History of Kilburn and West Hampstead

There has been considerable publicity recently about Adele who is performing 10 shows in Munich in August 2024.  Announcing the idea in January on Instagram, Adele said: ‘So a few months ago I got a call about a summer run of shows. I’ve been content as anything with my shows in London’s Hyde Park and my residency in Vegas, so I hadn’t had any other plans. … However, I was too curious to not follow up and indulge in this idea – a one-off, bespoke pop-up stadium designed around whatever show I want to put on? Why, Yes!! I haven’t played in Europe since 2016’. The £102M stadium has a 200 metre semi-circle stage with a 93 metre catwalk, so Adele can get close to the 75-80,000 fans in the audience. Behind her is a huge projection screen reported to have cost another £34M. Around the stadium is an ‘Adele World’ themed park. Photo of the stadium and theme park In the publicity for the show, Adele praised small venues which gave her a start early in her career, and she specifically mentio...

In 1934, Easter Monday fell on April 2nd. It dawned fine and bright, as several hundred passengers boarded the excursion train that departed Nottingham around 7.30am, bound for Marylebone in London.  The uneventful journey came to a dramatic and sudden end shortly after 10.00am. The train was brought to a halt at a signal while crossing a bridge over the Kilburn High Road. It was about to start off again, when it was rammed from behind by a light engine travelling at around 15mph. The rear carriage was telescoped for about half its length, and by absorbing most of the impact, only limited damage was caused to the remaining carriages, mainly broken glass that showered on the passengers.  The event at the Albert Hall Most of the passengers were members of the Elim Four Square Gospel Alliance, planning on attending the Alliance’s annual conference at the Albert Hall. Their home in Nottingham was a chapel in Halifax Place. Founded in 1915 by George Jeffreys as the Elim Pentecostal...

In October 1930, 18-year old Muriel Angelus was out shopping and looking in the window of a jeweller’s in Kilburn High Road. Suddenly, a car drew up alongside and two men jumped out. They threw a dark cloth over her head, picked her up, and forced her into the back of the car, which sped off at high speed. The whole incident was over in seconds, and spectators were too dazed to raise the alarm. But if they had looked carefully, they might have spotted a camera across the road filming the event. In fact, this was an exciting scene from ‘Detective Lloyd’, the first talkie serial to be made in England. It was a collaboration between an American and British company and produced by Mutual Pictures, a subsidiary of Universal. Henry MacRae, in charge of serials at Universal, supplied the story which was developed into a 12-chapter serial. Macrae came from Hollywood and co-directed the film with American Ray Taylor and a British cast and crew. Scotland Yard collaborated, and it was filmed ...

The building at the heart of this story is today’s Kingsgate Workshops at Nos.110-116 Kingsgate Road in Kilburn. It was constructed about 1887 by John Allen and Sons who were local builders of many of the houses in the area. When they moved across the High Road to a site that later became the State Cinema, the building in Kingsgate Road was taken over by Robert Charles Barnes in 1894. Originally a greengrocer by trade, he moved from Marylebone to Kilburn in the mid-1850s, opening a shop at 7 St George’s Terrace (which was later re-numbered as 240 Belsize Road ). During the 1870s, Robert changed career and gave his job in the 1881 census as that of a furniture van proprietor, employing five men. His office was at No.199 Belsize Road . The business expanded, and by 1891 Barnes also had premises at 251–255 Kilburn High Road and 252–254 Belsize Road . In 1894 Barnes converted the large Kingsgate Road premises into a depository, where people paid to store their furniture and ot...