London's Bohemian vanguard

That's who lives in Kensal Rise, and it's not me saying so, but no less an authority than the New York Times. They've even nicked this blog's name for their story.

Election material

We seem to be getting a huge amount of this posted through the door - mostly from the Conservatives, but also the Liberal Democrats. I find it quite annoying - surely the election is not until May 2010? Or is there a by-election I don't know about?

Kensal Triangle

Anonymous (possibly Jessie) in the comments gives us the Kensal Triangle Residents Association website.

Kensal Green resident gets MBE

Just saw this on the news and thought worth a link about a local resident getting an MBE for community care.

Cash machine goes

I noticed the non-free cash machine near Kensal Rise train station on Chamberlayne Road has gone. There are other non-free ones on Chamberlayne Road, although that was the only 24hr one, at least at the top end. Of course there is apparently now a free one on College Road, and we all expect Tesco's to have one when it opens.

Note on comments

Please note that comments on posts older than 2 months require me to moderate them. It's basically a way of avoiding finding that every post in history has 10 million spam comments. I'm not sure what it says when you post, but be assured I'll put them up within a day at the most.

Update

Sorry for lack of comments, I have been away. To the commenter who wanted me to follow up on my promise of a dishwasher repairman, I apologise if it is now be too late and worse I had my wallet stolen so I do not have the man's number. I'll see however whether I still have the receipt somewhere.

Not much going on in Kensal Rise/Green except for which has been noted by the commenters in the posts below.

Update

Not a lot going on. Various commentators have given us some gossip. One commentator noted that a shop next to Eat Sushi was going to open selling clothes. Seems to be activity in what was Home (and what was it before that? I can't remember). Perfect Pizza seems to have lost its sign. Possibly Baker & Spice is to reopen as Clarke's (but note here). Maybe a Pizza Express in Queen's Park.

I've got a good dishwasher repair man, electrician to recommend, and that's about it. Comments on anything welcome.

What does Kensal Rise most need?

Or just would be nice.

One thing we would like is a proper pizzeria, or Italian. I haven't really found anything in the area - Pizza Teca became takeaway only a few years back. If anyone has any recomendations.

We did want a butcher, and 'Meat Farm' has opened. Has anyone tried it? We'd also like a book shop or a second-hand shop that sold books.

* I saw Baker & Spice has closed for 'refurbishment'. A friend told me staff in one of their other branches said it actually has closed for good. Not sure if this is true. We also are concerned that the shoe repair place at the north end of Chamberlayne Road has closed down.

Tesco minor update

I see Tescos now has some posters on the boarding so I think we can safely assume they are coming. I'm for the move, although I see it could put a lot of the small shops out of business which will have some negative effects.

Harvist remains 'about to open'.

I've not seen anything else new. I'm working on a Kensal Rise/Green map which I'll put up soon.

Link added

I've added a link to the Kensal Green Forum. This is, as you might expect, a forum about Kensal Green/Rise, and covers some of the same ground (and other issues) that we do here.

A late and short restaurant review and misc

I don't think we ever got around to reviewing Pomelo, a Chinese restaurant on Chamberlayne Road. I don't remember much about it except the food was very good, large portions and the owners friendly and helpful. It was bring your own wine, which meant it was pretty inexpensive too.

A reader has asked about Samsom Miro. I must say I always liked the look of it, both outside and in, but didn't use it very often as I had a large stock of wine from France. Now the question is has it closed? I noticed the other day they had put paper across the windows, which might support the refurbishment idea. On the other hand there were no notes (now) which said that was still happening.

Finally it looks like soon to open is the cafe, or 'tea shop' as one commenter suggested, on the corner of Chamberlayne Road and Harvist Road.

Kensal Rise the Colour

Apparently Kensal Rise is:

A gorgeous pale golden shimmer

At least when it is blusher.