Current Time in Brent, United Kingdom

Brent is a London borough in the north-west of the British capital, taking its name from the small river that winds along its southern boundary. It stretches from Kilburn, close to central London, out to Kingsbury and Queensbury on the edge of the suburbs, and includes the districts of Willesden, Harlesden, Neasden, Wembley and Alperton. The landscape is gently hilly, with Dollis Hill and Barn Hill offering wide views across the city.

About three hundred and forty thousand people live here. Brent is best known internationally as the home of Wembley Stadium, the national football ground of England and one of the most famous sporting venues in the world, whose arch is visible from far across London. The borough also has a claim to being the most ethnically diverse place in the United Kingdom, with residents tracing their origins to the Caribbean, India, Ireland, Romania, Somalia, Brazil and dozens of other countries, and with well over a hundred languages spoken in its schools.

The area was farmland and scattered villages until the railways arrived in the nineteenth century, after which Willesden and Kilburn filled with terraced housing for railway workers. The 1924 British Empire Exhibition at Wembley transformed the north of the borough, leaving behind the original stadium and a wave of interwar suburban building. The modern London Borough of Brent was created in 1965 by merging the boroughs of Wembley and Willesden. Post-war migration, particularly from the Caribbean and later from South Asia and East Africa, gave the borough its present character.

Besides the stadium and the neighbouring Wembley Arena, the most striking landmark is the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasden, a Hindu temple carved from Italian marble and Bulgarian limestone that was the first traditional stone mandir built in Europe. Wembley Park has been rebuilt over the past two decades with new housing, the London Designer Outlet and open squares. Other attractions include the Kiln Theatre in Kilburn, the Victorian cemetery at Paddington Old Cemetery, and Fryent Country Park, a surviving stretch of ancient hay meadow and hedgerow.

Cultural life is exceptionally varied. Ealing Road in Alperton is lined with South Asian jewellers and sweet shops, Harlesden is a centre of Caribbean music and food, and Kilburn retains a strong Irish tradition. Brent was named London Borough of Culture in 2020, and community festivals, carnival groups and grassroots music venues are numerous. The borough museum and archive at Willesden Green Library records this history.

Transport is excellent. The Jubilee, Metropolitan, Bakerloo, Piccadilly and Northern lines all serve parts of the borough, alongside London Overground and Elizabeth line connections nearby, and the North Circular Road and the M1 motorway pass through. Wembley Stadium station carries huge crowds on event days.

Higher education is provided mainly by the College of North West London and by university campuses on the borough's fringes. Brent is important as a place where global London is most visible, combining a world-famous stadium with one of the most genuinely international communities in Europe.