Festive Lights Return for Golden Mile Centenary Year
Illumination of Great West Road marks end of commemorative events
The lights on the A4 Great West Road. Picture: Goldenmile.London
December 12, 2025
Festive lights have returned to the Great West Road this December, illuminating the Golden Mile in celebration of its centenary year. The display marks the culmination of a year-long programme honouring 100 years since King George V officially opened the Great West Road on 30 May 1925, a milestone that was marked earlier this year with a launch event in Boston Manor Park.
The new installations revive a mid-20th-century tradition when landmark companies such as Trico, Firestone and Gillette would decorate their headquarters with Christmas lights, illuminated signs and festive trees. In those decades, firms informally competed to outshine one another, creating a spectacular seasonal display that became part of the Golden Mile’s identity. This year’s lights aim to recapture that spirit of shared pride and creativity, bringing a sense of community back to the corridor.
The 2025 display has been funded by organisations invested in the Golden Mile’s future, including JCDecaux, Sky, Hadley Property Group, the University of West London, 11:11 Management, McGrath Group, Renault West London and The Vinyl Factory. Their support, alongside the Greater London Authority’s contribution to infrastructure, socket installation and testing, has enabled festive lighting to return to one of West London’s most significant economic corridors.
The centenary of the Great West Road is a reminder of its unique place in London’s industrial and architectural history. Built in the 1920s to relieve congestion on Brentford High Street, the road quickly attracted major firms who constructed striking modernist factories and offices along its length. The stretch became known as the Golden Mile, celebrated for its Art Deco and modernist buildings and its role as a hub of innovation and employment. Over the decades, the corridor has evolved, with many of the original factories replaced or repurposed, but the name and identity of the Golden Mile have endured.
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