The London Borough of Harrow () is a borough in west and north-west London, England; it forms part of Outer London. It borders four other London boroughs Barnet to the east of ancient Watling Street (now the A5 road), Brent to the southeast, Ealing to the south and Hillingdon to the west and the Hertfordshire districts of Three Rivers and Hertsmere to the north. The local authority is Harrow London Borough Council. The London borough was formed in 1965, based on boundaries that had been established in 1934. The borough is made up of three towns: Harrow, Pinner and Stanmore, but also includes western parts of Edgware and Sudbury.
History The area of the modern borough broadly corresponds to the three ancient parishes of Harrow on the Hill, Great Stanmore and Little Stanmore (also known as Whitchurch), all of which were historically in the county of Middlesex. Harrow on the Hill was the largest of the three parishes. Pinner was a chapelry of Harrow on the Hill until 1766 when it was made a separate parish.
The central part of the parish of Harrow on the Hill was made a local board district in 1850, with an elected board overseeing public health and responsible for the provision of infrastructure. The local board district covered the original hilltop village and the adjoining hamlets of Roxeth, Sudbury and Greenhill. Greenhill subsequently developed into the modern town centre of Harrow following the opening of Harrow-on-the-Hill station there in 1880.
Such districts were reconstituted as urban districts under the Local Government Act 1894, which also said that parishes could no longer straddle district boundaries. The parts of the old parish of Harrow on the Hill outside the urban district were therefore split into three new parishes called Harrow Weald, Wealdstone and Wembley (the latter now part of the London Borough of Brent). Wealdstone and Wembley were both made into urban districts at the same time.Youngs, Frederic A Jr. (1979). Guide to the Local Administrative Units of England, Vol.I: Southern England. London: Royal Historical Society.
The urban district was significantly enlarged by the Middlesex Review Order 1934 to take in the neighbouring urban district of Wealdstone and the parishes of Harrow Weald, Pinner, Great Stanmore and Little Stanmore. The urban district was renamed from 'Harrow on the Hill' to just 'Harrow' as part of the 1934 expansion. Harrow Urban District was incorporated as a municipal borough on 4 May 1954. At the 1961 census, the borough had a population of 209,080, making it the most populous local government district in the administrative county of Middlesex.
In 1965 the borough was transferred from Middlesex to Greater London under the London Government Act 1963. It kept the same boundaries, but was renamed the London Borough of Harrow, becoming one of the 32 London Boroughs. It was the only London borough which comprised a single pre-1965 district with no changes to its boundaries. There has since been an adjustment to the borough's northern boundary, where the village of Elstree straddled Harrow and Hertfordshire; on 1 April 1993 Elstree was placed entirely in Hertfordshire (and its district of Hertsmere).
Governance
The local authority is Harrow Council, which meets at the Harrow Arts Centre in Pinner and has its main offices at the Council Hub on Kenmore Avenue in Wealdstone.
Greater London representation Since 2000, for elections to the London Assembly, the borough forms part of the Brent and Harrow constituency.
Demographics
Location Its site on and near the green belt and ease of access to central London (20 minutes by train to Marylebone and 12 minutes to Euston via West Midlands Trains) make Harrow a convenient place to live. Rising property prices in all London areas have helped to see a large increase in property redevelopment of its existing Edwardian and 1920s to 1940s housing stock.
Ethnicity
Harrow is a diverse borough, having 63.8% of its population from the BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) communities, with the largest group being of Indian ethnicity (specifically those from Gujarat and South India). The borough can also claim to have the largest concentration of Sri Lankan Tamils in the UK and Ireland as well as having the highest density of Gujarati Hindus in the UK.
Ethnic GroupYear1971 estimations1981 estimations1991 census2001 census2011 census2021 censusNumber%Number%Number%Number%Number%Number%White: Total–95.8%164,78185%149,68973.4%121,54358.77%100,99142.07%95,23336.46% White: British–––––– 103,207 49.90% 73,826 30.8% 53,567 20.51% White: Irish–––––– 9,057 4.38% 7,336 3.0% 5,608 2.15% White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller–––––– – – 181 0.07% 179 0.07% White: Other–––––– 9,279 4.49% 19,648 8.2% 34,458 13.19% Asian or Asian British: Total ––22,22311.4%42,73221% 61,314 29.65% 101,808 42.2% 118,152 45.23% Asian or Asian British: Indian––17,5159%33,246 16.3% 45,310 21.91% 63,051 26.3% 74,744 28.62% Asian or Asian British: Pakistani––1,3952,406 4,317 2.09% 7,797 3.2% 10,264 3.93% Asian or Asian British: Bangladeshi––290552 953 0.46% 1,378 0.5% 1,820 0.70% Asian or Asian British: Chinese––1,0031,854 2,567 1.24% 2,629 1.0% 2,784 1.07% Asian or Asian British: Other Asian ––2,0204,674 10,734 5.19% 26,953 11.2% 28,540 10.93% Black or Black British: Total ––4,7242.4%7,664 3.8% 12,703 6.14% 19,708 8.1% 19,151 7.33% Black or Black British: African––9411,731 5,656 2.73% 8,526 3.5% 10,584 4.05% Black or Black British: Caribbean––2,8571.5%4,537 2.2% 6,116 2.96% 6,812 2.8% 6,514 2.49% Black or Black British: Other Black––9261,396 931 0.45% 4,370 1.8% 2053 0.79% Mixed or British Mixed: Total –––––– 5,840 2.82% 9,499 3.8% 9,833 3.76% Mixed: White and Black Caribbean –––––– 1,371 0.66% 2,344 0.9% 2,187 0.84% Mixed: White and Black African –––––– 633 0.31% 1,053 0.4% 1,104 0.42% Mixed: White and Asian –––––– 2,018 0.98% 3,417 1.4% 3,140 1.20% Mixed: Other Mixed –––––– 1,818 0.88% 2,685 1.1% 3,402 1.30% Other: Total ––2,2081.1%3,714 1.8% 2,847 1.38% 7,050 2.8% 18,836 7.21% Other: Arab –––––– – – 3,708 1.5% 6,239 2.39% Other: Any other ethnic group –––––– 2,847 1.38% 3,342 1.3% 12,597 4.82% Ethnic minority: Total –4.8%29,15515%54,11026.6% 85,271 41.23% 138,065 57.93% 165,972 63.54% Total –100%193,936 100%203,799100% 206,814 100.00% 239,056 100.00% 261,205 100.00%
Wards with the highest white British population were: Pinner Pinner South (a long-stretched ward covering Pinner Village, the area west of North Harrow and Rayners Lane, and east of Eastcote, Ruislip, and Uxbridge) Stanmore Park (an area mostly covering Stanmore)
The lowest wards meanwhile were: Kenton East (the area west of Honeypot Lane, bordering Kenton Lane), Queensbury (the area north of the station, around Honeypot Lane)
Since 2005, on the last Sunday in June Harrow Council hosts Under One Sky - Harrow's largest festival, to celebrate and the joint communities of Harrow. This has a programme of dance, world music, sports activity, youth music, spoken word, free children's activity, a carnival parade, information and stalls, health promotion, a world food zone and outside radio broadcast.
Religion
Harrow is the most religiously diverse local authority area in the UK, with a 62% chance that two random people are from different religions, according to Office for National Statistics, October 2006.. National Statistics. Retrieved 8 October 2006. According to the 2011 census, 25.3% of Harrow's population identified themselves as Hindu - the highest in the UK. A large number of Jewish people live in Stanmore and Hatch End. The Stanmore and Canons Park Synagogue, until 2019, boasted the largest membership of any single synagogue in the whole of Europe. Harrow also has a sizable Muslim community, about 1 in 10 of its population.
As per the 2011 census, Harrow has a larger than average Jewish, Hindu and Muslim population.
Religion1995 estimates2021 censusPopulation%Population%Christianity––33.9Hinduism––25.8Islam––15.9Judaism14,1007%2.8Jainism––2.4Buddhism––1.1Sikhism––1.1No religion––10.6Religion not stated––5.9
Other In a national detailed Land Use Survey by the Office for National Statistics in 2005 it was found that the London Borough of Harrow had the second highest proportion of land being domestic gardens: 34.7% of all 326 districts in England; this compared with the London Borough of Sutton's 35.1% (highest proportion nationally) and Bournemouth's 34.6%.Physical Environment: Land Use Survey 2005 published alongside the data of the 2011 census see Physical Environment.
Immigration This list includes top-15 sources of immigration to Borough of Harrow for 2021 census: #CountryNumber1 26,3762 21,0823 10,8594 10,7065 4,8256 4,4857 3,8578 3,6029 3,24510 2,56011 2,45512 1,58013 1,50614 1,50515 1,453
Arts and culture The first and only contemporary artist-led gallery in Harrow was set up in 2010 by the Usurp Art Collective. The space is called the Usurp Art Gallery & Studios and is based in West Harrow, a bohemian part of Harrow. Usurp Art provides professional support to artists and runs the only public artists studios in the borough. It is a flagship project for Arts Council England.
There are 289 listed buildings located in the London Borough of Harrow, including more than 80 in Harrow-on-the-Hill ward and over 50 in Pinner ward. Grade I and II* buildings in the borough include the Church of St Lawrence, Stanmore and Headstone Manor, and Grade II listed buildings include Bentley Priory, Grim's Dyke and Harrow and Wealdstone station.
Economy Major employers included Kodak, the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital and Ladbrokes, which formally has its headquarters in Harrow.Draft Core Strategy Retrieved on 20 October 2013.
Crime Crime figures are generally lower compared to the Greater London average; the borough had 2,618 notifiable offences in April 2009, compared with an average of 2,204 across London's boroughs. Between the annual year of June 2017 to June 2018, Harrow was ranked 28th out of the 32 London boroughs in terms of number of criminal offences, and recording just one murder in the period. The Pinner South ward was recorded as having the lowest crime rate out of all wards of Greater London in 2014/15.
Sport and leisure The London Borough of Harrow has 4 non league football clubs, including Wealdstone FC who play at The Vale, Harrow Borough F.C. who play at Rogers Family Stadium and Rayners Lane F.C. who play at the Tithe Farm Social Club. Barnet F.C. are also based in Harrow, having moved into The Hive Stadium from the neighbouring London Borough of Barnet in 2013 after disagreements with the local authority over their former home Underhill Stadium. Five of the 30 cricket clubs which play in the Middlesex County Cricket League are based in the London Borough of Harrow: Harrow, Harrow St Mary's, Harrow Town, Kenton and Stanmore. Hatch End Cricket Club previously played at Shaftesbury playing fields in Hatch End but following an arson attack on their clubhouse and a subsequent failure to raise enough funds to build a new one, the club moved to Elstree in 2011.
Harrow also had a professional rugby league team when London Broncos played at The Hive Stadium in 2014 and 2015. The club relocated to Ealing from 2016 onwards.
Education
The borough is often perceived as having a good educational record, and features many state-funded primary and secondary schools as well as a handful of large tertiary colleges.