Living in Marylebone: area guide to homes, schools and transport

Dame Barbara Windsor flicked the switch to light Marylebone High Street with sparkling angel wings and Chiltern Street — home to celebrity hangout Chiltern Firehouse — with little Christmas trees.

This corner of London is only a few streets away from the mad, bustling crowds of Oxford Street. But over the last 20 years, Marylebone High Street has been transformed from tired backwater to go-to favourite shopping street, with a mix of much-loved, long-standing shops such as Daunt Books and newcomers like Lululemon Athletica.

The area’s major landlord, the Howard de Walden Estate, took the long view, ignoring the highest retail rents and hand-picking a carefully curated mix of shops, cafés and restaurants, then adding two key tenants — Waitrose and The Conran Shop.

The success of the High Street has made Marylebone one of London’s most desirable areas to live.

Gary Hersham, MD of agents Beauchamp Estates, says: “It mixes beautiful period architecture with stunning new developments. The new homes market in Marylebone has developed since 2011 with the ultra-prime luxury sector only emerging over the last two years.

“The growth and success of these new developments has enabled Marylebone to outperform both Mayfair and the rest of prime central London over the last five years.”

This Zone 1 location has Regent’s Park to the north, Fitzrovia to the east, the West End to the south and Paddington to the west.

The property scene

Homes in Marylebone range from large Georgian houses in garden squares such as Montagu and Bryanston Squares, to smaller Georgian and early Victorian terrace houses, to mews and Edwardian houses, to Twenties and Thirties mansion flats and new-build apartments.

One of the most expensive for sale now is a five-bedroom, 7,226sq ft Georgian house, from 1780, in Upper Wimpole Street, at £13.5 million. A smaller three-bedroom Georgian house in Molyneux Street is on the market for £2.1 million.

There are six times as many flats on the market in Marylebone as there are houses. Big lateral flats are a feature, some stretching over two period houses. One is for sale now for £8.75 million in a Thirties Portland Place block. One-bedroom flats start at about £525,000.

Short-leasehold flats are also for sale locally. A one-bedroom mansion flat in Carisbrooke Court in Weymouth Street is for sale at £465,000 with a 13-year lease that could be extended for £425,000-£525,000.

What's new?

The Mansion in Marylebone Lane by developer Clivedale has 22 studios and one- to four-bedroom flats in a modern building that manages to echo red-brick buildings around it. The pool car’s a chauffeured Bentley and grocery deliveries are from Fortnum’s.

There’s also a 25-metre swimming pool. The studios and one-bedroom flats are sold. Two-bedroom flats start at £2,625,000, for completion in summer. Call Savills (020 7409 8756) or CBRE (020 7182 2477), or visit themansionW1.com

At the Chiltern Street/Paddington Street corner, Chiltern Place, a glossy, move-in ready block of 55 flats and a townhouse by Ronson Capital Partners, is 80 per cent sold. Units left cost £2 million-£8 million.

See chilternplace.com or call Knight Frank (020 7861 5499) or Savills (020 7409 8756). Opposite stands Galliard Homes’ The Chilterns (020 8418 1070) with 44 flats, the last of which is under offer at £5.4 million.

The W1 London in Marylebone High Street has 19 flats and five townhouses, ready in early 2019. From £4.1 million. See thew1london.com or call 020 3740 0350.

Oldbury Place is a mews of three five-storey houses. One remains at £6,495,000. See oldburyplace.com or call Savills (020 3527 0400).

Affordable homes

The local council, Westminster, operates the Westminster Home Ownership Accelerator in conjunction with housing charity Dolphin Living.

It is offering up to 50 households a deposit of between £21,800 and £54,500 to buy a home anywhere in Greater London after living for three years in one of Westminster’s intermediate rental homes.

In Maida Vale, under the scheme, the council is offering at intermediate rent, studio flats for £719 a month; one-bedroom flats for £901 a month, two-bedroom flats for £1,239 a month and three-bedroom flats for £1,408 a month. Call 020 3667 7876 for more details.

Renting

Lettings manager Valentina Axenova from Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward says tenants tend to stay in the Marylebone area for two to four years, and adds: “There is now a shortage of rental homes.”

The Howard de Walden Estate has homes to rent. Current availability includes a one-bedroom flat for £420 a week and a three-bedroom mews home with a garage for £1,495 a week.

Staying power

Local agent James Staite says that historically, Marylebone is a place where many families choose to stay. “Continuous ownership for several generations of the same family is not unusual.”

Postcode

Marylebone has three sub-postcodes. Running from west to east: W1H covers Montagu Square and Bryanston Square; W1U covers west of Marylebone High Street including Chiltern Street; W1G covers east of Marylebone High Street including Harley Street.

Best roads

Montagu Square and Bryanston Square.

Up and coming

the Dorset Square conservation area, the small pocket north of Marylebone Road around Marylebone main line station, is generally cheaper.

Luxborough Tower in Luxborough Street is a well-maintained council-owned block where most of the flats are now owned by leaseholders. Sale prices over the last two years have ranged between £645,000 and £1,165,000.

Travel

Marylebone is on the Bakerloo Tube line and there is easy access to other lines from nearby Underground stations. The Elizabeth line — and therefore Heathrow airport — will be reached via Bond Steet . An annual Zone 1 travelcard costs £1,296.

Shops and restaurants

Marylebone High Street is classier and quieter than Oxford Street or King’s Road, with top brands, small chains and some independent shops both on and off the High Street. You’ll find Skandium; J Crew; Malene Birger; Maje; Anthropologie; Agnes B, Diptyque, Aesop, and Bonpoint for exquisite French children’s clothes.

Wigmore Street has top kitchen brands such as Boffi and fashion brand Margaret Howell. Marylebone Lane is getting a public realm facelift — here, find old-fashioned hardware store David Penton & Son; shoemaker Tracey Neuls, long-standing café and delicatessen Paul Rothe & Son, haberbashers VV Rouleaux and The Ivy Café.

Off Marylebone High Street in Moxon Street, top cheese shop La Fromagerie also has a café and top butcher The Ginger Pig. Cramer Street car park becomes a popular Sunday farmers’ market.

Top Marylebone eateries are: Giorgio Locatelli’s Locanda Locatelli in Seymour Street; Orrery above the Conran Shop in Marylebone High Street; New Zealand chef Peter Gordon’s long-standing The Providores and Tapa Room, also in Marylebone High Street; Texture in Portman Street; Galvin Bistrot de Luxe in Baker Street; Japanese restaurant Dinings in Harcourt Street; and of course, Nuno Mendes’s ever-popular Chiltern Firehouse.

Explore “Little Sweden” — the area around the Swedish church in Harcourt Street with the Nordic Bakery in Dorset Street, Totally Swedish in Crawford Street and finally The Harcourt in Harcourt Street, a pub with a distinctive Scandi-vibe.

Open space

Regent’s Park sits directly to the north of Marylebone, a stunning landscaped mix with four children’s playgrounds and central London’s largest outside sports area. Highlights are the 12,000 roses planted in Queen Mary’s Gardens, and boating on the lake.

Leisure and the arts

The West End theatres are within walking distance and classical music venue Wigmore Hall is on the doorstep. The Wallace Collection is in Manchester Square, with a permanent collection of French 18th-century art and Old Masters.

The Everyman Cinema is in Baker Street, and the summer delights of Regent’s Park outdoor theatre are there to be enjoyed. Seymour Leisure Centre in Seymour Place is the local council-owned swimming pool.

Primary school

Some local state schools get an “outstanding” Ofsted rating. The top-rated primary schools are: St Vincent’s RC in St Vincent Street and Hampden Gurney CofE in Nutford Place.

Comprehensive

St Marylebone CofE (girls, ages 11 to 18) in Marylebone High Street and Ark’s King Solomon Academy (co-ed, ages three to 18) in Penfold Street are also judged “outstanding” by the government schools watchdog.

Private

The local private primary school is Connaught House (co-ed, ages four to 11) in Connaught Square. The private all-through schools are: International Community School (co-ed, ages three to 18) in Wyndham Place, Star Street and York Terrace East; Queen’s College Prep in Portland Place (girls, ages four to 11) and Queen’s College (girls, ages 11 to 18) in Harley Street; and École Internationale Franco-Anglaise (co-ed, ages 18 months to 18) a bilingual school in Portland Place and Duchess Street.

The private secondary schools are: Wetherby Senior (boys, ages 11 to 18) in Marylebone Lane; Southbank International School Westminster (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Portland Place; Francis Holland (girls, ages 11 to 18) in Clarence Gate and Halcyon London International (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Seymour Place.

Sylvia Young Theatre School (co-ed, ages 11 to 16) in Nutford Place is a well-known London private performing arts school.