Kilburn Lane is, after Harrow Road, the oldest road in the area and connected Kilburn and Kensal Green. Until the nineteenth century, the names "Kilburn Lane" and "Kensal Green Lane" were both used. The southernmost section was also known as "Flowerhills Lane" in the 17th century.

It was commented upon that the inhabitants of Willesden were indicted for not repairing it in 1722.

Kilburn Lane suffered from depopulation in the 18th century with those buildings that had been there, falling into disrepair and then removed. However, the enclosure of Kensal Green in the 1830s meant buildings appeared on the west of the lane near to the junction of Harrow Road.

In 1844 St John’s Church in Kilburn Lane was consecrated. There were now enough people living locally in order to create a new parish.

Further north, the road remained rural until the late nineteenth century with just two farms along its length.

The arrival of the railways, like elsewhere in London, caused rapid surburbanisation in thr 1870s and 1880s, with the streetscape complete by the turn of the twentieth century.