There must be more plantain on Harlesden’s high street than on any other in London. And you can haggle in the shops here! As for location: Bus 18 takes 20 mins to get you to Portobello Road; bus 187 is 10 mins to Kensal Rise/Queens Park; you take the Bakerloo line tube to central London; and the overground train from Willesden Junction gets you to Shepherds bush in 5 mins or to Clapham in 25 mins.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Harlesden has completely shed the edginess of its past (it hasn’t) but I believe that comes with the territory when you live in almost any part of London. I’ve lived in Kilburn, Shepherd’s Bush, East Acton and Westbourne Park and didn’t feel much safer there. There’s a real feeling of community in Harlesden. I know my local barber and fishmonger, Roundwood Park is fantastic and people in the street really do say hello. Harlesden’s even beginning to get shout outs from major estate agents like Foxtons and national press. We’ve been living here for 3 years now and (fingers crossed, touch wood) we don’t regret the move at all!