The Grand Union's Paddington Arm
Part five - Alperton to Harlesden
Alperton's Ealing Road bridge. Wembley and its shops, as well as the large IKEA and Tesco's Superstore at Neasden, are not far away as are the superstores such as Wickes and Asda at Hanger Lane. Plenty of buses to all these destinations. Both Hanger Lane and Wembley are within reasonable walking distance. There's a B & ;Q adjacent to the bridge. Adjacent to the bridge is the Pleasure Boat Inn. The boat in the picture is the Mikron Theatre's N/B Tyseley heading westwards after a playing number of shows in Central London
This derelict factory with what seems like half of its frontage ripped away has long been a feature of the Paddington Arm by the Piccadilly Line bridge at Alperton. Recently steps were taken to redevelop the site. Alperton railway bridge is the second of two tube lines that cross the Paddington Arm, and in fact with Marylebone these are the ONLY ones that cross any of the waterways within BW London's network
The stretch of canal from the Piccadilly Line to the aqueduct still retains some essences of the older character that the Paddington Arm had. At one location just before the aqueduct the remains of a wharf with large mooring rings can be seen on the offside
The Alperton aqueduct. Its actually called the North Circular Road aqueduct and this is the second one on site
The aqueduct crosses the North Circular Road. It also crosses the River Brent which runs parallel to the North Circular. As explained elsewhere on London Canals, the Paddington Arm has only ever had one aqueduct. The first was the Kilburn Aqueduct which vanished in the canal's early days. Just over a full century passed before it aquired another. The original North Circular aqueduct was opened in 1933. The newer one is 1993
The western side of the North Circular Road aqueduct
The new Wembley Stadium makes it appearance on the Park Royal stretch, amongst the rows of new warehouses with their large open spaces
The stretch of canal from through Park Royal used to be lined with factories and there's just one left these days. The rest have been replaced by these new modernistic warehouses & offices with spacious car parks
The last remaining old style factory at Park Royal. This used to be part of the large Heinz 57 complex, and I expect our tomato soups were defintely made here!
At the end of the Park Royal stretch next to the fire station, the Brent canal feeder as it emerges from its underground journey which began at Milton Avenue in Harlesden. The feeder is not currently used but there are plans to restore it. British waterways is still responsible for the feeder and the maintenance of the Brent (Welsh Harp) reservoir
The Grand Junction Arms, Acton Road, Harlesden at night. Plaques on the bridge denote the distance to Little Venice as four miles and Bulls Bridge nine miles
Paddington Arm - Part six
