Monday, 28 January 2019

Environment Monday - Examining the changing face of Brent Cross/Cricklewood part 1

When the name of "The London Borough of Barnet" is mentioned, many people think of leafy suburbs, mock tudor semi's and lush parks with au pairs walking the family Chihuahua. The mere name Barnet refers to a little town, traditionally part of Hertfordshire, bereft even of a London postcode, stuck on the extreme North Eastern corner of the Borough. At the diametrically opposite end of the Borough is Cricklewood, in the South East. The council ward is known as Childs Hill, which contributes to the fact that many don't even realise that Cricklewood is in the Borough.

Cricklewood is probably the most interesting area of the Borough historically. The arrival of the railways in the 1860 provided the impetus for a thriving manufacturing base. Bentley Motors, Handley Page aircraft, Staples furniture and a whole array of other manufacturers sprang up. Central to this was the railway. As a transport hub, it even boasted an airport in the 1920's, supporting Handley Page. The iconic  Smith's Industries clock and precision instruments factory was also located in Cricklewood as were Smiths crisps.

The railway and these factories lead to a large Irish immigrant population, who frequented pubs such as The Crown and The Cricklewood Hotel and the iconic Galtymore nightclub. Many worked on the railways, as a huge depot, marshalling yards and freight sidings grew. Cricklewood is located on a junction between the Midland mainline, which served the Midlands and Scotland in the north and Southwards, St Pancras, Farringdon, Smithfield market and the south (via the Snow Hill tunnel and what is now known as The Thameslink route). A line, known as The Dudden Hill route heads westwards, providing a freight route to the western rail network and just down the line at West Hampstead to the South, there is another link to Barking, Tilbury and Southend.

The marshalling yards would receive freight trains from all of these locations and  marshall them for despatch to destinations across the country. This all required a huge workforce. The railway ran on coal, which was brough down from the Midlands. Coal was king, it was the main source of heat in most homes. Cottages were built for the workers around the such places, known as Midland Cottages at most locations. These were small, unfussy homes designed for the convenience of workers, at a time when employers recognised the common sense of having workers living near their workplace.

Local industrial historian Mark Amies has a fascination with Cricklewood and recently appeared on The Robert Elms show detailing the lost factories. Mark also put several fascinating tweets on the subject on his timeline.





Cricklewood not only had a rich industrial history, it also has a great cultural heritage. In the 1920's and 30's it had its own film studio. Between 1979 and 2000 a new studio operated at The Production Village site. Most famously the film Breaking Glass was produced at the site.

But as we all know the sands of time move on. As London moved from coal to gas and electircity and rail moved to diesel and electric power, the sidings declined. As British Rail phased out wagonload freight, the marshalling yards disappeared. With the advent of the Thameslink route in the mid 1980's, even the maintenance depot disappeared and all that was left of the huge railway works disappeared. The Thameslink trains were now serviced at Selhurst, near Crystal Palace and the mainline Inter City 125 units were serviced in Leeds. All that remained was a few carriage sidings.

The factories closed, one by one, as the land values soared. In the 1970's the adjacent Brent Cross site, formerly home of Hendon dog track became Brent Cross shopping Centre. This was the UK's first big "out of town" shopping centre. Despite being only a mile from Cricklewood, it was extremely difficult to get from Cricklewood Broadway to the centre. The railway and the North Circular made it one a very difficult walk and a rather arduous drive for such ashort difference.

The GLC decided that Cricklewood was the ideal place to send all of Londons rubbish to. Ken Livingstone's GLC built a huge waste transfer plant. Dustcarts from across London arrived to have the rubbish loaded into containers for shipment to Sandy in Bedfordshire for burial in pits excavated to produce bricks. Skip hire and reclaimation firm Donoghues also moved in, making Cricklewood the waste capital of London.  The waste trains were noted for their pong, especially in summer. If you were unlucky enough to be on the platform at Mill Hill when one passed, you were in for a gut wrenching experience. Seasoned commuters avoided the trains that exposed you to this.

Fortunately for Mill Hill, London produces so much waste that these pits were filld. A new dump was found, and the trains now are taken down to West Hampstead, and then sent down the Dudden Hill route to a site elsewhere. Apparently the residents of the luxury flats next to the railway are none too impressed. Having a pongy train full of rubbish next to your house for an hourm whilst the engine changes ends of the train is no fun.

Cricklewood is blessed to have an amazing community spirit. The Cricklewood Town team have worked tirelessly to make the best of what the town has to offer. I know them well. My company helps them with musical arrangements for the numerous events they stage at the Cricklewood village green (a large sloped grassy area, next to B&Q). Town fairs are held and music and childrens entertainers are laid on in the summer. The station has been decorated and is perhaps the most interesting of all stations on the Thameslink route. These tweets give a flavour of how the community has come together.



But there are huge changes being planned for Cricklewood. I like to think of the local railway station as the heart of Cricklewood, and the rail lines as the arteries, bringing in the lifeblood. But Cricklewood is about to have a heart bypass. A brand new station is being built and the preparatory work has already started. Cricklewood station, due to its layout, cannot accomodate the 12 carriage trains which now operate on the Thameslink route. A huge scheme to regenerate the 1970s shopping centre at Brent Cross and build approx 30,000 new dwellings has been prepared. To facilitate all of this a new station is being built half a mile up the railway line. The whole scheme will be the largest building site in Western Europe if and when if comes to fruition. What is not in doubt though, is that the new railway station will be built.

Infrastructure projects such as this fascinate me. I was delighted when Robin Morel of Network Rail offered me a tour of the carriage sidings and an explanation of how the new station would affect the railway. I hadn't appreciated the scale, size and timescales of this. I asked Mark Amies to join me. We made a video with Robin to explain just how major these changes are. What is clear is that the impact on the area will be huge. Robin is one of the good guys, a life long rail man, who worked for British Rail, Railtrack and Network Rail. He has a huge passion for his job and his enthusiasm for the railway is infectious. He is also highly knowledgable.


There were many things that Robin told us that were of interest to anyone who lives near the site. The Waste Transfer station is closing. This will mean no more smelly trains annoying the residents of West Hampstead. Apparently, with recycling, there is not enough waste to fill a train, so it will now be moved by road. An aggregates depot for the Brent Cross development will open on the other side of the tracks this year. This has been delayed as DB Rail forgot to apply for planning permission and there was not enough noise and dust suppression planned.

There is also a freight siding operating, removing spoil from local developments. This will go. The whole railway will need to be closed to build the new station, as tracks are moved eastward to accommodate the platforms. The carriage sidings and old shed at the north end of the complex will go completely.

Robin also explained that the proposed West London Orbital Route will not be stopping at the station and will have its own station. It has proven impossible to integrate this into the current scheme. Robin explained that there are currently low speed freight lines that run from West Hampstead to north of Hendon station. These don't have overhead wires, so cannot be used by Thameslink trains. There is a proposal to electrify these and increase the linespeed to 100 MPH. This will massively increase the capacity for passenger trains through this section. In short, the whole area is in for a massive change. Robin assured us that there is no proposal to close Hendon or Cricklewood station, but it is clear that the new station will get a vastly superior service.

Robin also explained how a massive bridge across the rail lines from Cricklewood Broadway to the Railway terraces had been descoped. It had been part of Boris's master plan. Clearly, if the Brent Cross scheme is ever built, the station will become a vital hub. With the West London Orbital route opening, it will be an important interchange for passegers wishing to access West London from the Borough, if the conundrum of platform layouts can be resolved.

The bottom line for anyone concerned with the environment, rail is the greenest, safest option for urban travel. The work and dedication of people like Robin make it happen. Robin invited us back in two years to see how it has all panned out.

The Barnet Eye will be returning to Cricklewood for this series, to focus on the social history for our next instalment in this series. The final part will be a return with Mark, to have a look at the non rail industrial heritage. Our view is that the Environment should be harnessed to make the lives of the people who live in it as good as possible. This means lowering pollution, giving people healthy options and building communities. We believe that the Cricklewood has the best community spirit in the Borough, and it is essential that we all support them. It is amazing that Network Rail are happy to be open and transparent about their plans. I asked Robin if he wanted to see the film before I published it, but he said "No, there are no secrets". That is how public bodies should be.
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