Brent's buildings tell the story of how north-west London grew. Kilburn, Queen's Park, Kensal Rise, Willesden Green and Harlesden are mostly Victorian and Edwardian terraces, a large share of them converted into flats. North of the North Circular, Wembley, Preston, Sudbury, Kingsbury and Kenton are largely interwar suburbia, with semis and short terraces built as the Metropolitan and Bakerloo lines pushed outwards. Neasden and Dollis Hill sit in between, with a mix of both.
Recent decades have added a third layer. Wembley Park has filled with apartment towers around the stadium and arena, many of them build-to-rent blocks run by a single operator, and Alperton has seen tall residential schemes rise beside the Grand Union Canal. These buildings are airtight and heavily glazed, so flats facing south or west can overheat from late spring onwards. Residents in older conversions face the opposite problem: tiny rear gardens, shared walls and ownership split between several leaseholders and a freeholder.
Commercially, a large part of Park Royal lies within Brent, home to food manufacturers, distribution firms, film and photography studios and trade counters. Wembley adds hotels, venues and the London Designer Outlet, while Neasden is home to the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir and the borough has many other places of worship, schools and surgeries. The high streets of Kilburn, Willesden, Harlesden and Ealing Road support hundreds of independent shops and restaurants.
