Monks Park, or Tokyington, as it is rarely known, lies in the south eastern part of Wembley. The area is bordered by the Chiltern Railways line to the north, separating the area from Wembley Park. To the west and south are the mesh of Overground lines and Wembley Brook, which divide it and Wembley, as well as the River Brent to the east. Just beyond the area is the North Circular Road, which separates Monks Park from Stonebridge. Despite these divisions, the area has characteristics of both Wembley and Stonebridge, and is usually locally referred to as being a part of either of these neighbourhoods. The area is a garden suburb, consisting predominantly of interwar semi-detached houses, as well as some Edwardian terraces, along regular straight streets. Despite being in such proximity to Wembley Stadium and Park, the high street is based on Harrow Road, which runs through the southern section of Monks Park. There are a couple of restaurants, clinics and religious institutions along the way. The area’s main green spaces are Sherrans Farm Open Space to the north, and the parks along the banks of the River Brent to the east. Monks Park is known for its extraordinary diversity, even for London and Brent Borough, which itself is a diverse place.

Tokyington Manor rivalled Wembley for economic significance during the Middle Ages, though the last decades of the manor’s rural nature were in the form of Sherrin’s Farm. The Great Central Railway came through the area in 1906, and the lord of the manor then agreed to work with Wembley council to develop a garden city. Work stopped during the First World War, and resumed afterwards. The estate was the council’s first attempt at town planning, and is today a conservation area.

Tokyington’s name first appears in 1171, which meant the farm of the sons of Toca. A manor house existed there until 1939, where a proposal to convert it into a library was rejected. Instead it was literally blown up as part of an exercise designed to test air raid precaution readiness.

The area is surrounded by transport lines, from railways to motorways, and the Bakerloo line depot is located just south of the neighbourhood. In addition, Wembley Park and the development around it is also nearby. Whilst Monks Park itself is not a destination for most of the commuters travelling through the area, the immense amount of activity which occurs does occasionally make travel difficult for residents, whilst the large infrastructure surrounding the area means that such facilities are not necessarily any easier to access.

The Wembley Park area, just north of this neighbourhood is currently in the middle of a transformation, with thousands of new homes expected to be added to an already dizzying array of modern apartments. In Tokyington itself, the Stonebridge Place development is bringing this type of architecture into the heart of this otherwise low-rise neighbourhood. The scheme will comprise 515 new apartments with 35% allocated for affordable housing couched in three striking new buildings designed by Patel Taylor.