Where is Rayners Lane?

Rayners Lane is in northwest London, officially in Middlesex, on the Metropolitan and Piccadilly tube lines. So you can easily get out here in around 30 minutes from central London.  In the early 1800s the area was in the hands of the Rayner family, who owned a farm, hence the tube station now being called Rayners Lane.

The area was drastically built up between 1929 and 1938 by Harrow's biggest interwar housebuilder T.F. Nash who created a shopping parade on Alexandra Avenue. House prices started at around a cheap £600 leading the area to rapidly grow.

The shopping arcade on Alexandra Avenue is today's Rayners Lane curry trip. The avenue became a conservation area in 2002 thanks to the street's striking Modernist and Art Deco buildings. Ones to check out while you are here are the London Underground Station, the former ACE cinema and the shops at 468-472 Alexandra Avenue (where you'll find great curries at Ruby Ms). Each building has a very individual character and represents fine examples of the 'International' and 'Art Deco' strands of inter-war modernist architecture.  

The old ACE cinema, with its stylised elephant's trunk and curved 'head', is now used as the Zoroastrian centre - the only official temple of its type in the UK. I think it's because of this that Rayners Lane has turned into curry heaven, so a little explanation about Zoroastrianism is probably warranted...

Zoroastrianism used to be among the world's largest religions. It was founded by the Prophet Zoroaster in ancient Iran (Persia) approximately 3500 years ago. For more on Zoroastrianism (Freddie Mercury was one!) read up at BBC religions.

It is now one of the world's smallest religions. In 2006, the New York Times reported that there were probably less than 190,000 followers worldwide at that time. The UK has the largest number of Zoroastrian's in Europe with 6,000, compared to 1,000 in mainland Europe. The only Zoroastrian place of worship in Europe is the old Art Deco cinema in Rayners Lane.

Way back in 651 CE, following the fall of the Sassanid Empire, many Zoroastrians migrated to South Asia, meaning today the majority of Zoroastrian followers are of Parsi Indian, Pakistani and Iranian descent. Meaning here in Rayners Lane we have an eclectic mix of curry restaurants, sweet shops and cash & carry stores. There's also a large number of Sri Lankan restaurants. If I work out why I'll make that a seperate blog post. For now it's time to move on to food....

Top image: Ad for houses in Rayners Lane, The Weekly Illustrated Magazine, 4 May 1935.

Zoroastrian Centre image: Guv_Phull, instagram.