Shepherds Bush & It's History

If you find urban villages smug, this district’s got old-style London character, great transport links and homes half the price of Holland Park just up the road. 

While other parts of London are busy regenerating almost beyond recognition, good old Shepherd’s Bush resolutely refuses to bow to the winds of change.

Goldhawk and Uxbridge Roads are the same slightly tatty strips of restaurants, boozers and corner shops that they were 20 years ago — even though the family homes on their side streets can now change hands for seven-figure sums.

Shepherd’s Bush Green still has a forlorn air despite a recent facelift and the traders of Shepherd’s Bush Market have fought a long, bitter and ultimately successful battle to prevent a £150 million regeneration proposal that would swallow up their traditional street market and replace it with flats, shops, restaurants and market stalls, à la Camden Market.

On Shepherd’s Bush Green itself, plans to inject a bit of east London cool with a new offshoot of glitzy boutique hotel The Hoxton have also just been scuppered. In November local resident Sabine Guerry went all the way to the High Court to complain that the new building, which had been granted planning permission by Hammersmith & Fulham council, would block daylight to her and her neighbours’ nearby homes. The planning application was duly quashed.

The next developer to try its luck in Shepherd’s Bush will be Land Securities, owner of the grotty W12 Shopping Centre, which is overshadowed in every sense by the nearby Westfield London mall. Earlier this year the firm unveiled plans to redevelop this Seventies throwback, with some 700 homes in high-rise buildings, plus offices and a new shopping centre. More detailed plans are set to be published soon.

But while debate continues over how — and whether — Shepherd’s Bush should be regenerated, the neighbourhood’s housing market has been quietly blossoming. First impressions aren’t great but its big plus points include a wonderful location that’s on the fringes of Prime Central London and four miles west of the West End. Transport links are excellent while schools are good and period houses are plentiful. And although it might not be all gastropubs and artisanal cafés, what Shepherd’s Bush has to offer is real, old-fashioned character to buyers bored with terribly smug London villages.

Transport

Shepherd's Bush Tube station is on the Central line in Zone 2, with Overground services north towards Kensal Rise and south to Clapham Junction. Shepherd’s Bush Market Tube station has Hammersmith & City line services. Local bus services go to Ladbroke Grove, Holland Park and the West End, and Kensington High Street.

Council

Hammersmith & Fulham council is Labour controlled. Band D council tax is currently £1,022.04.