If Kilburn is taken to extend into the City of Westminster then the historic districts it overlaps are Paddington, to the west of Watling Street, and Marylebone to the east of it.

Kilburn High Road originated as an ancient trackway, part of a route between the Brittonic settlements now known as Canterbury and St Albans.

[4] Kilburn Priory was built on the banks of a stream variously recorded as Cuneburna, Kelebourne and Cyebourne (in the latter source most other places with the phonetic sound /kiː/ were rendered in writing Cy such as Cynestone (Kingston)).

The stream flowed from Hampstead through this parish then through Paddington – specifically through areas that became "Westbourne", "Bayswater" and Hyde Park – South Kensington and the narrow east part of Chelsea into the Thames.

Kilburn Priory's position on Watling Street meant that it became a popular resting point for pilgrims heading for the shrines at St Albans and Willesden.

This happy spot is equally celebrated for its rural situation, extensive prospects, and the acknowledged efficacy of its waters; is most delightfully situated on the site of the once famous Abbey of Kilburn, on the Edgware Road, at an easy distance, being but a morning's walk, from the metropolis, two miles from Oxford Street; the footway from the Mary-bone across the fields still nearer.

Despite the discovery of the medicinal well in 1714, and the construction of gardens and a fine room to exploit the water, Kilburn did not attract any significant building until around 1819 in the area near St John's Wood.

Between 1839 and 1856 the newsagent and future First Lord of the Admiralty William Henry Smith lived in a house to the west of Kilburn High Road.

Solomon Barnett developed much of the area in the last decades of the 19th century, naming many of the streets after places in the West Country (e.g. Torbay) or after popular poets of the day (e.g. Tennyson) in honour of his wife.

Over 3,000 mourners lined the streets of Kilburn and marched behind his coffin - which was flanked by an IRA "honour guard" - to a Requiem Mass held in the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

[15][16] Kilburn has a number of different ethnic groups, including people of Irish, Afro-Caribbean, Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Eritrean and Ethiopian descent.

[23] Irish community activities, pubs, local GAA sports clubs,[24] and annual St Patrick's Day celebrations are prominent in parts of the area.

This was based on an earlier Celtic route from Verlamion to Durovernum Cantiacorum, modern day St Albans and Canterbury.

Running roughly north-west to south-east, it forms the boundary between the London boroughs of Camden to the east and Brent to the west.

Approximately 1.25 km (nearly a mile) further south is Kilburn High Road station (also London Overground, on the Watford DC Line).

A landmark in Kilburn High Road is the Grade II* listed Art Deco Gaumont State Cinema, designed by George Coles and opened in 1937.

Sharma said: "The Kiln is a theatre right at the heart of its community – a beacon for the people of Brent, bringing audiences to the borough from across London, the UK and internationally.

Completed in 1880 by the architect John Loughborough Pearson, the church has an ornate Victorian interior, a carved stone reredos and screen and stained glass, adjacent to its partners, St Augustine's Primary and Secondary Schools.

This very unusual building, originally built as St. James' Episcopal Chapel, is Grade II listed and is open to the public on Saturdays.

The building, noted for its unaltered 1920s interiors and faience tile exterior, was being considered by Historic England for Grade II listing when it was unexpectedly demolished in March 2015 by the property developer CLTX Ltd to make way for a new block of flats.

The pub was later renamed as Biddy's, before briefly turning into an Australian sports bar called Southern K, and then closing in 2009 to make way for a new Ladbrokes branch.

In the 2017 film, The Only Living Boy in New York, Kate Beckinsale's character, Mimi, explains that she moved from Belsize Park to Kilburn because it felt more real.