BRENT CROSS TOWN

On this walk I'm inviting you to Brent Cross Town, large*, a bit bleak in places, and a long way from Central London.

(pictured above: Brent Cross Town looking north. Future developments in grey)

It is already served by a new station, Brent Cross West, opened 2 years ago, which bridges the Midland Main Line for the first time in 150 years, and is said to be ‘only 12 mins from King’s Cross’.

It includes 20 ha of new or ‘rejuvenated’ parkland, densely planted and fastidiously maintained, and when complete, in 2050, will offer 7000 new homes**.

The project is intended to be net zero in operation when fully occupied.

If the UK does end up building a total of 1.5m new homes by 2030 this will probably turn out to be one of the best quality projects.

2025 was AI, 1925 was cars, and they created MORE employment!

Yes, after WW1, hundreds of by-passes were built, for free-flowing traffic, without traffic lights, with new names: most commonly ‘way’ instead of road, or the literal technical name: ‘arterial’, ‘orbital’ ‘circular’!

In 1928, the Hendon Way, a Finchley Road by-pass, met the North Circular Road, and bridged a tributary of the Thames, at a large, straight-sided, at-grade roundabout, that was given the name 'Brent Cross'.

The location was so well-connected--to the road network--that 50 years later it was chosen as the site of the country's first stand-alone, enclosed, out-of-town, car-based shopping centre, with practically unlimited free parking.

Now a third generation of development, that of a new town centre, is being constructed.

Masterplanned by Allies and Morrison, designers of the layouts of King’s Cross Central and Wood Wharf, it will deliver thousands of homes, hundreds of thousands of sq m of offices, and retail and leisure facilities.

Hope you can come!

Andy

*140 ha: for comparison, Kings Cross Central is 70 ha, Canary Wharf 39 ha and Canada Water 53 ha.