Just across the footbridge is Neasden Shopping Parade, where you can shop in the competitive independent retail outlets or Tesco Express and Iceland. You can grab your lunch from Subway, Tesco, Bakery, Costa or other takeaway restaurants. The variety of shops includes an ironmonger, a phone shop, estate agents, pharmacies and hairdressers. There are takeaway restaurants, pubs and bars.
About a mile away is Willesden – the shops there stretch from Dollis Hill station to Willesden Green station. The variety of shopping ranges from fine sandwich shops and bakers, like Edwards, to Slocombes, the family-run motorbike shop that has been in the area since the sixties, Sainsbury’s and a huge range of independent grocers.
A couple of miles along the North Circular Road is the Brent Cross Shopping Centre. One mile in the other direction brings you to Ikea – handy during the week, but the traffic can get a bit much at weekends when there is a sale on. Similarly, a match at the nearby Wembley Stadium can generate a lot of traffic – and the newly opened London Designer Outlet is bringing many more people to Wembley.
Just one kilometre along Dollis Hill Lane is the undulating Gladstone Park (holder of a Green Flag award). Sadly, Dollis Hill House (where Gladstone himself stayed) is no longer with us but you can wander through the walled garden, stroll through the floor plan, sit by the duck pond or take a walk through the wildlife area. There is a great view across London. The park also boasts some interesting sculptures and, in a quiet area not far from the northern car park, is a holocaust memorial.
The Park slopes down to the railway line and footbridges for access to flatter grass areas, used at weekends by various sports teams. The park is excellent for jogging and, every Saturday, it hosts a 5km Parkrun http://www.parkrun.org.uk/gladstone/ You can also book tennis courts (but they get booked up quite heavily in June each year).