Living in Hendon: area guide to homes, schools and transport links
The north London suburb of Hendon is one of the best connected in the capital, with the M1, the A5, the North Circular, the A41 and the A1 all thundering through.
Step away from all the traffic, however, and this is a place with a loyal following, a strong sense of community, a good choice of family homes and, in the Colindale area, one of London’s largest regeneration zones, backed by the Mayor and with some 10,000 new homes either built or in the pipeline.
Add to the mix plans to double the size of Brent Cross Shopping Centre with a £1.4 billion renovation including a new town square and a green bridge across the North Circular, and Hendon has a bright future.
Hendon Aerodrome played a key role in aviation history, while generations of bobbies proudly marched at passing out ceremonies at Hendon Police College.
The aerodrome has long gone and Grahame Park, a council estate built there in the Seventies, is now being rebuilt by housing association Genesis with 3,000 new homes planned.
Developer St George is building Beaufort Park in Aerodrome Road, with 3,200 homes due by 2024. Across the road, the police college is building a smaller facility and the rest of the site is being developed by Redrow, which recently launched Colindale Gardens with 2,900 homes planned by 2026/27.
Fairview New Homes has built 1,500 properties on the old Hendon Hospital site in Colindale Avenue, and is building 395 more at Edition, on the former British Newspaper Library site.
Near Hendon station, the West Hendon Estate is being rebuilt in a joint venture between Barratt Homes, Metropolitan housing association and Barnet council.
Hendon Waterside overlooks the peaceful Welsh Harp reservoir and will replace 680 council homes with 2,194 new homes, of which 1,651 will be for private sale.
Winkworth estate agent Graham Gold says Hendon has a loyal local following and a strong Jewish community, but increasingly, new people are moving to Hendon from more central areas seeking better value for money.
“There are two town centres, around Hendon Central Tube station and then along Brent Street,” adds Gould. “The Burroughs has an attractive civic centre with the town hall, library, fire station and lots of students coming and going to Middlesex University.”
Hendon is eight miles north-west of central London with Edgware to the north, Hampstead Garden Suburb to the east, Cricklewood to the south and Kingsbury to the west.
The property scene
Thirties semis and detached houses are plentiful in Hendon, including some fine Art Deco examples, and many new flats are springing up.
The Edgeworth Estate near Hendon station and the Shirehall Estate off Shirehall Lane are sought after.
What's new?
Beaufort Park in Aerodrome Road has two- and three-bedroom flats from £535,000 to £1,125,000. The next phase of one- and two-bedroom flats launches this weekend, with prices from £370,000.
Call St George on 020 8511 8600. Redrow has launched off-plan the Park Collection of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom flats at Colindale Gardens, also in Aerodrome Road, priced from £330,000 for completion next summer. Visit colindalegardens.com or call 020 3811 3734.
Asprey Park at the junction of Great North Way and Ashley Lane has two one-bedroom flats left at £395,000. Call Glentree (020 8731 9500) or Preston Bennett Hamptons (020 8954 8626).
Help to Buy is available at Hendon Waterside near Hendon station, where move-in ready two-bedroom flats start at £499,000. The next phase launches in March. Call 0844 811 4321.
Also with Help to Buy available, Edition in Colindale Avenue has one remaining three-bedroom flat in The Journal at £475,000. The next and final phase, The Argus, launches soon. Call 020 8108 3321.
Genesis housing association has two shared-ownership two-bedroom flats at Grahame Park, from £103,500 for 25 per cent of a home with a market price of £414,000. Call 033 3000 4000.
Renting
Families and young professionals rent locally, and investors go for flats they can let to Middlesex Uni students. Rental yield is between four and five per cent.
Staying power
Hendon has a loyal fanbase and the wide choice of different types of home offers plenty of scope for moving up and down the property ladder.
Postcode
NW4 is the Hendon postcode. West of the M1 it becomes NW9, the Hyde postcode that covers West Hendon, Colindale and spreads westward to Kingsbury and parts of Queensbury.
Best roads
The largest detached houses are found in Downage; Ashley Lane – home of Hendon Hall Hotel where the England football team stayed before winning the 1966 World Cup – Brampton Grove; Wykeham Road, and Manor Hall Estate, the roads at the junction of Great North Road and Holders Hill Road.
Up and coming
Estate agent Graham Gold, of Winkworth, says there are fine Victorian houses in Sunny Gardens Road and Sunningfields Road, some with good views over Sunny Hill Park.
“Most of these houses are converted into flats but look ripe for being returned to family houses,” he adds. Welsh Harp Village is a pretty enclave of Eighties flats and houses tucked away in the triangle between Kingsbury Road and the A5.
Travel
Hendon benefits from many roads out of London, and from the North Circular. Hendon Central and Colindale Tube stations are on the Edgware branch of the Northern line.
Hendon station has Thameslink trains to St Pancras, Farringdon and Blackfriars. Hendon Central and Hendon are in Zone 3, with an annual travelcard to Zone 1 costing £1,520. Colindale is in Zone 4, and the travelcard costs £1,820.
Council
Barnet is Conservative controlled. Band D council tax for the 2016/2017 year is £1,397.07.
Lifestyle
Shops and restaurants
Hendon’s shops aren’t tremendously exciting but Brent Cross Shopping Centre, with 120-plus stores including Fenwick, is on the doorstep. Hendon Bagel Bakery in Church Road is a traditional Jewish bakers and patisserie.
There is a large Sainsbury’s on the A5 opposite Silkbridge Retail Park with branches of Pets at Home, Halfords and Comet. There are local shops in Edgware Road where it is known as Hendon Broadway, and further north where it becomes The Hyde.
Both areas are run-down although Hendon Broadway has two shops associated with its proximity to Welsh Harp Reservoir — Frames Fishing Tackle, which has been run by the same family for 50 years, and a boating shop.
There are two popular eateries in Brent Street — Sami’s Israeli restaurant, and White Fish which describes itself as “London’s premier kosher fish restaurant”. The Greyhound pub in Church End next to pretty St Mary’s Church is at the centre of old Hendon.
Open Space
Welsh Harp Reservoir, also known as Brent Reservoir, one of the largest lakes in London and a haven for wildlife, boasts Welsh Harp and Wembley Sailing Clubs and the Phoenix Canoe Club and Outdoor Centre.
Sunny Hill Park, between Great North Road and Watford Way, has views northwards plus tennis courts, a playground and a popular café serving Mediterranean food. Hendon Park, south of Queen’s Road close to Hendon Central Tube station, has a Holocaust Memorial Garden.
Leisure and the arts
Saracens FC, the top-flight rugby union Premiership club much admired for its work with the community, is based at Allianz Park, part of Barnet Copthall Leisure Centre, north of the Great North Road.
The leisure centre has three swimming pools and a diving facility and trains some of the best swimmers in the country. Hendon Golf Club is an 18-hole course in Ashley Walk.
There are two local museums — the RAF Museum in Grahame Park Way and the Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture, or MoDA, based in Beaufort Park.
Part of the University of Middlesex, MoDA opens by appointment.
The nearest cinema is the Vue multiplex at Great North Leisure Park, Fallow Corner on the North Circular.
Schools
Primary school
State primary schools in Hendon judged “outstanding” by the Ofsted education watchdog are: St Joseph RC in Watford Way; the Independent Jewish Day School in Green Lane; The Hyde School in Hyde Crescent, and Orion in Grahame Park Way.
Comprehensive
State comprehensives rated “outstanding” are Hendon School (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Golders Rise, and Hasmonean High (with separate girls’ and boys’ schools, ages 11 to 18), a Jewish school in Holders Hill Road. The Henrietta Barnett School (girls, ages 11 to 18) is a high-achieving state grammar school in nearby Hampstead Garden Suburb.
Private
Hendon Preparatory (co-ed, ages two to 13) in Tenterden Grove is the local private prep school. Many observant Jewish families send their children to local private primary and/or secondary schools, of which we counted at least 10. There is one private Muslim school.