Brentford is where the River Brent and the Grand Union Canal meet the Thames, on the western edge of London, and for centuries it was the first important crossing west of the capital. It is a busy, mixed place of new riverside apartments, old pubs, warehouses and roads, with Kew Gardens just across the water and Syon Park, the London home of the Dukes of Northumberland, next door.
It is a place with a long story. Julius Caesar may have crossed the Thames near here in 54 BC, according to local tradition, and in 1642, during the English Civil War, the Battle of Brentford was fought in its streets, as Royalist troops attacked the town on their way to London. In the nineteenth century the waterworks at Kew Bridge pumped water to West London with giant steam engines, and the old pumping station now houses the London Museum of Water and Steam, where some of those engines are still run on certain days. Brentford Football Club, after more than a century at Griffin Park, moved in 2020 to its new stadium beside the railway.
The finish here usually comes off the M4 or the A4 Great West Road, the road that carried traffic west from London and was lined in the 1920s and 30s with grand Art Deco factories, the so-called Golden Mile. Some of those buildings survive, others were lost. Coming from the New Forest or the south coast, you may instead come in through Richmond and over Kew Bridge, which is slower but far more pleasant.
The riding at this end is pure city. Expect heavy traffic at almost any time, frequent lights, buses and cyclists, and be ready for the Ultra Low Emission Zone and the many cameras that cover the main roads. In return, there are lovely river views from Kew Bridge, and the canal towpath and the riverside walk at Strand-on-the-Green, with its old pubs and cottages along the water, are pleasant places to walk off the ride.
Brentford has fuel, food, shops and everything else, and good train links to central London. Take a moment by the river at the point where the Brent flows into the Thames: the swans, the boats and the green of Kew on the other bank make a peaceful end to a long day.