194 and counting objections to 'exploitative and inappropriate' application to turn former Santander Bank in Kilburn High Road into an Adult Gaming Centre

 

Former Santander Bank 131-135 Kilburn High Road, corner of Victoria Road, opposite McDonalds

 

At the time of publication there have been 194 objections to the conversion of the basement and ground floor of the former Santander Bank at 131-135 Kilburn High Road to an Adult Gaming Centre. 

Although the above notice gives tomorrow as the expiration date for Neighbourhood Consultation, in practice comments can be submitted up to the day before the Committee Date. This has not yet been fixed.

Details of the application and comment portal can be found HERE.

A selection of the objections that include One Kilburn and BRATS can be found below:

 

 

We are formally objecting to the proposed Adult Gaming Centre (AGC) at 82 Kilburn High Road. This application is unsuitable for the area and fails to meet the requirements of the Brent Local Plan (Policy BE5 and DMP1) regarding the safety and vitality of our high streets.



Our objection is based on the following material planning grounds:



1. Risk to Sensitive Educational Uses

The site is a primary thoroughfare for families and children attending the high density of educational facilities in the immediate vicinity, including:

- Primary Schools: Kilburn Grange School, St Mary's C of E Primary, and St Eugene de Mazenod Primary.

- Nurseries: Busy Bees Nursery and Learning Tree Nursery.

- Community Amenities: Kilburn Grange Park.



The introduction of an AGC here would lead to the unacceptable normalization of gambling for hundreds of local children. Permitting a high-stakes gaming environment in such close proximity to five early-years and primary providers is a significant safeguarding risk that contradicts the NPPF goal of promoting healthy and safe communities.



2. Over-concentration of Gambling Establishments

Kilburn High Road is already saturated with adult gaming venues. There are already two Game Nation outlets in the immediate vicinity (89 and 108 Kilburn High Road), as well as Merkur Slots (130 Kilburn High Road).

- Policy BE5 Breach: Adding another unit at number 82 would lead to a clustering of gambling uses that exceeds the 3% frontage limit set by Brent Council.

- Harm to Retail: This over-concentration undermines retail diversity and discourages the family-oriented businesses that the local community actually needs.



3. Failure to Support High Street Vitality

The proposal does not contribute to the "vibrancy" of the High Road:

- Dead Frontage: AGCs rely on obscured windows and heavy branding, creating a "dead zone" on the street that reduces natural surveillance and active footfall.

- Precedent for Refusal: we draw the council's attention to the recent refusal of a near-identical application by the applicant, Sunni-Ed Limited, at Staines High Street (Spelthorne Council, Nov 2025). In that case, the committee determined that such uses provide no community value and fail to enhance the daytime economy of major town centres.



4. Public Safety and Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB)

Kilburn High Road already faces significant challenges with loitering and street-based ASB. Adding a late-night gaming use at this specific location will exacerbate these issues, creating an intimidating atmosphere for parents and residents during the school run. The "fear of crime" is a material planning consideration that warrants the refusal of this application.



This proposal offers no benefit to the community and poses a clear risk to the welfare of local children. We strongly urge the Council to refuse this application.

………………..

 

I am the Co-chair of the One Kilburn coordinating group and am writing on behalf of One Kilburn to challenge the planning application for an adult gaming centre in Kilburn on multiple grounds, with particular emphasis on breaching the Local Plan and on the serious public health consequences of introducing additional gambling facilities in an already vulnerable community. Founded in 2022, One Kilburn is a community-led initiative which provides a space where Kilburn people can meet, connect and make common ground. It seeks to foster a community, place and belonging in Kilburn, across the municipal boundaries which have historically split Kilburn across three London boroughs. We therefore have a strong interest in issues affecting the vitality of the High Road.
 

Breaching the Local Plan



Policy BE5 of the Brent Local Plan 2019-2041 specifically aims to prevent an over-concentration of betting shops and adult gaming centres and to protect the vitality and retail function of town centres. Crucially, one of its provisions states that adult gaming centres will only be permitted where they would not result in more than 3% of the town centre frontage consisting of adult gaming centres or pawnbrokers, or payday loan shops. By our rough estimate, the town centre frontage on the Brent side of the High Road is around 1,400m; it follows that 3% of that amounts to 42m. The site plans for this proposal suggest that the frontage of the establishment would be nearly 40m (on both the High Road and Victoria Road, since the premises are located on a corner). Given the current existence of other adult gaming centres on the Brent side of the High Road, we believe that this proposal would breach the 3% threshold and should be rejected on those grounds, in addition to what we argue below. Furthermore, as a high-profile corner site, it should anchor the high street. Instead, an adult gaming centre creates a dead frontage which doesn't support Kilburn's recovery. It offers no active engagement with the streetscape, directly undermining Policy BE5's objective to protect the retail function of town centres.



Public Health Crisis in Brent



The evidence of gambling-related harm in Brent is stark and unequivocal. According to the Brent Joint Strategic Needs Assessment on Gambling, the borough has one of the highest concentrations of gambling premises in London, with 81 licensed venues already operating. Most alarmingly, 6.2 percent of Brent residents are classified as high-risk gamblers-more than double the national average of 2.9 percent. This represents a public health crisis that would only be exacerbated by permitting additional gambling facilities.



The economic burden of this gambling epidemic is substantial and growing. The estimated cost of gambling-related harm in Brent has increased sevenfold to £14.3 million annually, placing immense pressure on public services including health care, social services, and community support systems. These costs are ultimately borne by taxpayers and divert resources from other essential services. Under the Equality Act, Brent Council must also consider its Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED). With 6.2 percent of Brent residents who are classified as high-risk gamblers-is more than double the national average. These vulnerable protected groups in a gambling density area are impacted disproportionately and are already at a heightened risk of financial exclusion and mental health crisis.



Targeting Vulnerable Communities



National and local evidence demonstrates that adult gaming centres systematically target areas of socioeconomic disadvantage. The High Streets at Stake report reveals that 33% of adult gaming centres are located in the most deprived 10%t of neighbourhoods nationally, with over half serving the most deprived 20%. Kilburn fits this vulnerable profile precisely, with high levels of private renting, overcrowding, and a younger working-age population that research consistently identifies as being more exposed to gambling harms.



The physical availability and visibility of gambling venues is a proven driver of harm. By introducing an additional adult gaming centre in Kilburn, this proposal would increase exposure to gambling, normalise harmful behaviours, and elevate risk levels in a community already experiencing rates of problem gambling at twice the national average. While the applicant may claim to contribute to the local economy, these venues offer little or minimal employment with no community benefit. This targeting is a form of corporate extraction where significant public health costs (estimated at £14.3 million annually in Brent), wil have to be managed by local authorities and health services.



Exacerbating Existing Problems



Kilburn High Road already contains a dense concentration of betting shops, gambling-adjacent uses, and late-night premises. The proposed site sits opposite a 24-hour McDonald's, creating conditions that would intensify late-night congregation, loitering, and associated anti-social behaviour. The cumulative impact of this proposal cannot be ignored. It will create an environment that residents have consistently reported as being associated with crime, exploitation of vulnerable people, and general deterioration of community wellbeing. By placing another gambling venue directly opposite a fast-food outlet (McDonald's), the application creates a hotspot for loitering. This creates a perceived lack of safety that discourages other residents and families from using the High Road, thus damaging the evening economy and undermining the diverse and resilient vision set out in the Kilburn Neighbourhood Plan.



Adult gaming centres offer minimal local employment, no genuine community benefit, and actively undermine the pride and vitality of high streets that residents desperately want to see improved. They are inward-facing and represent single-purpose uses that do not provide an active frontage or support browsing and linked trips. Moreover, a further gaming centre on the High Road would go against the spirit of the Kilburn Neighbourhood Plan, recently approved through a referendum of local residents.



Conclusion



The planning and health evidence is clear. This speculative proposal clearly breaches Policy BE5 of the Brent Local Plan and should be refused. At a time when local authorities are campaigning to tackle gambling harms, this application moves Kilburn in the opposite direction. It breaches frontage thresholds, threatens public health, and contradicts the community-led vision for a healthier, more vibrant Kilburn High Road. We urge the Council to protect Kilburn community's physical, mental, and economic well-being by rejecting this application.

 

……........

Proposal: Change of use of basement and ground floor from vacant bank to Adult Gaming Centre

This proposal represents the antithesis of the kind of development and meaningful progress that residents in both Brent and Camden want to see. At a time when both Brent and Camden Council are actively campaigning to tackle gambling harms, rebuild pride in our high streets and support healthier town centres, this application would take Kilburn in precisely the opposite direction. It would introduce a use that extracts value from the community, generates well evidenced public health and anti-social behaviour impacts, and gives little back in return.

I primarily object to this application on planning grounds. In doing so, I also make clear that the proposal raises material considerations relating to public health and the effective operation of the council's licensing regime, all of which are supported by adopted policy and robust local evidence and should therefore be afforded significant weight.

1. Planning impacts in Kilburn and conflict with the Brent Local Plan

The site sits within a designated town centre frontage on Kilburn High Road, a corridor already under intense pressure from deprivation, high footfall, late night activity and a concentration of nonretail uses. Kilburn experiences high levels of private renting, overcrowding, and a younger working age population that Brent Council's own evidence identifies as being more exposed to gambling related harm.

Against that context, Policy BE5 of the Brent Local Plan 2019-2041 is directly engaged. Policy BE5 exists specifically to prevent over concentration of betting shops and adult gaming centres and to protect the vitality and retail function of town centres. It states that betting shops and adult gaming centres will only be permitted where they would not result in:

- more than 3 percent of the town centre frontage consisting of adult gaming centres or pawnbrokers or payday loan shops

- more than 1 unit or 10 percent of a neighbourhood parade frontage, whichever is greater, consisting of betting shops, adult gaming centres or pawnbrokers or payday loan shops

- a dominance of single use, low diversity frontages that undermine the retail role of town centres

The justification to Policy BE5 is explicit that these controls are necessary to protect health, social and cultural wellbeing, and to prevent harmful clustering in areas already experiencing disadvantage.

Kilburn High Road already contains a dense mix of betting, gambling adjacent uses, money transfer outlets and late-night food premises. This proposal would sit directly opposite a 24-hour McDonald's, intensifying late night footfall, congregation and loitering, and compounding cumulative impacts associated with noise, disturbance and anti-social behaviour. These are not hypothetical concerns but well understood dynamics in this location.

Adult gaming centres are inherently inward facing uses. They do not support linked trips, they do not meaningfully activate the street during the day, and they do not contribute to a diverse or resilient retail offer. Replacing a former bank with an adult gaming centre would therefore further erode the balance of uses on Kilburn High Road, contrary to both the wording and intent of Policy BE5 and the wider town centre objectives of the Local Plan.

2. Public health impacts

Public health is a material planning consideration where supported by local evidence, and in Brent that evidence is unequivocal.

The Brent Joint Strategic Needs Assessment on Gambling identifies Brent as having one of the highest concentrations of gambling premises in London, with 81 licensed premises, and rates of high-risk gambling more than double the national average. In Brent, 6.2 percent of residents are classified as high-risk gamblers, compared with 2.9 percent nationally. Low risk gambling is also significantly higher, meaning a far larger group exposed to harm.

The JSNA shows that gambling premises are disproportionately clustered in wards such as Kilburn, and that the physical availability and visibility of gambling venues is a key driver of harm. The estimated economic cost of gambling related harm in Brent has risen sevenfold to £14.3 million per year, placing further pressure on public services.

Kilburn's demographic profile makes it particularly vulnerable. The ward has high levels of private renting, overcrowding, younger working age residents, and communities that national and local evidence consistently show are more exposed to gambling harms. Introducing an additional adult gaming centre in this location would increase exposure, normalisation and risk, directly undermining the council's preventative public health objectives.

3. Undermining the council's licensing framework

Although licensing is determined separately, planning decisions must not undermine the effective operation of the council's adopted regulatory framework.

Brent's Statement of Licensing Policy 2025-2030 makes clear that the council seeks 'alignment between planning and licensing', particularly where proposals risk increasing crime, disorder and harm to vulnerable people. Granting planning permission here would materially frustrate that objective by enabling further clustering of gambling uses in a location already identified as sensitive and high risk.

Once planning permission is granted, the council's ability to manage impacts through licensing is significantly constrained by the permissive national regime. That is precisely why planning judgement at this stage is so important.

4. High streets, cumulative harm and the wider evidence base

The High Streets at Stake report by the Social Market Foundation and sponsored by Brent Council provides a compelling national and local evidence base on adult gaming centres. It finds that:

- the number of adult gaming centres increased by 7 percent between 2022 and 2024

- 33 percent of adult gaming centres are located in the most deprived 10 percent of neighbourhoods, and over half serve the most deprived 20 percent

- gross gambling yield from higher risk machines has almost doubled since 2022

- residents consistently report associations with crime, anti social behaviour and exploitation of vulnerable people

The report identifies locations in Brent as being systematically targeted because of high footfall, transport connectivity and socio economic vulnerability. This application fits that pattern precisely.

Adult gaming centres are the textbook definition of corporate extraction. They generate private profit while exporting public health costs to councils, health services and communities. They offer little local employment, no community value, and actively remove pride from high streets that residents want to see improved, not hollowed out.

Summary

This application should be seen for what it is: a speculative proposal in a vulnerable location, relying on a permissive national regime, offering no meaningful contribution to Kilburn's future, and running directly counter to adopted planning policy, public health evidence and the council's wider campaign to tackle gambling harms.

It is also notable that the applicant, SUNNI ED LIMITED, is part of a pattern of serial applications around the country, often supported by the same agent, testing the limits of local resistance. The same applicant has recently had a planning application refused in Spelthorne, which raises further concerns about the approach being taken and the absence of any genuine local commitment.

At present, there is no clarity about who the eventual operator would be, reinforcing the concern that this is a faceless, footloose proposal with no accountability to the community it would affect.

Taken together, the planning harm, the public health impacts, the risk of increased anti-social behaviour, and the undermining of local policy are clear. This proposal fails to meet the test of good planning and should be refused before it puts residents in Brent at avoidable risks of harm.

 

……........

 

I and my neighbours in the BRAT Residents' Association catchment area strongly oppose this planning application which is at odds with every aspiration set out in the newly endorsed Kilburn Neighbourhood plan. The arrival of another Adult Gaming Centre in these large and prominent premises will overshadow all the good work underway to try to improve Kilburn High Road and make it a vibrant and appealing retail town centre and community hub. Its presence will also overshadow improvements at Kilburn Sq retail and undoubtedly deter more quality appropriate retailers too. Also no account terms to have been taken of the proliferation of gambling and gaming on Kilburn High Rd. For example there are several Betting shops and a Mercure Slots very nearby already on the same High Road and the concentration will become totally inappropriate with another such large centre. This may be partly to do with Kilburn High Road being under the jurisdiction of both LB Camden and Brent so it appears that gaming premises are in different Boroughs when in fact they are in close proximity on the same street. The local population is strongly against Kilburn becoming a gaming and gambling dominated centre - our population is already under pressure and working hard to improve. Why then insert a large enterprise designed to exploit poverty and deprivation through gaming?. This is totally at odds with the democratically endorsed local Plan. Please re-think the approach and work with the local population to find a more appropriate use for this important and prominent site. The local Town Centre Manager is working hard to create an improved environment and offer on Kilburn High Riad. Last week I was part of a local group welcoming the planting of x6 new trees to the street and many elements are scheduled for or have already benefited from improvement. A large Gaming Centre will undermine this investment and dilute this good work. Please do not neglect z Kilburn and its population further by enabling such exploitative and inappropriate businesses to proliferate on our High Road.

 

Join a toilet procession along Kilburn High Road to call for better public toilets in Kilburn: Saturday 23rd November

 

KOVE CAMPAIGNERS OUTSIDE KILBURN LIBRARY

 

We recently reported on the proposals, after hard and persistent campaigning,  for more toilets at underground stations. Locally the inconvenience at best, and health dangers at worst, of lack of public toilets has been recognised by KOVE (Kilburn Older Voices Exchange).

KOVE are campaigning for better public toilets in Kilburn and will be holding a procession down Kilburn High Road: 

Do you want better public toilets in Kilburn?

 

Join KOVE for a procession down Kilburn High Road to support this vital issue and mark World Toilet Day. We’ll have placards, or bring your own!

Saturday 23^rd November 1.30-2.30pm

 

Meet in Kilburn Library (Camden side: 12-22 Kilburn High Road NW6 5UH   (upstairs room) from 1pm. Light refreshments and socialising at start and end. 

Any queries, email: Michael.Stuart6@gmail.com

Camden Council are installing a Changing Places toilet at Kilburn Library. These facilities provides sanitary accommodation for people with multiple and complex disabilities who have one or two assistants with them which will make the library a more inclusive space.

KOVE said:

Our campaigning efforts are aimed at creating a more inclusive and age friendly Kilburn. We believe in empowering older individuals to actively participate in shaping local policies and decisions, ensuring their perspectives are heard and valued. Some of our initiatives include the upcoming World Toilet Day march, the Kilburn bench audit, campaigns for increased safety on and around Kilburn High Road and the Loos for Kilburn campaign.

At last! Tri-borough consultation opens on improvements to Kilburn High Road

 There have long been complaints about the state of Kilburn High Road, one of London's main arteries and shopping streets, and the failure of the responsible local councils to cooperate on the many issues involved,

Now Camden Council, Brent Council and the City of Westminster have launched a joint consultation on improvement plans. They say:

 Kilburn is a busy place with shops, restaurants, local services and lots of public transport links. Camden, Brent and Westminster Councils want to improve road safety and air quality along the High Road, maintain bus journey times and make it easier to catch public transport.

We also want to upgrade how the high street looks and feels.

This is your chance to share your ideas on our proposals and help shape the future of Kilburn. Your views matter to us on this scheme because we want you to enjoy being in Kilburn, to have a safer and more pleasant place for everyone to walk, shop and visit, to breathe cleaner air and for businesses to flourish.

The first consultation event will be at the Kilburn Grange Park Festival today:

Consultation events

We'd love to chat to you at one of our events below:

• 13 July, 2024: Kilburn Grange Park Festival (12pm - 6pm)
• 17 July, 2024: Kilburn Playhut in Kilburn Grange Park (12pm - 2pm)
• 22 July, 2024: Online Q&A Meeting (6-7 pm)
• 1 August, 2024: Kilburn Library (10am - 12pm)

And look out for pop-up events on Kilburn High Road, in the pink gazebo, throughout July and August!  Consultations ends August 23^rd

 To take part in the Consultation and for further information go to LINK.

 

Plans below. Click on bottom right for full page view.

Uncovering Kilburn’s History – Part 7

Thank you for joining me again for the final part of this Kilburn local history series.

 

 

1. New flats in Cambridge Road, opposite Granville Road Baths, c.1970. (Brent Archives online image 10127)

 

In Part 6 we saw the major rebuilding that took place, particularly in South Kilburn, between the late 1940s and the 1970s. Many of the workers on the building sites were Irish. The new wave of Irish immigration to Northwest London, which reached its peak in the 1950s, was quickly transforming the area. As well as abundant work, Kilburn offered plenty of cheap accommodation, and a bustling High Road with cultural and eating establishments, many of them catering for the Irish population, who soon represented a majority in the area. ‘County Kilburn’ was dubbed Ireland’s 33rd county

  

2. Kilburn's Irish culture – an Irish Festival poster and Kilburn Gaels hurling team. (From the internet)

 

The Irish community, close-knit and mutually supportive, hit the headlines in the negative way in the 1970s, when Kilburn became a focal point for “the Troubles” in London. On 8 June 1974, an estimated 3,000 came out onto the streets of Kilburn for the funeral procession of Provisional IRA member Michael Gaughan. An Irishman, who had lived in Kilburn, Gaughan was imprisoned for an armed bank robbery in 1971 and in 1974 died as the result a hunger strike. Gaughan’s coffin, accompanied by an IRA guard of honour, was taken from the Crown at Cricklewood through Kilburn to the Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart in Quex Road, before being flown to Dublin for another ceremony and funeral.

 

3. Michael Gaughan's funeral procession in Quex Road, June 1974. (Image from the internet)

 

The maximum publicity stirred by the IRA only confirmed the general belief that Kilburn was becoming a focal point for the Irish republicans, and their meeting place was Biddy Mulligan’s pub at 205 High Road. Dating from about 1862, the pub on the corner of Kilburn High Road and Willesden Lane was originally called the Victoria Tavern. It became Biddy Mulligan’s in the 1970s, named after the character of a female Dublin street seller performed by 1930s Irish comedian Jimmy O’Dea.

 

 

4. Sinn Fein's Kilburn Branch, marching through Cricklewood in the 1970s. (Brent Archives image 317)

As claimed by Ulster loyalists later, Biddy’s attracted ‘militant Irish extremists, far left activists, revolutionaries and their sympathisers’. Leaders of Sinn Fein in London said they collected about £17,000 a year in Kilburn – a lot of it came from the pub collections and went across the Irish sea to fund IRA activities. On 21 December 1975 the pub was shaken by an explosion from a holdall left at its doorstep by members of the Ulster Defence Association, who said they wanted to stop the spread of IRA in England. It was the first time the UDA struck outside Northern Ireland. Out of 90 people who were in the bar at the time, a small number were hurt, but no one was killed. The perpetrators were quickly arrested and put in prison.

 

5. The former Biddy Mulligan's pub in 2009. (From the internet – picture by Ewan Murray, on Flickr)

 

The pub remained ‘Biddy’s’ for a few years, then it traded as an Aussie sports bar called the ‘Southern K’. It closed about 2009 and today the building is a Ladbrokes betting shop. 

 

The look and feel of Kilburn is changing fast – Woolworths, at 100-104 Kilburn High Road, which was a big feature of the area since 1920s, closed in 2008 and is now Iceland. The elegant 1930s Art Deco building at 54-56 Kilburn High Road is Primark – part of the usual mix of shops found on any major high street in the country. 

 

6. The Lord Palmerston in a c.1900 postcard, and as Nando's, 2017. (www.images-of-london.co.uk / Anne Hill)

 

The Lord Palmerston, 308 Kilburn High Road, is another example of how Kilburn has changed over time. It originally operated as the Palmerston Hotel when it opened in 1869, and served as a terminus for several horse bus services. In 1977 the pub re-opened as the Roman Way, in deference to the road’s historic roots. Now it is a branch of Nando’s. The Cock Tavern, The Old Bell, the Sir Colin Campbell, North London Tavern, Earl of Derby and others continue the area’s tradition of historic pubs, which we saw in Part 2, but now alongside Italian, Japanese, Thai, Afghani, Persian, Turkish, Indian, Moroccan, Burmese eateries on the High Road. 

 

7.  A collage of some of Kilburn's historic public houses. (Photos and collage by Irina Porter)

 

From the 1970s onwards the Irish population started to move out of the area, and immigrants from the Caribbean, Middle East and Asia started to come in. The area is now multicultural - in 2017 the vicar of the Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart in Quex Road said that he regularly welcomed 64 different nationalities to mass. The Maida Vale Picture House at 140 Maida Vale (1913) is now the Islamic Centre of England.

 

“The window logs Kilburn’s skyline. Ungentrified, ungentrifiable. Boom and bust never come here. Here bust is permanent. Empty State Empire, empty Odeon, graffiti-streaked sidings rising and falling like a rickety roller coaster. Higgledy-piggledy rooftops and chimneys, some high, some low, packed tightly, shaken fags in a box. Behind the opposite window, retreating Willesden. Number 37. In the 1880s or thereabouts the whole thing went up at once – houses, churches, schools, cemeteries – an optimistic vision of Metroland. Little terraces, faux-Tudor piles. All the mod cons! Indoor toilet, hot water. Well-appointed country living for those tired of the city. Fast-forward. Disappointed city living for those tired of their countries.”

 

8. Three scenes from Kilburn High Road in 2020, still with a W.H.Smith connection! (Photos by Irina Porter)

 

The 1970s was not all doom and gloom, and music provided one of the bright spots. The band ‘Kilburn and the High Roads’ (local connection unknown!) and its singer Ian Dury were one of the inspirations for the later punk rock movement. In a comment on Part 3, Wembley Matters reader Trevor shared with us his recollections of growing up in Kilburn and taking part in the The Jam’s video for their song ‘When You’re Young’ in 1979. This was filmed in Kilburn Square shopping precinct and in Kilburn High Road (with Woolworths!). The bandstand is in Queen’s Park, and the 12-year old Trevor is wearing a red and blue jacket.

 

 

Another famous 1970s singer/songwriter who has lived locally was Cat Stevens. He became a Muslim in 1977, having found his spiritual home through reading the Qur’an, and changed his name to Yusuf Islam. His many charitable works in promoting education, peace and mutual respect between faiths since then have included setting up the Islamia Primary School in Salusbury Road in 1982, the first full-time Muslim primary school in England. For more about musicians and music businesses in Kilburn, visit North-West London Music Maps, by Dick Weindling. 

 

Kilburn had 10 cinemas in the last 110 years, but today only one remains, and that is part of the cultural focal point of modern Kilburn, at 269 Kilburn High Road. The building dates from 1928, when it was opened as the London headquarters of the Foresters’ Friendly Society, which provided financial help to members in need. In the 1930s it had a music and dance hall, on occasions hired by Oswald Mosley’s fascist ‘Blackshirts’, who used to meet in the area. During the World War II it served as an air raid shelter and a food distribution point.

 

9. The Foresters’ Hall and Tricycle Theatre, late 20th century. (Images from the internet)

 

The Foresters’ stayed in the building until 1979, when they sold it, and moved into a small office nearby. The building was being used by local community organisations, when it was discovered by Shirley Barrie and Ken Chubb, who founded their theatre performance Wakefield Tricycle Company and were looking for permanent premises. In 1980 Tim Foster Architects re-designed the theatre, but in 1987 the building was destroyed by fire and the re-building took 2 years. In 1998 a new cinema was opened next to it, which also offered extra rehearsing space.

 

 

10. The opening plaque on what is now the Kiln Cinema, in Buckley Road. (Photos by Irina Porter, 2020)

 

The Tricycle Theatre was successful and acquired a reputation for political and outspoken, diverse and innovative plays. One of the best known was the Colour of Justice (1999), based on the Stephen Lawrence inquiry and directed by Nicholas Kent who became Artistic Director in 1984. In 2018, after another re-design project, the Tricycle re-opened as The Kiln, with a new café, rehearsal rooms, improved accessibility, better sightlines, comfortable seats and flexible stage. The Kiln has a 300-seat cinema and a slightly smaller theatre complex.

 

11. The 60s/70s South Kilburn today, with Crone Court and the OK Club (left) and Dickens House (right).
      (Photos by John Hill, and from Facebook on the internet)

 

Despite the hopes of planners, and like the Chalkhill and Stonebridge estates elsewhere in Brent, the South Kilburn estate of typical 1960s brutalist style high density housing, in low rise flats and 11 concrete tower blocks, did not deliver an ideal neighbourhood. In 1988, unemployment in South Kilburn was 20%. The estate was plagued by crime, shootings, gun and drug trade. There was ongoing rivalry with gangs from the nearby Mozart Estate, just across the borough boundary in Westminster. Several high-profile police raids in 2007 and 2011 and the shootings of innocent by-standers as the gangs wage their wars against each other continue to contribute to the adverse reputation of the area.

 

12. Network Housing's Kilburn Quarter, in a computer image and 2020 photograph. (Internet / Irina Porter)

 

In 2004 Brent Council started working on a 15-year plan of drastic demolition of much of the estate and creating a new living environment, at a cost of £660 million. The demolition of the old estate started in 2014 with two of the 18 storey housing blocks, to be replaced with 4 ‘smart’ blocks and amenities for the local community. Several different housing associations and architects are involved in the project, which so far has resulted in an overall loss of council housing, as many of the flats are for private sale. Despite the council’s efforts to improve the quality of the area, it continues to be plagued by problems connected to its history of gang violence and drug dealing, as well as issues with maintenance of the newly built homes and cladding for fire safety regulations.

 

One effort aimed at engaging with young people on the fringes was the Signal Project in 2004. The mural they sponsored under the bridges at Kilburn Station brought together graffiti artists and the local community. The subjects painted reflected Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’, H.G. Wells’s ‘War of the Worlds’, the Gaumont State and Kilburn’s Irish heritage, and it won Time Out magazine’s best mural award in 2006.

 

13. Some views of the street art murals under the bridges at Kilburn Station. (Irina Porterx3/ John Hill)

 

In recent years Kilburn has been regarded as on the way up – as have been many London locations which are within easy transport links to Central London. The long-suffering South Kilburn estate is not without its crime problems, and occasionally developers cause an uproar too, as in the case of the Carlton Tavern, a pub in Carlton Vale on the border of Kilburn and Westminster. This dated from 1921 and was the only building on this part of the street to survive the Blitz during the Second World War. In 2015 it was bought by an Israeli property developer and demolished overnight, without permission, while being considered for Grade II listing.  Westminster Council ordered the developer to rebuild the public house, recreating the exact facsimile, which has been done, but as of October 2020 it still has not re-opened. 

 

14. The Carlton Tavern, after its 2015 demolition, and in 2020 after being rebuilt. (Internet / Irina Porter)

 

Brent was chosen to be London’s Borough of Culture for 2020, and one of its highlights was to be a summer festival on Kilburn High Road, with a mile-long street party. Unfortunately this was cancelled due to the Covid-19 situation. Kilburn does, however, have two Brent Biennial artworks by British-Filipino artist Pio Abad, just off the High Road in Willesden Lane and Burton Road. There is also the premiere of Zadie Smith’s debut play, ‘The Wife of Willesden’ at The Kiln theatre to look forward to as part of the delayed LBOC 2020 celebrations.

 

15. Pio Abad's two Brent2020 Kilburn artworks, and a Borough of Cultures sign. (Internet / Irina Porter x2)

 

Whatever Kilburn’s future will bring us, I hope you have enjoyed discovering its rich and colourful past, which this series will remain as a record of.

Irina Porter,
Willesden Local History Society

 

A special thank you to local historian Dick Weindling, co-author of 'Kilburn and West Hampstead Past' and History of Kilburn and West Hampstead blog

 

Thank you, Irina, for what has been a fascinating series on Kilburn. Where will our local history journey take us next? If we head west along Kilburn Lane to Kensal Green, then up the Harrow Road for a few miles, we’ll come to …. Find out next week, when another writer joins our “local history in lockdown” team, with a one-off article for you.