gentrification – This is Harlesden

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!

On my tube journey home to Harlesden, I like to play a guessing game.

When the Bakerloo line train starts travelling north of Warwick Avenue, I start guessing which people on the train are going to get off at the next stop. Spoiler alert – it’s based on intuition, shameless stereotyping and racial/demographic profiling. In other words, pure, unadulterated guess work. That said, I’ve been playing this game for years and I’ve got to an advanced, grandmaster level.

You see the tall dark-haired guy in his late forties, wearing the tailor-made suit, who looks French, maybe Italian? Maida Vale.

The twentysomething stylish platinum blonde who looks like she works in media or fashion? Kilburn Park.

As we get to Queens Park, that’s where a big chunk of the well-off get off. I watch as they say bye to their less well-off friends who are heading further north on the Bakerloo line. If you weren’t able to get a seat on the train before, you probably can now. Here they go. The mum in her early thirties in the yoga trousers, cloth bag from farmers market the big rock on her finger with Bugaboo pram. Or there’s the young professional couple that you might normally find in Notting Hill or Ladbroke Grove. Yep, they’re getting off at Queens Park too. Probably renting though.

And how do you guess who’s getting off at Kensal Green? Anyone who’s left that looks like they fit in the same demographic as the above. KG is as far as these NWtenners go, right? Actually, wrong. More recently, my magical powers of intuition and years of experience have begun to fail me.

The thirtysomething English guy with the beard, skinny jeans, sweatshirt and Brompton bike? I was pretty sure he was getting off at Kensal Green. It’s night-time. Maybe he’s missed his stop. Or maybe he’s getting off at Willesden Junction. Might be changing to get off at Clapham. Nope. Wrong again. As the train doors open at Harlesden, this guy steps off onto the platform just like me.

The first time this happened, I convinced myself that he must have been visiting a friend. But I’ve seen this guy on the same train lots of times. And there’s been many other people who fit my ‘Kensal Green’ profiling that are getting off at Harlesden.

I guess I’m going to need to up my game!

Tag: gentrification

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

More hipsters getting off at Harlesden tube these days?