Living in South Kensington: area guide to homes, schools and transport links

Traditional stucco terraces adapt to the modern euro-family apartment lifestyle in London’s world-renowned cultural heart.
Anthea Masey27 January 2017

The wealthy west London neighbourhood of South Kensington way of life has been compared to European-style living, thanks to a concentration of flats in the area rather than houses.

"Around seven in 10 of the homes I sell in South Kensington are apartments popular with continental families. Europeans are in the habit of using local parks and playgrounds at the weekend rather than heading for the country,” says estate agent Rollo Miles from the local branch of John D Wood.

South Kensington has one of the world’s greatest concentrations of internationally renowned cultural destinations. Housed in monumentally grand and architecturally stunning Victorian buildings, it has the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum. The latter has a collection of dinosaurs that has made it a favourite with the nation’s children for generations.

Exhibition Road: the home to several major museums and academic establishments in South Kensington.
DANIEL LYNCH


Entrances to all of these museums are clustered along Exhibition Road, named after Prince Albert’s Great Exhibition held in Kensington Gardens in 1851, the first international showcase for manufactured products.

The road experienced an experimental and radical redesign in 2012, turning it into a walkway with traffic, London’s equivalent of a grand European promenade along the lines of the Champs-Élysées in Paris, or Barcelona’s La Rambla.

Now 11 million pedestrians a year share the road — which is laid in a diamond pattern of pale and dark granite — with cars, vans, lorries and cyclists doing not more than 20 miles per hour.

The redesign brought with it new cafés and restaurants around South Kensington Tube station where, on sunny afternoons, tables and chairs spill out on to a roadway stripped of kerbs and traffic lights.

Residential neighbourhood: Properties on Onslow Gardens in South Kensington.
DANIEL LYNCH

Property
The six- and seven-storey terraces of large houses that characterise South Kensington are now mainly divided into flats and maisonettes, or lateral conversions spreading across several buildings.

This neighbourhood is one of garden squares that are “hidden”, unlike the better-known squares of Notting Hill. There are also purpose-built mansion flats and some smaller houses.

New build homes
Ready to move into this summer will be 21 Harrington Road on the corner with Glendower Place.

This striking development has five two-bedroom, two-bathroom flats and one four-bedroom duplex with an outdoor terrace. Prices from £1.7 million. Call Sotheby’s (020 7495 9580) or Farleys (020 7589 1234).


South Kensington’s longest-running planning saga is over the future of the car park site on the corner of Harrington Road and Queen’s Gate.

The site is owned by the Iranian government, which has delayed plans for a new embassy and cultural centre. The local council is looking at either engaging with the Iranian government or investigating compulsory purchase.

Renting
Rentals manager Victoria Read from John D Wood says most tenants in South Kensington are single professionals, professional couples, or French families with children at the Lycée, although numbers of the latter have decreased since the Lycée opened a second school in Wembley.

Wealthy overseas students at Imperial College also like to rent in the area. Flats with access to a garden square are the most popular.

Staying Power
This is prime London, and big stamp duty increases mean buyers here are thinking more long term. Estate agent Rollo Miles, of John D Wood, points to sellers in Chelsea downsizing to flats in South Kensington. “These buyers are retiring to country homes but want to keep a London pied-à-terre, or a home here for their children.”

Postcodes
SW7 is the South Kensington postcode although the area strays into SW10 — the West Brompton postcode; SW3 (Chelsea) and SW5, the Earl’s Court postcode.

Best Roads
These are The Boltons and The Little Boltons, both of which fall into the SW10 postcode, and anywhere with access to a private communal garden.

Up and coming
Property prices tend to be cheaper where South Kensington merges with Earl’s Court.

Travel
Two London Underground stations — South Kensington and Gloucester Road — serve the neighbourhood. Both are in Zone 1 and on the District and Circle lines, with South Kensington additionally on the Piccadilly line.

Council
The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea is Tory controlled, and Band D council tax for the new financial year is set at £1,042.80.

Lifestyle

Shops and restaurants
HR Owen, a garage stuffed with Lamborghinis, is what greets visitors when they leave South Kensington station, which is surrounded by a wide choice of mainly chain restaurants satisfying the needs of tourists and residents alike.

There are branches of Carluccio’s, Wasabi, Hummingbird Bakery, Gail’s, Paul, Leon and long-standing Polish restaurant Daquise. This is also where Boujis, the nightclub favoured by the young royals, is located.

Bute Street has a French bookshop, Raison d’Etre French café, La Grande Bouchée delicatessen and a branch of Moxon’s the fishmonger.

Auction house Christie’s has a showroom in Old Brompton Road. Maître Choux in Harrington Road has an exquisite choice of choux pastries.

At Brompton Cross where Brompton Road meets Draycott Avenue and Pelham Street there are shops from designer labels Chanel, Acne Studios and Amanda Wakeley.

The Conran Shop in the former Michelin building is still one of London’s most inspiring interiors shops and in the same building, Bibendum Oyster Bar and Restaurant remains, after more than 25 years, one of the best local restaurants.

Ognisko Polskie, The Polish Hearth Club, is a Polish club and restaurant in Exhibition Road, and The Magazine Restaurant is in the Zaha Hadid-designed extension to the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens.

Open space
Kensington Gardens forms the northern boundary of South Kensington. There are two memorials here to Princess Diana: the fountain and the playground with its pirate ship, known locally as the pirate park.

A further memorial – a new garden – in the grounds of Kensington Palace, is being planned. Other Kensington Gardens highlights are the Italian Gardens, the Serpentine Galleries, the Peter Pan statue and the Elfin Oak, an oak tree stump dotted with tiny carved fairies, elves and animals.

Leisure and the arts
South Kensington is one of the world’s most culturally rich neighbourhoods, with the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum all based here.

There is music at the Royal Albert Hall, concerts at the Royal College of Music, and two national cultural institutes — the Institut Français and Goethe-Institut.

Exhibitions and lectures are a feature of the Royal Geographical Society, and there is all the excitement of an auction at Christie’s South Kensington.

This year’s Serpentine Pavilion, designed by Danish architects Bjarke Ingels Group, opens on June 10, together with four Summer Houses designed by young architects.

Schools

Primary schools
Private schools outnumber state schools in South Kensington. However, all but one of the state schools get an “outstanding” Ofsted rating.

The outstanding state primary schools are: Our Lady of Victories RC in Clareville Street; Bousfield in South Bolton Gardens; Oratory RC in Bury Walk and Servite RC in Fulham Road.

Marlborough Primary School in Draycott Avenue is judged “good”, and is being rebuilt as a two-form entry school in a scheme that includes the redevelopment of two former John Lewis warehouses, known as The Clearings, also in Draycott Avenue close to Peter Jones department store.

As well as the new school there are plans for 78 flats and a ground-floor shop. John Lewis has sold the site to a joint venture of Citygrove Securities and McLaren Property backed by Mike Ashley of Sports Direct.

Comprehensive

The “outstanding” state comprehensive schools are: The London Oratory RC (boys, ages 11 to 18, with girls in the sixth form) in Seagrave Road, where former PM Tony Blair sent his sons; and St Thomas More RC Language College (co-ed, ages 11 to 16) in Cadogan Street.

The presence of the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle (co-ed, ages three to 18) in Cromwell Road is the reason South Kensington is known as “Little Paris”, with many French families choosing to live close to their government’s school.

Private

The private primary schools are: Glendower (girls, ages four to 11) in Queen’s Gate; Falkner House (girls, ages two to 11) in Brechin Place; Hyde Park School (co-ed, ages two to 11) in Elvaston Place; Eaton House, The Vale (co-ed ages two to eight) also in Elvaston Place; Thomas’s Kensington (co-ed, ages five to 11) in Cottesmore Gardens; Redcliffe School (boys, ages three to eight, girls, ages three to 11) in Redclifffe Gardens, and St Nicholas (co-ed, ages three to 11) in Princes Gate.

The private preparatory schools are: St Philip’s School (boys ages seven to 13) a Catholic school in Wetherby Place; Knightsbridge School (co-ed, ages two to 13) in Pont Street; Sussex House (boys, eight to 13) in Cadogan Square and Hill House (co-ed ages three to 13) in Hans Place. The private all-through school is Queen’s Gate (girls, ages four to 18) in Queen’s Gate.

South Kensington’s private tutorial colleges include Mander Portman Woodward in Queen’s Gate; Westminster Tutors in Old Brompton Road, and Duff Miller in Queen’s Gate.