Property

Estate agents probably wish the name Harlesden would just vanish, and they’ll employ verbal sorcery to try and make that happen, invoking terms like ‘Kensal Rise borders’ if they can get away with it. But the crime that gave the area its dark reputation has been slowly, but steadily, dwindling. Only now is Harlesden starting to be taken more seriously by buyers, who are often pleasantly surprised by what they find. And things are getting better. If Harlem can come up, so can Harlesden.

It’s the new...
Brixton. Gentrification has a way to go, but there’s a similarly multicultural buzz here, with particularly strong Afro-Caribbean and Brazilian/Portuguese contingents offering food and wares along the High Street. There will be lots of change in the next decade, but this essentially mixed character will remain.

Best for…
First-time buyers, who will get more for their money than they would just a little further east. And buy-to-let investors, who can capitalise upon a growing lettings market, and simultaneously make capital gains when the prices balloon. Some of the most pleasant streets are to the east (‘Willesden Green borders’), around Wrottesley Road and up towards Roundwood Park.

What else?
Brent Council is working hard to regenerate the area and stub out the remaining less than salubrious elements. Now is the time to buy here, while prices are still a notch lower than elsewhere. Roundwood Park, with its café, aviary and children’s play area, provides an attraction for fledgling families.

For those not quite at the pushchairs and sandpits stage, DJ Stuart Patterson’s excellent The Lodge bar (020 8965 3862) on the High Street blazes a lonely trail for the area’s nightlife. Many thought Patterson’s decision to open the bar two years ago was perverse, but now his foresight is becoming clear, and the bar is sure to be joined by other decent nightspots (and restaurants and pubs and so on) as things improve.

Local stereotype
The Stonebridge Estate, with its troublesome history (drive-by shootings for example), still casts its shadow over the area, but the sun is beginning to rise again on Harlesden. It’s too early to say quite what the new demographic will be, but it may well soak up a new generation of young West London trendies who’ve been financially elbowed out of W10’s Kensal Green and NW6’s Queen’s Park.

Your neighbours
The rich and famous generally demurred from settling here, but a few famous faces have been spotted roundabout, including Michelle Gayle from ‘EastEnders’ and Linford Christie (both getting their hair cut, apparently). Just round the corner, in Kensal Green cemetery, William Makepeace Thackeray and Anthony Trollope aren’t going anywhere fast.

What to tell your friends who don’t live there
Willesden Junction and Harlesden stations (to the east and west of the area, respectively) are both on the Bakerloo Line and the overground network. Willesden Junction to Euston on the Silverlink takes less than 20 minutes. Richmond is 20 minutes away, Hampstead Heath only 12. And it’s just a half-hour walk to Portobello Road.

What to keep quiet about if you’re selling
Keeping quiet about the crime statistics won’t help, as everyone already knows. We probably wouldn’t shout about the vast badlands of the Willesden Junction rail depot and Park Royal industrial estate. They’re not desperately attractive.

What the estate agents say
'The best thing about it is that it's between Zones 2 and 3 and has good connections, like the Bakerloo Line. Plus the prices are great. It's certainly getting better!' enthuses Marika Slominska of Harrisons in Harlesden.

Did you know?
McVitie’s makes its Digestive biscuits (and HobNobs) just over the railway from Harlesden tube. According to a Harlesden resident, ‘it’s one of the nicest-smelling stations in the UK’, as a result.

Historical claim to fame
The Mean Fiddler, Vince Powers’ empire-making venue, was right here on the High Street until it upped sticks to the somewhat less esoteric Charing Cross Road.

You know you’re a local when...
You’ve bought a carnival headdress from Mahogany (28 High Street/020 8961 4446).

Schools
Plenty of options, though in league-table terms only a few primaries score above the national average. Two secondary schools in the immediate locale perform very well: Convent of Jesus and Mary Language College and The Swaminarayan School, an independent. For others you may have to go further afield.

Average property prices
One-bed flat £190,000
Two-bed house £280,000
Three-bed house £330,000
Four-bed house £450,000
One-bed flat to rent £850 per month