Harlesden London?

[Beatrixnotpotter]

I’m currently looking to buy a flat in London, I live and work in Ealing which is an area I love but I’m struggling to find a nice two bed flat here on my budget.

I’ve found quite a few nice two beds in Harlesden but I know the area historically doesn’t have a great reputation. Does anyone know if this is justified or have things moved on and it’s actually okay now?

DH and I have lived in some nice and some not so nice places in London. We looked at flats in Harlesden when we were buying and it wasn't for us - we found it a bit strangely unconnected and didn't have much about it.

If you work in Ealing, how about Isleworth or Brentford if you can bear the aeroplane noise from Heathrow? You can get the bus to Ealing and it has got a bit more to it than Harlesden.

What’s your budget and what do you need in a neighbourhood?

I have friends in Harlesden - they like it, and when I’ve visited I’ve always found it fine. Nice period houses, vibrant high street. In terms of connections, being towards the Willesden Junction end of the area is obvs beneficial - but even if not I’ve always found it well connected, reasonable walking distance to Bakerloo and Piccadilly line stations.

Historically it’s quite a Black area, and so I know when some people say they find it “rough”, I suspect that’s within their thinking. But it was definitely an area we considered when we were moving a couple of years ago before we decided on SE London because it was just more affordable all round.

@ComtesseDeSpair I think you're right, people call Harlesden rough because it's thinly veiled racism. Like parts of Osterley, though, I found there was lots of housing and not many amenities. Same for Acton but that has vastly improved in the last few years.

OP I wouldn't worry about it being historically rough, loads of places around there have previously had high crime stats. We lived in Kensal Green a few years ago and if you look back on London Evening Standard articles from 10 years ago there is incredulity that it would ever gentrify because of all the gun crime, yet it was a great place to live and incredibly expensive (hence why we moved out!).