Editing Cricklewood (section)

===Industrial history===
With the introduction of the [[tram system]] in 1904, and the motorisation of bus services by 1911, numerous important industries were established. The first of these was the Phoenix Telephone Company in 1911 (later moved to the Hyde). The [[Handley Page Aircraft Company]] soon followed, from 1912 until 1917, at 110 Cricklewood Lane and subsequently occupying a large part of Claremont Road. The [[Cricklewood Aerodrome]] adjacent to their factory was used for the first London-Paris air service in the 1920s.

The former aircraft factory was converted into [[Cricklewood Studios]] in 1920, the largest film studio in the country at the time. It became the production base for [[Stoll Pictures]] during the [[silent era]]. After later turning out a number of [[quota quickies]], it closed down in 1938. Some years later, the property was redeveloped and currently hosts a Wickes DIY store.<ref>[http://www.wickes.co.uk/london/cricklewood/stry/nw26jn/] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131229005203/http://www.wickes.co.uk/london/cricklewood/stry/nw26jn/|date=29 December 2013}}</ref>

A number of plans were drawn up around the turn of the 20th century to extend the developing [[London Underground]] network to Cricklewood. Several proposals were put forward to construct an [[Edgware Road Tube schemes|underground railway tunnel under the length of the Edgware Road]], including an unusual scheme to build a type of subterranean monorail roller-coaster, but these proposals were abandoned.<ref name=Badsey-Ellis>{{cite book|last=Badsey-Ellis|first=Antony|title=London's lost tube schemes|year=2005|publisher=Capital Transport|location=Harrow|isbn=1-85414-293-3|pages=62–63; 79–83; 264–267}}</ref>

Cricklewood was home to [[Smiths Group|Smith's Industries]]. This started in 1915 as S. Smith & Sons, on the Edgware Road, established to manufacture fuses, instruments and accessories. By 1939 it was making [[electrical motor]]s, [[aircraft]] accessories and [[electric clock]]s. The large advertisement on the iron railway bridge over the Broadway next to the bus garage became a familiar landmark for decades. As the company grew it acquired other companies and sites overseas but Cricklewood remained the most important site, with 8,000 employees between 1937 and 1978.<ref>'Willesden: Economic history', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 7: Acton, Chiswick, Ealing and Brentford, West Twyford, Willesden (1982), pp. 220–228. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22605 Date accessed: 14 November 2007.</ref> Coincidentally, Cricklewood also became the home for the first [[The Smith's Snackfood Company|Smith's Crisps]] [[Potato chip|potato crisp]] factory, which replaced the [[bus garage|omnibus depot]] at Crown Yard. Having moved into new premises in Cricklewood Lane, the yard was taken over by Clang Electrical Goods Ltd. From 1929 to 1933 the area was finally built over. [[Bentley Motors]], builders of racing and sports cars, built a factory at Oxgate Lane in 1920, and Cricklewood remained the company's headquarters until it was bought out by [[Rolls-Royce Limited|Rolls-Royce]]  in 1931.

From the 1960s, industry in the local area went into decline, and all the above-mentioned businesses have left.
 
[[File:CricklewoodBroadway 0001.JPG|right|thumb|Cricklewood Broadway in the snow, February 2009]]

There were two notable buildings on Cricklewood Lane, one of which survives. The first was Production Village, part of the British film-making scene and owned by Samuelson's, which towards the end was a [[Public house|pub]] with rehearsal rooms attached. On the same site was Clang's electrical from 1929 to the mid-1970s. Production Village was demolished in 2000, andn became a Virfgin Active Gym, in 2022 it became a David Lloyd Gym. Secondly, and a little further up the hill on the south side of the road, is a modern building, which was the factory that manufactured the revolutionary [[Dubreq Stylophone|Stylophone]] handheld organ of the late-1960s to early-1970s – as demonstrated by [[Rolf Harris]].

In June 2001, a [[lynx]] was captured in Cricklewood after 10 years of sightings by residents. The animal was originally nicknamed the "Beast of Barnet" by the local press following numerous sightings of a similarly sized animal around south [[Hertfordshire]] and the fringes of north London. A senior veterinary officer for the [[London Zoological Society]] arrived with the task of sedating the beast using a tranquilliser gun. It is believed that someone was keeping the animal illegally and it had escaped.<ref>{{cite news|last=O'Neill|first=Sean|title=The Beast of Cricklewood is caged|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1329632/The-Beast-of-Cricklewood-is-caged.html|access-date=3 February 2014|newspaper=Daily Telegraph|date=9 May 2001}}</ref> The [[lynx]] was taken to [[London Zoo]] and named Lara.<ref>{{cite web |title=Feline Frenzy |url=http://www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo/news/feline-frenzy,57,NS.html |publisher=ZSL London Zoo |access-date=3 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221031551/http://www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo/news/feline-frenzy%2C57%2CNS.html |archive-date=21 February 2014  }}</ref>