Living in Hendon

Hendon is a north-west London suburb shaped by big roads, a university and some notable institutions. Middlesex University has its main campus here, the Metropolitan Police training college is based nearby, and the RAF Museum at Colindale, on the site of the historic Hendon airfield, is one of the largest aviation museums in Britain.

Hendon Central, on the Northern line's Edgware branch, is the main station, with trains to Camden in around fifteen minutes and on to the West End and the City. Hendon station, on Thameslink, has direct trains to St Pancras, Farringdon and Blackfriars. Brent Cross, the long-established shopping centre on the North Circular, is on the southern edge, and a large new district around Brent Cross West station, on Thameslink, is being built next to it.

The main roads dominate much of the area. The A41 Watford Way, the A406 North Circular and the start of the M1 all pass through or close by, so some parts feel car-oriented and noisy. Away from them, streets of interwar semi-detached houses and Edwardian terraces are quiet and residential. Hendon Park, beside Hendon Central, is the main local green space, and the Welsh Harp reservoir, a nature reserve and sailing lake, lies to the west.

The area has large Jewish, South Asian and student communities, with kosher bakeries and restaurants, family-run shops and student-oriented cafés. Housing includes family houses, flats in converted houses, purpose-built blocks and student accommodation. Rents are generally below those in Golders Green, Finchley or West Hampstead. Hendon suits students, families and people seeking value in north-west London with a Northern line or Thameslink connection, and who can live without nightlife or a picturesque high street.