Living and renting in Wembley: travel links, parking, schools, best streets — and the average cost of monthly rent

Over the past 500 years Wembley has evolved from a tiny rural hamlet to an affluent mill village to the heart of British football.

The original Wembley Stadium hosted its first FA Cup Final back in 1923.

Wembley Stadium also has quite a track record in iconic live music events, most notably Live Aid and the concert to celebrate Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday.

But these bright spots aside, Wembley was a fairly dreary sort of suburb nine miles north-west of central London, until Quintain stepped in.

The developer bought up a swathe of industrial land 10 years ago and began remodelling the area into a modern new neighbourhood which will have up to 7,500 homes when complete.

Hari Patel, director of Hunters Estate Agents in Harrow, slightly ambitiously describes the scheme as a “mini Manhattan”.

Who lives there? “Generally speaking, white-collar city workers will snap up the new builds in around the stadium, while the terraces in the surrounding streets are home to locals who have been there for years, well before the regeneration started to take shape,” says Patel.

“There has always been a strong Asian community here and that continues to be the case.

“One of the area’s pull factors has been its diverse community and that has only grown wider as the area’s appeal broadens.”

Parking spaces are in short supply in the new developments and you will certainly have to pay over the odds to secure one. For the streets around the stadium, annual residents permits for a standard car cost from £176.

Local crime rates are bang on the London average at nine reported offences per 1,000 population.

There is a branch of The Gym close to the station, and PureGym at Wembley Central.

King Edward VII Park has football fields, tennis courts, and an outdoor gym.

Source: Rightmove

Patel says young professionals like the modern flats in Engineers, Empire and Exhibition Ways.

For families he recommends the period terraces in the likes of Dagmar or Linden Avenues.

“You’re close enough to enjoy the new facilities but still removed enough if you want to be.”

Metropolitan and Jubilee line trains from Wembley Park in Zone 4 provide good links to central London and the City.

Plenty of good primary options, led by St Joseph RC Junior School and St Joseph’s RC Infant School, rated “outstanding” by Ofsted.

Ark Academy, an all-through school, and Michaela Community School, for seniors, also get top marks from the schools watchdog. But Ark Elvin Academy, the other main local senior school “requires improvement” and is now under new management.

Wembley Park has also been home since 2015 to a French bilingual school, the private Lycée International de Londres Winston Churchill.

There is no supermarket in the regeneration zone. There is an Asda superstore at Wembley Park, which is a bit of a long walk when lugging bags, and a Lidl in Fulton Road.

Wembley Park Market, with food stalls as well as arts, crafts and clothes, opened at Easter. Wembley Park Food Market, a farmers’-style market, is held on Wednesdays.

Hari Patel readily admits that parking is a problem for residents of new blocks in Wembley, where spaces are limited. But it can be a problem for everyone else, too, on big event days.

There are times when Wembley’s role as a national venue has to be endured rather than embraced.

However, some estate agents say that it’s a bit like aircraft noise — you get used to it.

Tim Jarman's renting history is a true vote of approval of his adopted home town. In 2005 he left his native Kent, moved to Wembley and has lived there ever since.

In 14 years, Tim, 37, who shares a flat with his boyfriend Conor Quinn, 39, has seen the area change dramatically from a slightly run-down suburb into a rather glitzy new town with, of course, the international football stadium as its centrepiece.

Good transport links were a major factor in the choice of Wembley Park for Tim, assistant director of diversity and inclusiveness at an accountancy firm, and Conor, who works for a bank.

Over the years the couple have had front-row seats for its ongoing £3 billion regeneration.

“I think that people who have not been to Wembley recently don’t realise how much it has changed,” says Tim. “It has got a reputational thing to get over. But there’s loads of stuff to do around here now and there is more to come. It is an exciting time to be here.”

In 2016 Tim and Conor moved to Tipi, a build-to-rent scheme where they pay just under £2,000 a month for their one-bedroom flat.

Their rent includes utility bills and extras such an on-site gym and wifi.

For clothes, the London Designer Outlet is a one-stop shop with brands including Nike, Guess, Jack Wills and Superdry.

For everyday basics Wembley Central’s High Road is a 10-minute walk away.

The next stage of Wembley Park’s redevelopment will see another 250,000sq ft of shops, restaurants and bars added to the site.

There is a nine-screen Cineworld cinema at the London Designer Outlet. Troubadour Theatres, which ran the King’s Cross Theatre, will launch its new venture, Wembley Park Theatre this summer, on the site of the former Fountain Studios where TV favourites The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent used to be filmed. The first show will be Dinosaur World Live.

And of course there is Wembley Stadium, where the Spice Girls, Janelle Monáe and The Who have all played recently.

Meanwhile, at the SSE Arena, Christina Aguilera will perform in November.

The opening of Boxpark Wembley last year has been a boon. Tim and Conor often visit to eat at one of its 20 street food stalls, or for a drink at one of the three bars.

Several chain restaurants at the designer outlet include Ping Pong and Nando’s, while the High Road has plenty of neighbourhood restaurants.

There are plans for a new park with a swimming lake near the stadium. At the moment this regeneration zone isn’t massively leafy, but most of the developments have private gardens, while Fryent Country Park is a mile’s walk away.