Save Bridge Park

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Bridge Park (formerly Stonebridge Bus Depot) is more than a building—it’s a living testament to what communities can achieve when they’re actively involved in shaping the environment in which they live, work and play.

Designed by Harlesden residents for Harlesden residents, Bridge Park made history in the 1980s as the largest Black-led community enterprise centre in Europe, emerging as a national symbol of hope, resilience, and unity following the 1981 uprisings.

Four decades on Bridge Park’s founding motto—“Let’s build, not destroy”—still resonates widely. Its future however hangs in the balance. While we wait for the outcome of our listing application redevelopment plans threaten the centre with erasure.

This platform exists to celebrate Bridge Park’s legacy and inspire a new generation of young urban activists by sharing a lasting blueprint for community-led change.
















It should be made clear at the outset that the Bus Depot Project is not proposing that the Council, Central Government and other agencies convert the Depot into a multi-million pound community centre and sports complex. The philosophy behind the Project is totally different. The starting point for the Project is the desire of the people of Stonebridge, as expressed by the Harlesden People’s Community Council and other local community groups, to improve local conditions through their own efforts and in their own way.

Stonebridge Bus Depot Project Report, 1981































A project like this is needed because the people of this community are deprived—a large percentage are jobless, they have nothing to do, no hope, no future. This project will build new hope for the people. They have to believe in something instead of giving up.

Leonard Johson, 1984



Listing




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In April 2025, we applied to Historic England to have Bridge Park listed as a national heritage site. Here’s why it must be protected:

1    It Represents a Movement
Bridge Park is more than bricks and mortar — it’s a symbol of hope, resilience, and unity. In 1981, Black urban areas across Britain rose up against racist policing and socio-economic hardship. But one group of young Londoners had a different vision for change. They turned anger into action, an an old bus garage into Europe’s largest Black-led community enterprise centre, a simple principle — let’s build, not destroy — into a way of life. It's a story that resonates far beyond one moment or community. Bridge Park is proof that even in the face of adversity, hope can be built from the ground up.


2    It’s Architecturally Significant
Bridge Park is a rare example of Community Architecture, shaped at every stage by the leadership and involvement of local residents, from acquisition to design to construction. It’s also an outstanding, early example of adaptive reuse. Today, that’s a buzzword in sustainable design, but more than 40 years ago, the Harlesden People’s Community Council was already pioneering this approach, transforming an old bus garage into a dynamic centre for arts, sports, education, and business.


3    It Embodies the Windrush Legacy

Bridge Park was born from the vision of British-Caribbean youth whose parents arrived in Harlesden as part of the Windrush generation. Many worked at Stonebridge Bus Garage and other London Transport facilities in Brent, helping to keep London moving in the 50s and 60s. Bridge Park embodies the spirit of both generations — those who came to help rebuild postwar Britain and their children who in the 70s and 80s rose up to demand a rightful place within it.
  

4    It’s Under Threat

Brent Council plans to close Bridge Park in July 2025 and demolish it soon after. This wouldn’t just wipe out a vital safe space for the local community, it would also contradict the very message Bridge Park was built to embody.



















Bridge Park is one of the most important developments I have seen in this country for some time. It is the most remarkable example of a community getting together and being determined with an inspired leadership to work against what must have been impossible odds to create this kind of centre for the community.

King Charles III, 1988