As part of our popular Spotlight series, in this chapter we will take a look at the Greater London town of Harrow.
History
Harrow is a town, about half a mile North of Harrow on the Hill, which is really where it all started. The first recorded usage of the name is documented in 767 AD as Gumeninga Hergae, which, it has been suggested comes from “heathen Temple”. The hill has strong connections to pagan worship and in 1087 St Mary’s Church was built on the hill, where a church still stands to this day. The modern town of Harrow grew out of the foot of the hill and was originally called Greenhill or Grenehulle as it was titled in 1334. Harrow is perhaps best known for its eponymous famous boys boarding school which was founded in 1572. Harrow was also instrumental in the photographic industry in the UK and was the first place the Eastman Kodak company set up in the UK, where for 125 years the company had a facility with over 100 buildings, a research centre and over 6,000 employees. This was the largest and longest running factory for the company in the UK.
Transport Links
Harrow is on the London Underground network with 3 tube stations: North Harrow and Harrow on the Hill lie on the Marylebone line and Harrow and Wealdstone which lies on the Bakerloo line. All of these have direct links into Central London. With a couple of changes, passengers can with relative ease travel to Heathrow airport.
There is a main line (overground) train station, served by Chiltern railways, which is the Harrow on the Hill train station serving London Marylebone and Aylesbury.
Harrow doesn’t have any direct road links but lies roughly equidistant between the M1, M24 and M40/A40, all of which are easily reachable and open up access to the majority of the country.
Things to Do
Simply because it is where it all started no trip to Harrow is complete without a trip to St Mary’s church located on the hill.
Another must do is a tour of Harrow school. There are limited public tours which happen around 4 times a year, but private tours can be booked at almost any time.
As Harrow is so close to central London it is always worth hopping on the tube and exploring the delights of the capital city. Places such as Leicester Square, Buckingham Palace, Covent Garden and the houses of Parliament are all easily reached once on the tube network.
Eating and Drinking
Harrow is a veritable hub of good eateries. If you’re looking for some stunning sea food with a twist, try the Fat Crab in Harrow. What sets this restaurant out from the crowd is that the table is your plate and your hands are your cutlery.
If you want something a little more traditional with heaps of history, then the Castle is the place for you. Tracing its history back to 1716 with the current building being a grade II listed building from 1901.
As with the things to do, one of the charms of Harrow is how close it is to London where the award winning pubs and restaurants are pretty much on every street corner.
For more exotic taste buds, try Eastern Fire a contemporary Malaysian and Sri Lankan restaurant with rave reviews on TripAdvisor.
Of course, just a hop skip and a couple of Tube stations away and your are in Central London, where you can find almost any cuisine to tempt your tastebuds.
Shopping
Harrow has plenty to offer to keep shoppers happy. For a mixture of smaller boutique shops and some of the larger high street stores, get yourself over to St. George’s shopping centre where you will find favourites such as Pandora and Smiggle as well as the American fashion store Illusion.
If Harrow itself doesn’t have quite what you are looking for, but you need that shopping fix, then London is right on the doorstep. Oxford Street, Camden town and Covent Garden are all a shopper’s paradise within easy reach.
Property
The overall average price for a property being sold in Harrow is just over £514,000, ranging from £340k for a flat to around £816,000 for a detached house with a semi-detached property, on average commanding just under £638,000.
According to home.co.uk the average rental price for a property in Harrow ranges from £1,263 for a one bedroomed place to £2,625 for a 5 bedroomed house. A typical 3 bedroomed property costs about £2000 per calendar month.
If our spotlight on Harrow has made you curious about a possible move to the area, please see our current listings for Harrow. If you would like to speak with one of our local property experts, please click this link to find contact details for our Harrow office where our professional and dedicated team will be happy to help.
