Harrow, London

Template:Infobox London place Harrow is the principal town in the London Borough of Harrow. It is a suburb situated 10.2 miles (16.4 km) west north-west of Charing Cross. It is one of ten major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan.

Harrow is widely known for Harrow School where Winston Churchill and Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru attended, but Harrow County School also had a tradition of noted staff and pupils. It also has a large campus for the University of Westminster near Northwick Park Hospital (although both these landmarks actually lie within the London Borough of Brent).

It also features a moderately large shopping area in the town centre. The main shopping district is located near Harrow-on-the-Hill tube station and Harrow Bus Station, and has two small shopping centres. The St. Ann's Shopping Centre (formerly the site of Heathfield High School for Girls), opened by Princess Diana in 1987, is the older of the two and contains an extensive food court. St. George's opened by Catherine Zeta Jones is a smaller mall, but features a gym and a 9-screen vue cinema. Complementing the shopping centres are a number of high street shops and a large Debenham's department store.

Districts of Harrow:

• Harrow on the Hill
• North Harrow
• South Harrow
• West Harrow
• Harrow Weald
• Hatch End
• Kenton
• Pinner
• Stanmore
• Wealdstone

Twinning

Harrow as seen from Northwick Park

Harrow is twinned with:

• Douai, France.

Transport

The area has excellent public transport links and is served by the Metropolitan Line of the London Underground and also by the National Rail services of Chiltern Railways and Silverlink. Stations in the area are:

• Harrow-on-the-Hill station (Metropolitan Line & Chiltern Railways)
• Harrow and Wealdstone station (Bakerloo Line & Silverlink)
• North Harrow tube station (Metropolitan Line)
• Northolt Park railway station (Chiltern Railways)
• West Harrow tube station (Metropolitan Line)
• South Harrow tube station (Piccadilly Line)
• Sudbury Hill tube station (Piccadilly Line)
• Rayners Lane tube station (Metropolitan Line & Piccadilly Line)

Harrow is near to the A40/M40, M25 and the M1 motorways.

The town centre also boasts a major bus station adjacent to Harrow-on-the-Hill station that serves as an important hub for buses in the area. Many routes to North and West London pass through this station. Notable routes serving Harrow include:

• The 140 route starting and terminating at Harrow Weald and Heathrow Airport
• The 182 route starting and terminating at Harrow Weald and Brent Cross
• The 183 route starting and terminating at Pinner and Golders Green Bus Station
• The N18 nightbus which starts at Trafalgar Square and terminates at either Sudbury or Harrow Bus Station
• The 258 route starting and terminating at Watford Junction and South Harrow Station
• The 114 route starting and terminating at Ruislip Station and Mill Hill.

Notable people born or brought up in Harrow

• Peter Andre, singer and husband of Jordan
• Sir Roger Bannister, famous runner and neurologist
• Mrs Beeton, the first celebrity cook, lived in Hatch End
• Lord Byron, poet.
• Sir Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister
• Brian Cookman, musician, artist and Tai-Chi expert
• Gavin Fisher, engineer, former chief designer for the Williams F1 team
• Tom Fletcher, singer/guitarist with McFly born in Harrow
• Sir Elton John, musician
• Simon Le Bon, musician, brought up in North Harrow
• Linsey Dawn McKenzie, model
• Oswald Mosley, Local MP (1920"s)
• Courtney Pine, jazz musician
• Claire Rayner, journalist
• Lord Sutch, late eccentric politician
• Pam St. Clement, actress who plays Pat Evans in EastEnders
• Charlie Watts, drummer with The Rolling Stones attended Harrow Art College

Etymology

Its name came from Anglo-Saxon hearg = "(heathen) temple", which was probably on the hill of Harrow.

External links

• Harrow Times newspaper
• Harrow College website
• St Dominic's Sixth Form College Website
• Harrow Agenda 21 Environmental Forum

• Eggmeg Online Calendar listing events in Harrow Borough
• Harrow County School allumnus site
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