Living in Harrow: area guide to homes, schools and transport links

Perched high on a hilltop, the little village of Harrow on the Hill is a world away from the bustle of the rest of Harrow, with its busy town centre and streets of Metroland Thirties semis.

This picturesque north-west London village, with narrow, winding high street, period architecture and pretty cottages, is home to Harrow School, one of the world’s most famous boarding schools, where prime ministers Peel, Palmerston, Baldwin and Churchill were all educated, and where more recently the actor Benedict Cumberbatch and Love Actually writer-director Richard Curtis were pupils.

Wandering through the village, tourists pass Victorian Gothic school buildings, a chapel with manicured lawns and school outfitters. It is hard to tell where the school ends and ordinary life begins. The village owes its existence to an Elizabethan farmer and the arrival of the Metropolitan Railway in 1880. John Lyon obtained a charter from Queen Elizabeth I in 1572, giving him permission to establish a free school for local boys in the parish of Harrow on the Hill.

But development began in earnest when the Metropolitan Railway came, with large mansions built on the southern slopes of the hill in Mount Park and South Hill Estates.

It coincided with a golden age for Harrow School, thanks to a number of inspiring headmasters such as Charles Vaughan, head from 1845-1859, and his successor Henry Montagu Butler, who promoted their school as a rival to Eton.

The Old School, the school chapel, The Vaughan Library and the Speech Room were all built in Victorian Gothic style during this period. They gave Harrow on the Hill its quaint and charming character and the two headmasters are commemorated in three streets of Victorian terrace houses in West Harrow: Butler Road, Butler Avenue and Vaughan Road.

Harrow is 13 miles north-west of central London, with Stanmore to the north; Hendon to the east; Wembley to the south and Ruislip to the west.

Estate agent Hari Patel, from the Harrow branch of Hunters, says the town is vibrant and benefits from being on the London Underground Metropolitan line, with a mixture of family homes and new-build flats that are attracting first-time buyers.

The property scene

With many roads of Thirties detached and semi-detached houses, Harrow also has Victorian and Edwardian houses in the South Hill Avenue and Mount Park Estate conservation areas. The most expensive house currently for sale in Harrow is a seven-bedroom Arts and Crafts house in Sudbury Hill, priced at £2.75 million.

At sought-after Chasewood Park off Sudbury Hill, a scheme of flats in seven acres of grounds with an indoor swimming pool and tennis courts, a three-bedroom home is for sale for £1.75 million. Houses in the catchment area of Mount Stewart Junior School, east of the town centre, are also in demand. One in Ilmington Road with six bedrooms is for sale for £770,000.

New build

Three large developments are changing the face of Harrow town centre — Lexicon in Gayton Road, Lyon Square in Lyon Road and Harrow Square in College Road.

Lexicon, from Fairview New Homes, offers 355 studios and one- to three-bedroom flats in six buildings, with 230 for private sale, 73 for affordable rent and the rest for market rent. Flats in the first building, Austen House, are being sold off-plan now for occupation in August.

One-bedroom flats start at £389,995, with two-bedroom flats at £490,000 and three-bedroom flats at £585,000. The second building, Wallace House, launches for off-plan sales next month. The whole scheme completes in 2020.

Visit lexicon-apartments.com or call 020 8023 9171.

Lyon Square is a Redrow scheme of 288 flats including 50 affordable. The one-, two- and three-bedroom flats are in six separate buildings of six to 14 storeys. The first residents moved into Curtis Court in August last year.

There are currently off-plan sales in Baldwin Court, Bradburys Court and Grove Court, with one-bedroom homes from £348,500 and three-bedroom flats from £585,000. The development completes at the end of the year. Call 020 3733 4049.

Harrow Square is a Barratt Homes scheme of 318 studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom flats, with 51 affordable, in four buildings of seven to 19 storeys on a former Royal Mail site behind Harrow’s main shopping street.

First residents move in this summer, and the scheme completes in spring next year. One-bedroom flats start at £370,000; two-bedroom flats at £500,000 and three-bedroom flats at £679,500. Call 020 8420 0150.

Affordable homes

Help to Buy is available at Harrow Square and Lyon Square (as before). Housing association Hyde New Homes has shared-ownership flats at Harrow Square — 12 one-bedroom flats and 18 two-bedroom homes.

The one-bedroom flats are £124,250 for a 35 per cent share of a home with a market value of £355,000 and the two-bedroom flats are priced at £163,625 for 35 per cent of a home with a market value of £467,500. Call 0345 606 1221.

Renting

Hunters estate agent Hari Patel says Harrow’s new town centre flats are popular with young professional commuters looking to rent, and with buy-to-let investors.

Housing association Network Homes has launched Le Bon Court in St John’s Road where 23 flats will be available at the London Living Rent, an initiative of London Mayor Sadiq Khan.

Under the scheme, rent is fixed at a third of household income to give tenants the chance to save for a shared-ownership home.

Transport

Harrow on the Hill is on the Metropolitan Tube with direct trains to Baker Street and the City and 15-minute trains to Marylebone. North Harrow, West Harrow and Rayners Lane are also on the Metropolitan line.

All are in Zone 5 and an annual travelcard to Zone 1 costs £2,328.

In Zone 4, Kenton and South Kenton on the Bakerloo line have West End trains. It’s 30mins to Euston on the Overground, or it can be faster from Harrow & Wealdstone (Zone 5). South Harrow and Sudbury Hill are on the Piccadilly line, and there are trains to Euston from Sudbury Hill Harrow.

A travelcard from Zone 4 is £1,960. There are no commuter buses. The 182 and 186 take shoppers to Brent Cross.

Staying power

Harrow is full of family homes and good schools, so it’s a place where people put down roots.

Postcode

Harrow has three postcodes: HA1 covers Harrow, Harrow on the Hill, North Harrow and Sudbury Hill; HA2 South Harrow, West Harrow and most of Rayners Lane; HA3 is a large postcode which covers an area east of HA1 including Harrow Weald and Kenton.

Best roads

There are large detached houses — some built in the Arts and Crafts style — in Mount Park Road and South Hill Avenue, an area with the feel of a garden suburb.

Elsewhere, close to Kenton station in Gerard Road, Flambard Road and Elmwood Avenue there are large detached and semi-detached Thirties houses.

Up and coming

Preston Road where Harrow merges with Wembley has smaller semi-detached Thirties houses that sell for between £700,000 and £950,000. The nearest station is Preston Road and the area has its own local shopping street.

Council

Harrow council is Labour controlled. Band D council tax for 2017/2018 is set at £1,627.68.

Shops and restaurants

Harrow is one of the Mayor of London’s 13 Metropolitan centres and has two large covered shopping centres — St Anns and St George’s — which together have branches of Boots, Burger King, Caffè Nero, Clarks, H&M, M&S, M&S Food Hall, Primark, Tiger, Monsoon, Accessorize, PizzaExpress, Prezzo, TK Maxx and Wilko. There are large town centre branch of Morrisons and Tesco.

As for eating out, local estate agent Hari Patel recommends the Taste of China in Station Road; Blue Ginger, which describes itself as Indo-Oriental, in Kenton Road, and Mumbai Junction Indian restaurant and sports lounge, with a big screen for sporting events, in Watford Road.

The Old Etonian is a long-standing restaurant and hotel and Doll’s House on the Hill is a quaint tea shop that’s also open for breakfast and lunch. Both are in Harrow on the Hill. Sarah’s Café in Kenton Road on Harrow Hill Golf Course gets rave local reviews.

Open space

Harrow’s parks have been awarded £40,000 from the Mayor of London’s Greener City Fund for tree planting. A total of 270 new trees are to be planted across 11 of the borough’s parks and open spaces.

Harrow Hill Golf Course is a nine-hole course in Kenton Road. Kenton Lawn Tennis Club and Kenton Cricket Club are in Kenton Park Road.

Fryent Country Park near Wembley/Kingsbury is a local designated nature reserve where ponies are allowed to graze.

Leisure and the arts

The Vue in St George’s Shopping Centre is the local multiplex cinema. Safari Cinema in Station Road is a two-screen venue specialising in Bollywood films.

Harrow Arts Centre in Uxbridge Road, Hatch End, is in the listed former Royal Commercial Travellers Schools building and puts on a varied programme of theatre, music, dance, family events, film, classes and workshops.

The nearest council-owned swimming pool is at Harrow Leisure Centre in Christchurch Avenue.

Primary schools

All but one of Harrow’s state primary schools are rated “good” or better by the Ofsted government education watchdog. “Outstanding” are: St Anselm’s RC in Roxborough Park; Marlborough in Marlborough Hill; Belmont in Hibbert Road; Byron Court in Spencer Road; Priestmead in Hartford Avenue; St Joseph’s RC in Dobbin Close; Mount Stewart Juniors (ages, seven to 11) in Mount Stewart Avenue; Alexandra in Alexandra Avenue; Newton Farm in Ravenswood Crescent; Heathland in Eastcote Lane; Glebe in Glebe Avenue, and St Bernadette’s RC in Clifton Road.

St Jérôme CofE in Station Road, a bilingual English and French primary Free School, opened in 2016 and has not yet been inspected by Ofsted.

Comprehensive

All the state comprehensive schools are rated “good” or better. “Outstanding” are: Whitmore High (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Porlock Avenue; Sacred Heart Language College RC (girls, ages 11 to 16) in High Street, Wealdstone; Wembley High Technology College (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in East Lane, Wembley; Nower Hill High in George V Avenue in nearby Pinner; Claremont High (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Claremont Avenue; Park High (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Thistlecroft Gardens, Stanmore; Rooks Heath College (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Eastcote Lane, and Bentley Wood High (girls, ages 11 to 18) in Clamp Hill, Stanmore.

The following comprehensives and all-through schools are rated “good”: Harrow High (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Gayton Road; Whitefriars (co-ed, ages three to 16) in Whitefriars Avenue; Salvatorian RC College (boys, ages 11 to 16) in High Road, Harrow Weald; St Gregory’s RC Science College (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Donnington Road; Hatch End High (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Headstone Lane; Avanti House (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) a Hindu school in Beaulieu Drive, Pinner; Preston Manor (co-ed, ages four to 18) in Carlton Avenue East in Wembley; JFS (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in The Mall, Kenton, is a Jewish school.

Pinner High (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Beaulieu Drive, Pinner, is a new comprehensive Free School which opened in 2016 and has yet to be inspected by Ofsted. It shares premises with Avanti House which will move to a new site on the Whitchurch playing fields soon.

Higher education

St Dominic’s RC (co-ed, ages 16 to 18) is a sixth form college in Mount Park Avenue with an “outstanding” rating.

Private

The top private school is of course Harrow School (boys, ages 13 to 18). It’s a boarding school that doesn’t take day pupils. However, local parents have a good choice of private day schools.

The private primary schools are: Alpha Preparatory (co-ed, ages three to 11) in Hindes Road; Quainton Hall (co-ed, ages two to 13) also in Hindes Road; Harrow Primary (co-ed, ages five to 11) a Muslim school in Gayton Road; Roxeth Mead (co-ed, ages three to seven) in Middle Road; Orley Farm (co-ed, ages four to 13) in South Hill Avenue, and Buckingham (boys ages two to 11) in Rayners Lane, Pinner.

The private secondary schools are: The John Lyon (boys, 11 to 18) in Middle Road, and the Lycée International de Londres in Forty Lane, Wembley. Regent College (co-ed, ages 14 to 19) in Imperial Drive is a private GCSE and sixth form college.