Our neighbourhood has been let down very badly by the 2 Councils that cover our area! Be it the piles of uncollected rubbish that clutter our pavements, the disastrous state of disrepair of our pavements, the constant unenforced illegal parking, the pollution or simply the lack of timely intervention when pedestrians’ life is clearly put into danger…
Yet we love our neighbourhood and will continue to push for improvements. We don’t want a sterile high street with the normal rows of branded shops, but we will continue to fight for a public realm that is clean, safe and welcoming for pedestrians. This is the only way our High Road will thrive. Late on Friday 18th June we received extremely good news, that unfortunately we cannot share before the 21st July when the news embargo will be lifted. So bear with us.
The lower Kilburn public realm improvements have yet again been delayed, this time not because of a shortage of materials (the previous reason)!
On the 20th June, Veolia blocked us on twitter! Fully unblocked on the 22nd June. Thank you for your messages of support.
On the 16th June, we woke up to new concrete blocks at the top of Kilburn High Road, with no idea about what they were about. Adjoining businesses and residents have had no notification of any work! Our tweet and emails remained unanswered. In the evening of 16th June it became clear that the blocks were put in place to protect the scaffold erected by Network Rail. Work is to for weeks on each side of the road. There are no plans to repaint the bridge nor to fix the defective lighting nor to improve pigeon proofing. Peter Taheri kindly offered to put pressure on Network Rail to improve the bridge. On 17th June, it was quite clear that pedestrian provisions were inadequate. We spent most of Friday 18th June writing and communicating with Camden Council for urgent intervention. At 7.50pm, a barrier was put in place, just before the start of the match. The barrier was removed on 24th June. It took numerous emails and phone calls to get Brent Council (responsible for this part of the High Road) to finally install adequate pedestrians arrangements on the 30th June. Works will now last until October 2021. We are still waiting to see the Pedestrians Management plan!
Piccolo has a new look and will be formally launching their evening wine bar soon.
GB Corner, at 231 Kilburn High Road finally opened on the 23rd June.
Paradise Florist opened at 27 Willesden Lane.
Slemani City opened on the 18th June at 363 Kilburn High Road.
Fire & Spice at 312 Kilburn is being refurbished to become “Oodles”
New Hand car wash business on Iverson Road.
Restaurants offering Iraqi cusine got a shout out.
Nice to see a familiar face delivering to local businesses. Hilman are still trading!
Great news! The “anyone can grow project” was given a £500 grant by Transition Kensal to Kilburn. More good news! After 3 years of closure the kids water play feature in Grange Park is open.
Hurray to the volunteer team of Street Kitchen! They celebrated their 2nd birthday on 25th June. They are providing free food every Friday, without fail, at 7.15pm in Kilburn Square. Please contact them if you can volunteer.
The Euro 2020 have certainly brought excitement to the Kilburn High Road. Wonder which teams will benefit from the magical powers of a good night sleep in Kilburn next week and touch down in Kilburn…
Cases of Covid 19 are rising sharply in Kilburn especially amongst to 15 to 24 age group and the vaccination uptake is still very low. There are plenty of local vaccination opportunities so please get vaccinated and encourage others as well.
A new planning application for the frontage of Kilburn Square has been made, sadly not addressing the rundown market area and front public realm. The design is reminiscent of the 1990’s and while is a slight improvement on the current situation it isn’t what Kilburn needs! Please take 5 minutes to object on the basis that it does little to improve the current situation.
Darband at 328 Kilburn High Road are applying for permission to extend their premises. Comment before 19th July.
2 petitions have been launched:
- Petition to ask Brent Council to reconsider their plan to add 180 residential units on the Kilburn Square Estate! Please sign. If these plans go ahead Kilburn High Road could be blighted by another 17 storeys “landmark” tower, the loss of valuable green spaces, loss of mental health facility and a significant increase of population without supporting local services in the most densely populated Brent Ward.
- Petition asking Brent to bring in Low Traffic, Healthy Neighbourhood Schemes in the Kilburn area.
Camden are consulting on rental e-scooters trial. Have your say.
Glad to see that another facade on the High Road has been cleaned! Imagine if the whole row was cleaned!
The second class entrance of the Gaumont State in Willesden Lane got coverage on twitter and Insta. Ruach City Church, the owners, have let this listed building rot, despite promises at planning application stage! Have a look at planning application 09/1508.
London Farmers Market have abandoned their plan to extend the market on Iverson Road to 7 days a week.
Noughts and crosses? or just crosses that will result in more “temporary” tarmac repairs that remain temporary for 4 years? FM Conway, love tarmac. And they are taking the piss yards away from the place Stanley Johnson visited on 23rd June.
Are cargo bikes the future for local deliveries? Would love to see more of them in our neighbourhood and they are popular as our tweet received 27000 hits!
Filming of “Trigger Point” ended in South Kilburn. Vicky McClure posted a selfie on set.
Ever heard of the “Kilburn Crawl”? Apparently fashionable in 1908.
The flasher is back by Kilburn Station! Please call 999 if seen.
Silent films made in Cricklewood? Read about it here.
Watch this little film showing Albert Road and South Kilburn before the first regeneration.
Down memory lane… Do you remember Woolies selling loose biscuits in Kilburn?
Stickers with a meaning have appeared on street furniture, all along the High Road, see here and here.
And finally, is life a bummer and did the duck escape?
What’s coming up?
3rd July to 31st July- “The Invisible Hand” at the Kiln Theatre
3rd July to 24th July-free exhibition at Kingsgate Project space. Thursdays to Saturdays 12pm to 6pm
6th July- Camden vaccine busoutside Sidings Community Centre, offering the Moderna Vaccine
6th July Brent’s Vaccine bus on Brondesbury Road offering AZ.
7th July Brent’s Vaccine bus in Albert Road offering AZ.
8th July11am to 3pm Pfizer vaccines at Camden Kilburn Library.
8th July– Free live Irish Music at the Sir Colin Campbell
10th July– “Summer Jam” at Sidings- Please enrol your basket ball team.
10th July- free bike repairs by Dr.Bike on Streatley Road from from 10.30am to 1pm followed by the regular Saturday session at 1.30pm to 4pm.
15th July-Sip & Paint event at Bokor
15th July Free online workshop with a local artist “Recipe for a Happy Mind”
18th July 2-4pm free live Jazz in Kilburn Square.
22nd July Sip & Paint event at Bokor
24th July – 11am to 6pm Community Fun day at the Granville
24th and 25th July- Open Studios week-end at Kingsgate Workshops
30th July- training to become a “walking for health Leader”
1st August – help maintain the grow beds at Kilburn Station from 11am
5th August Sip & Paint event at Bokor
Check out the Fiddler’s gigs
If you have news, an event, some local history or just a favourite corner of Kilburn you’d like to share please email us news@lifeinkilburn.com or tweet to @lifeinkilburn.