This transformation may be partly a result of the spill over from the gentrified W11, but the bulk of it is down to the locals.
Helped by such programmes as the North Kensington City Challenge and the Canalside Trust, community-minded souls from around the world have breathed new and exciting life into this district.
With the exception of a sliver of West Kilburn the triangular shape of W10 has neatly defined borders: the Westway to the south, the Grand Union Canal and Kensal Green Cemetery to the north and Wormwood Scrubs Fields to the west.
HousingTh south-western quarter of W10 has a phalanx of good, solid respectable housing built between 1890 and 1925. Redbrick tree-lined terraces with front and back gardens, they vary in price depending on their proximity to the Westway. Leavening this collection are some pebbledashed and stucco-faced houses and some two-storey flats.
North of here, off Barlby Road, a large 11-acre industrial site has become a mixed council and housing association area of houses and flats. Many of the older houses in this neighbourhood are larger than their southern neighbours, hiding behind porches and pebbledash.
To the east, around St Charles Square and Hospital, is the heart of North Kensington. The Balfour, Burleigh and Treverton Estates were built for returning servicemen in the 1940s. There are also semi-detached properties here both in private hands and subdivided into flats under the tutelage of housing associations.
Heading south, in the corner of the Westway and Ladbroke Grove, are some sought-after terraced, semi-detached and detached houses, some split into flats. Trees and gardens are plentiful and this area is a legacy of housing built to tie in with the arrival of the underground railway here in 1864.
East of Ladbroke Grove, running up to the railway, is the enclave of Golborne. This is the place to hunt for flats, although many fall under the aegis of the council or a housing association. A few terraced houses survive here but more notable is the Wornington Green and Swinbrook Estates of the early Sixties, recently revamped and improved.
The only road from Golborne over the railway north into Kensal Town is dominated by Erno Goldfinger's Trellick Tower. 31 storeys and 322 feet high, it was a last gasp for domestic Brutalism in Britain. Work commenced at the same time as part of Ronan Point tower in east London collapsed; it was finished in 1972.
By the Eighties the tower was deeply unpopular, with a dreadful reputation. Times have changed. In 1998 it was listed Grade II and its 219 flats are now in demand, aided by the installation of a concierge and improved security apparatus. Based on Le Corbusier's 'Unite d'Habitation' each "living unit" is flooded with light as glass is employed in almost every surface.
Its uncompromising exterior gives clues as to what lies in store in Kensal Town. Forbidding concrete flats vie with trading estates and warehouses in this spit of land between railway and canal.
This land continues west of Ladbroke Grove but things are looking up here, with the old gasworks set over 10 acres due to be reconstructed by the Peabody Trust as a "hi-tech urban village" of 284 homes, 50,000 feet of commercial space and even a water bus along the Grand Union Canal.
North of the canal is a small sliver of W10 forming the westernmost point of Kilburn. This is home to two very different estates.
The Mozart Estate was originally built to accommodate those made homeless by the construction of the Westway, but delays meant that by the estate's completion in 1975 these people had already been forced to look elsewhere.
Newcomers into the area had no previous connections with the district. It sported the latest in 'deck access', or streets in the sky, and by the Eighties it was universally known as Crack City.
From the mid-Nineties the place was dragged back into civilisation, decks, bridges and two tower blocks demolished.
Garages have become homes and a more traditional street plan was implemented. Even the Mozart tag was dropped to cash in on the more successful estate next door.
This is the Queen's Park Estate. The 1868 Artisans & Labourers Dwelling Act had given local authorities the power to clear slums, and this estate was built between 1870 and 1890 by the Artisans, Labourers and General Dwelling Company.
Their 2,000 brick terraced cottages have remained eternally popular and the company's aim reeks of Victorian paternalism: "To provide the labouring man with an increase of the comforts and convenience of life whilst providing full compensation for the capitalist".
Most of the homes are now privately owned and a strict conservation area is in force, with no double glazing and only Welsh slate allowed as a roofing material.
It matters not; this is still a world where children can play in the streets, in the shadow of patterned cottages, porches, corner houses with turrets and no rat runs.
FacilitiesRestaurants opened by enterprising souls in leaner times are now coming into their own, and cuisine from around the world is waiting for you in North Kensington.
Restaurants
Where else could you find Belgian and Galician restaurants? The Belgians are on Ladbroke Grove, at a place called Belgo Zuid, and Galicia makes its appearance at the Galicia Restaurant on Portobello Road. There is also the Malaysian Makan restaurant on Portobello Road.
Other gastronomic outposts from around the world include the Japanese Canteen on Portobello Road, the Moroccan Tangine on Golborne Road and the Yum Yum West Indian on Ladbroke Grove.
Paradise By Way Of Kensal Green on Kilburn Lane has a great reputation for middle Eastern and English food and more European cuisine pops up on Portobello Road (Brasserie Du Marche Aux Puces) and Golborne Road (Bistrorganic).
The Lebanese also make an appearance with Baalbak Restaurant on Golborne Road, a thoroughfare dominated by the Portuguese, with three eateries: Casa Santana, the Oporto Cafe and the Lisboa Cafe, the latter with an accompanying delicatesssen.
The more usual fare of Thai, Indian and gastropubs can be found Portobello Road, Golborne Road and Ladbroke Grove.
As well as all this diverting appeal to the stomach Golborne Road is quite the place to pick up wares hard to find elsewhere. Japanese Kimonos, handcrafted pine furniture, antique housewares, Moroccan decorative goods and traditional butchers and fishmongers all rub shoulders.
The North Kensington Law Centre can be found here as well, with another, the Paddington Law Centre, on Harrow Road. There is a Citizens' Advice Bureau on Ladbroke Grove.
Sport
The law centres are a good reflection of the genuine community spirit here and organisations exist to suit all tastes and interests. The Westway Development Trust runs two of the area's best groups, Portobello Green Fitness Club and Westway Sports Centre.
The Fitness Club, on Thorpe Close, provides unique training programmes to suit all sizes as well as squash, a weights room, a steam room and, of course, a gym.
The Sports Centre is on Crowthorne Road and is blessed with Britain's largest indoor climbing centre. Other specialities include football, fives, basketball, netball and a gym.
Sport is not the Westway Trust's only remit. Since being founded in 1971 it has created light industry units for local enterprises as well as the Westway Stables, a horse riding centre in this most unlikely of settings. Maxilla Gardens and Adventure Playground are also products of the Trust.
There are other adventure playgrounds. One is at the Venture Community Association on Wornington Road, which also offers a creche, a drop-in centre and surgeries by professionals in the likes of cooking, health, housing and parentage. There is another playground, the Playspace, on Acklam Road. Ainsworth Nursery is also on this road.
The Cobden Club on Kensal Road has as wide and varied a programme as anyone could wish for. Book readings, musical showcases, film nights, wine and food tastings, games rooms and the unique Whoopee Club await your indulgence. The club was founded in 1870 to "promote art and entertainment for the working man and spread the word of socialism".
The Royal Court Young Peoples' Theatre can be found on Portobello Road while the annual Portobello Film Festival prides itself on showing every film submitted to its organisers.
More educational fare can be found at the Kensington & Chelsea College campus at Wornington Road. This constituent part of the college specialises in courses in art, dance and drama. The Boathouse Centre, carved out of an old gas works site, now provides a sports centre open to local residents as well as rooms and halls available for hire.
Medical facilities within W10 come in the form of health centres on Dart Street and St Quintin Avenue, a medical centre on Golborne Road and St Charles Hospital on Exmoor Street. The hospital is not equipped with an A&E department but does have a walk-in minor injuries unit. Otherwise it does have a full range of facilities as well as a fitness suite with free personal training sessions.
More adventurous types might like to head for the Atlantis College of Crystal, Reiki & Sound Healing on Coronation Court. On Canal Court you can find an Activity Centre and an Ecology Centre for the likes of water sports, weight training and environmental issues.
There are some intriguing open spaces in W10. Meanwhile Gardens on Elkstone Road was a derelict eyesore for years before local sculptor Jamie McCullough had a vision of a local park.
This 4-acre site is now a firm favourite, joined recently by an under-fives play area. It has been joined since 1993 by the next door Meanwhile Wildlife Garden, with its varieties of woodland, hedgerow and herb garden.
Emslie Horniman Pleasaunce on Kensal Road has a Grade II walled garden and a floodlit hard play area alongside its famous Spanish Garden. Dalgarno Gardens on Dalgarno Way has a play area for children and Athlone Gardens on Portobello Road North is a more conventional affair of grass, trees and shrubs. Kensington Memorial Park at St Mark's Park deals in cricket, football, tennis and a playground.
The towpath of the Grand Union Canal, recently replanted in a more ecological fashion, leads to Kensal Green Cemetery, 77 acres large and one of the country's more famous boneyards. The Friends of Kensal Green can take you on guided tours or you can ruminate on the eschatological side of life all by yourself.
TransportTo the west the A219 (Scrubs Lane) can take you to the transport hub of Hammersmith to the south and the Westway (A40) can deliver you all the way to the Pembrokeshire coast.
Tube lines run along the northern and southern borders of W10. To the south the Hammersmith & City Line has stations at Latimer Road, Ladbroke Grove and Westbourne Park.
To the north the Bakerloo calls at Kensal Green and Queens Park. Not far to the north-west is the great railway mecca of Willesden Junction. Just south of the Westway the Central Line is accessible at White City.
For those with time on their hands and money in their pockets a 145-mile journey to Birmingham can be attempted along the Grand Union Canal.
Steve Roberts
HistoryThe first of London's great commercial cemeteries was Kensal Green, opened in 1833. Given a royal seal of approval by the Duke of Sussex's cadaver in 1843 it became the final visiting place of a great raft of worthies.
Thomas Hood, Marc and Isambard Kingdon Brunel, Joseph Hume, William Thackeray, Leigh Hunt, Anthony Trollope and Wilkie Collins all elected to be buried here.
Lines of communication began to appear in the district. In 1801 the Paddington branch of the Grand Union Canal was opened to great fanfare, with 20,000 spectators attending the celebrations.
The Great Western Railway came through in 1838 and the world's first underground railway made an appearance in 1864. As late as 1851 only 214 names were recorded for the census returns on Portobello Road.
Working-class slums soon cropped up in W10. Kensal Town became known as a "laundry colony", the main livelihood of the predominantly Irish and Welsh residents of the district.
Golborne was developed by Kinnaird Jenkins, setting up his streets on the lines of old field boundaries. Overcrowding was a problem here as early as the 1860s, although a more respectable sector between Portobello Road and the railway was lived in by locals described as "superior mechanics and railway employees".
Farm land around Portobello was developed by Henry Blake, who constructed 3-storey houses with cellars for wealthy families who never arrived. Subdividing soon filled this vacuum and overcrowding was a curse here as well. In 1930 Southam Street had 130 houses accommodating 625 families - some 2,386 people.
Kensal Town earned a reputation for violence with local gangs regularly slugging it out in pitched battles up to Edwardian times. Slums remained a problem here even after clearance produced post-war estates, a problem which invited ghettoization.
The area's cheap housing attracted large-scale immigration, from Spanish refugees in the Civil War of 1936-39 up to London's largest Moroccan enclave of today.
Further pressure came in the form of the Westway, built to ease traffic flow into central London in the late Sixties but in addition yielding 23 acres of derelict land underneath and a great eyesore above.
Steve Roberts.
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