Hammersmith & It's History

Attractive riverside walks and pubs, a village ambience in Brackenbury Road and Brook Green, good state and private schools — Hammersmith in west London has many advantages.

And after seven years, Hammersmith & Fulham borough looks to have solved the problem at last of what to do with the shabby western end of King Street, the main shopping street.

The council parted company with its first development partners and architects but now a scheme is before planners involving architects Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and housing association A2 Dominion.

It involves demolition of the council’s ugly Seventies office extension, the restoration of the listed Thirties town hall building, a replacement cinema for the demolished Cineworld, plus cafés, shops, restaurants and a new public square.

There will also be 204 new homes of which 52 per cent are proclaimed to be “genuinely affordable for local people”, a new rooftop bar, art and events space and affordable and flexible start-up workspaces.

A decision is expected very soon, with demolition starting in summer. There has also been a £5 million revamp of Kings Mall shopping centre.

The riverside along Lower and Upper Mall is a peaceful, traffic-free refuge from the frantic gyratory and busy shopping streets of the town centre. This is one of Lndon’s loveliest spots, with Georgian houses, boathouses and historic pubs.

The 18th-century landscape designer Capability Brown lived here for 13 years and in 2017 a life-size statue of him was unveiled at Distillery Wharf.

Writer, social reformer, artist and craftsman William Morris lived at Kelmscott House in Upper Mall between 1878 and 1896. A small museum in the coach house is run by the William Morris Society.

The most expensive house now for sale in Hammersmith is six-bedroom Beach House, a Georgian beauty in Lower Mall overlooking the Thames, priced £8.75 million.

Transport

Hammersmith has easy access to the M3 and the M4. Hammersmith Underground station is on the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Piccadilly lines. Ravenscourt Park and Stamford Brook are on the District line.

All stations are in Zone 2 and an annual travelcard to Zone 1 costs £1,404, a rise of 2.9 per cent over last year.

A busy transport hub, Hammersmith has 17 bus routes running round the gyratory with three useful commuter buses.

The No 9 goes to Aldwych via Kensington High Street and Trafalgar Square; the No 23 goes to Westbourne Park via Knightsbridge and Marble Arch, while the No 27 runs to Chalk Farm via Paddington and Baker Street.

Council

Hammersmith & Fulham council is Labour controlled. Band D council tax for 2018/2019 is £1,022.04.