Cricklewood, the north-west London neighbourhood straddling the Borough of Barnet near Willesden and Kilburn, is in line for a new Waitrose, according to Secret London. The upmarket grocer — long associated with middle-England high streets and a certain sandwich-based prestige — has been expanding across the capital, and Cricklewood is the latest spot on its list.
The headline detail here is simple: a posh supermarket is coming to an area better known for its electrics shops, its Irish and East European communities, and the historic Crown pub (now a Wetherspoons) than for premium retail. For locals it's a sign of the area's ongoing change; for visitors it barely registers as a reason to detour — but it does say something about how fast London's once-overlooked northern suburbs are gentrifying.
One honest caveat: the source page itself didn't load for us (it sat behind a JavaScript check), so confirmed specifics — the exact address, the opening date, store size, or how many jobs it will create — weren't available at the time of writing. If you're a Waitrose loyalist planning a self-catering stay in north-west London, check the retailer's own store finder before making plans around it.
Who actually cares about this? Realistically, locals and property watchers rather than holidaymakers. But if you're renting an flat or Airbnb around Cricklewood, Kilburn or Brondesbury, a full-size Waitrose nearby would make stocking a kitchen considerably easier — that stretch of London is more short-let friendly than its reputation suggests, with the Jubilee line at Willesden Green and Thameslink services from Cricklewood station whisking you into central London in around 15 to 20 minutes.
If the store lands as reported, expect the usual Waitrose formula: decent own-label range, a coffee stop, and queues at the self-checkouts on a Saturday. In the meantime, the area already has plenty of independent food shopping — think Arabic butchers, Eastern European bakeries and the always-bustling markets further down Kilburn High Road — so no one is going hungry while they wait.
