We had previously written in April 2023 about the Kilburn Square development see here.
The eviction of businesses was delayed and eventually all business vacated their premises on 5th January 2024.
On the 22nd January 2024 the site hoardings started to be built to enclose the area. We took the opportunity to take some last pictures of this rundown shop parade.
This parade was state of the art in the 60’s when it was build, but had many flaws from the outset, ie retail units on the first floor accessible via an escalator that never worked. Since it was built no maintenance ever took place. The white tiles never got cleaned, the escalator was removed and a dreadful enclosure for the market was built.
The market originally was an open plaza where traders set-up on a daily basis and packed up at night.
The plans for development were approved under planning permission 21/2210. See here for a link to the approved elevations. There are no plans to touch the market area nor Argos.
A variation to the planning application was made in 2023 under reference 23/0265. It added louvres and fire exists to the facades. It alos incorporated the addition of a public toilet at the back of Kilburn Market. See here for elevations and here for floor plans showing the public toilets. No improvement to the front plaza apart from addition of a few bicycle stands under the pigeon trees!
Baara Construction were appointed as a contractors late 2023 and submitted a construction management plan dated February 2024.
It is anticipated that construction will take around 2 years.
Large retail units with internal lifts and stairs will then become available.
The design of the new look shopping parade is reminiscent of a 1980’s shopping parade and there are no plans for the market and the front plaza. So in short it might slightly improve the look of the parade but is a missed opportunity to provide a focus to this central Kilburn High Road location. One can only guess which retailer will take any of these 2 floors units in the current retail environment! Only time will tell…