Harrow Road is an ancient route which runs from Paddington in a northwesterly direction towards Harrow. It is also the name given to the immediate surrounding area of Queens Park and Kensal Green, straddling the NW10, W10 and W9 postcodes. With minor deviations in the 19th and 20th centuries, the route remains otherwise unaltered. There are dozens of other existing roads throughout the United Kingdom using the same name which do not lead to or from Harrow but merely use the name of the town or, in some cases, a person of that name.
Before urbanisation the entire road was known as the “Harrow Road” but, as various local authorities came into existence and imposed independent numbering schemes and more localised descriptions on the parts of the road within their respective boundaries, the principal name was replaced in a number of places along its course.
Starting at the junction of Harrow Road and Edgware Road at Paddington Green, Harrow Road (A404) passes through Maida Hill, Queens Park and Kensal Green. This stretch runs partially alongside and underneath the Westway urban motorway.
At the junction of Ladbroke Grove the road leaves the City of Westminster and forms the boundary between the London Borough of Brent and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (except for the length between Kensal Green station and the entrance to Kensal Green Cemetery where it is entirely within Brent) until reaching Scrubs Lane where it becomes entirely within the borough of Brent.
It becomes High Street (Harlesden), Craven Park, Hillside and Brentfield.
Passing over the River Brent which formed the pre-1965 boundary between the former Municipal Borough of Willesden and the Metropolitan Borough of Wembley (both now defunct) and from which the modern borough takes its name, Harrow Road enters Wembley and passes through an area formerly known as Tokyngton.
Still numbered the A404, Harrow Road briefly becomes High Road (Wembley) and then Harrow Road (Sudbury), renumbered to be the A4005 at the junction with Watford Road (which continues to be the A404).
It passes from the London Borough of Brent into the London Borough of Harrow at the Sudbury Court Drive junction and for a while it is Sudbury Hill, London Road (Harrow) and finally Roxeth Hill High Street. The road finishes at the town centre on Harrow Hill.
