Living in Clapham: area guide to homes, schools and transport
There are two sides to this south-west London suburb, says estate agent Will Pasquali, senior sales manager of the local branch of Hamptons: family Clapham is in the Old Town and around Abbeville Road, offering large houses with gardens, while young Clapham centres around the flats and busy nightlife of the High Street, which attract twenty- and thirtysomething buyers and renters.
This well-heeled district is one of the last places in London that anyone today would associate with dissent. Yet 200 years ago, a group of devout Christians who became known as the Clapham Sect worshipped together at Holy Trinity Church on Clapham Common.
Their number included William Wilberforce, Zachary Macaulay, Henry Thornton and Henry Venn and his son John (1759-1813), the Holy Trinity rector, and they planned their campaigns at the large table which can still be seen in the church to this day.
Their most important cause was the abolition of slavery but they also founded the Church Missionary Society and fought for penal reform. A hundred years later Henry Thornton’s great-grandson, the writer EM Forster, credited a legacy from his aunt Marianne Thornton for giving him the freedom to write.
Many of Clapham’s streets celebrate this historic connection. Venn Street is now pedestrianised and hosts a popular Saturday market; Macaulay Road is lined with large Victorian detached houses, some of the most expensive in Clapham, while developer London Realty has chosen the name Thornton Park for its scheme of 300 new homes off Clapham Common South Side.
Clapham’s streets are full of surprises. During the Blitz the government built eight deep-level bomb shelters with the promise that once hostilities ended they would be linked to provide express Tube lines. Three of these shelters were built next to Clapham’s three Northern line Tube stations — Clapham North, Clapham Common and Clapham South.
The express line never materialised and the disused spaces are now mainly dedicated to storage. The exception is the Clapham Common deep-level shelter which is home to one of London’s most unusual enterprises, Growing Underground, a farm producing microgreens and salad crops for M&S and Whole Foods Market.
Clapham is three miles from central London with Battersea to the north, Brixton to the east, Balham and Streatham to the south and Wandsworth to the west.
The property scene
Homes in Clapham are mainly Victorian and Georgian but there is a row of 17th-century houses in Old Town. You’ll find two-bedroom Victorian flat-fronted cottages in Old Town and Clapham Manor Street and big detached houses and semis in Crescent Grove, Macaulay Road, The Chase and Elms Road.
The most expensive house for sale now is in a landmark Italianate terrace, by architect James Knowles (1831-1908), in Clapham Common North Side.
Priced £7.2 million, the house has a 42ft ballroom, a 120ft garden and a roof terrace. A six-bedroom Victorian detached house with a carriage drive in Macaulay Road is for sale at £6.25 million.
New-build homes
Thornton Park at Clapham Common South Side is where London Realty is building 293 one-, two- and three-bedroom flats, with 87 “affordable”, and a five-storey office block, to be finished by the end of 2020. Call 020 3745 2174.
Nightingale Village, an Audley Village retirement scheme in Nightingale Lane near Clapham South Tube, comprises 94 one-, two- and three-bedroom flats, to move into in 2020, with cinema, restaurant, pool and extra care facility. From £665,000 to £1.82 million. Call 020 3802 1581.
Parkside Place off Kings Avenue is a scheme of 20 mews houses, part of Clapham Park Estate regeneration by Metropolitan Thames Valley housing association.
Now move-in ready, the houses have private gardens and southwest-facing roof terraces. Prices start from £850,000 for a three-bedroom house and £1,075 million for a five-bedroom house. Call JLL on 020 3553 6811 for more information.
330 Clapham Road is a scheme of 79 duplexes and townhouses from housing association Notting Hill Genesis, of which 31 are “affordable”. Duplexes start at £640,000 and three-bedroom townhouses start at £1.25 million. Call 020 7498 5613.
Basilica Mews in Thurleigh Road offers eight three-, four- and five-bedroom houses ranging in size from 2,168sq ft to 2,603sq ft with off-street parking. Prices from £2.35 million, for occupation early in the new year. Call Savills on 020 3428 2222.
Help to Buy homes
Help to Buy is available at Clapham Park, housing association Metropolitan Thames Valley’s regeneration of the Clapham Park Estate off Kings Avenue. The £1 billion spent so far has refurbished 700 homes and built 500 new ones.
Lambeth council has given the go-ahead for an additional 2,500 homes, a community hub with a community centre and new shops. One-bedroom flats start at £425,000 and two-bedroom flats at £547,000. Call 020 8671 4727.
The rental scene
Assistant lettings agent at Hamptons Ellie Black says Clapham is popular with young professionals, who pay between £1,500 and £1,700 a month for a one-bedroom flat in one of the roads off the High Street, and families, some of whom are from overseas and are here with their companies for a few years.
She says many families choose the local private schools, so renting in the catchment area of a popular state school is not a huge factor.
Staying power
Hamptons agent Will Pasquali says that for many families a house in Clapham is a house for life, although some move further out once their children reach secondary school age.
Postcode
SW4 is the Clapham postcode. The roads south of Nightingale Lane close to Clapham Common South Underground station fall into the less-desirable SW12 Balham postcode.
Best roads
Crescent Grove off Clapham Common South Side is a private road of large Victorian houses with their own coach houses. In the Old Town area there are imposing detached and semi-detached Victorian houses in Macaulay Road and The Chase.
Grafton Square, also in the Old Town area, has terraces of white stucco houses around a public garden square with a children’s playground. In the Abbeville Road area, Elms Road is wide with spacious semi-detached Victorian houses and Rodenhurst Road has detached and semi-detached Edwardian houses.
Up and coming
Hamptons’ Will Pasquali says the Sibella Road conservation area is still undervalued. It has large semi-detached Victorian houses, some with interesting Italianate towers. Houses in Sibella Road, Gauden Road and Bromfelde Road are cheaper than in the rest of Clapham.
The transport links are better, too. The roads are close to the two Overground stations and within walking distance of Stockwell Tube for the Victoria line.
Travel
The three Clapham Tube stations, all on the Northern line with trains into the City and West End, are Clapham South, Clapham Common and Clapham North. Due to rush-hour overcrowding, the Northern line is known as the “misery line”.
However, commuters for the West End can change at Stockwell for the Victoria line, where it is often possible to get a rush-hour seat.
Wandsworth Road and Clapham High Street Overground stations have trains to Canada Water — one stop away on the Jubilee line from Canary Wharf — and Shoreditch High Street for the City.
All stations are in Zone 2 and an annual travelcard to Zone 1 costs £1,364. The No 88 bus goes through Vauxhall and Oxford Circus on its Clapham Common to Camden run.
Council
Lambeth council is Labour controlled. Band D council tax for 2018/2019 is £1,386.27.
Lifestyle
Shops and restaurants
Along The Pavement, M Moen & Sons is a long-standing butcher and delicatessen; Madeleine is a tempting patisserie; No 32 The Old Town is a busy pub; Megan’s is a favourite café for brunch and there is an independent bookshop, Clapham Books.
Clapham Common North Side has Zumbura, which describes itself as serving Indian sharing plates; Spaces and Places sells stylish designer interior accessories and furniture. North Street has a long-standing pottery and a deli.
Clapham’s foodie reputation has grown in recent years. Chef Adam Byatt has a Michelin star at Trinity in The Polygon; chef Robin Gill serves interesting small plates at The Dairy and next door at Counter Culture in The Pavement and Italian food round the corner at Sorella in Clapham Manor Street.
Tucked away in Abbeville Road are branches of the Co-op, Sainsbury’s Local, Pizza Express, Gail’s and fish and chip chain, Kerbisher & Malt. There is a branch of the Ginger Pig butcher; MacFarlane’s is a long-standing cheese shop and deli, and Grand Passion is good for gifts. Bistro Union is the sister restaurant of Michelin-star Trinity and La Bonne Heure is a rustic French bistro.
At Clapham South there is a large Tesco and a branch of Moxon’s, a fishmonger now with branches in East Dulwich, South Kensington and Islington, which started life here and has recently moved into a larger shop.
Open space
The 200 acres of Clapham Common are central to the life of the community. Popular with dog walkers, runners and anglers it has the largest bandstand in London, built in 1890 and recently restored.
Leisure and the arts
Clapham Picturehouse in Venn Street is the local independent art house cinema and has a bar.
When the local library in Clapham Common North Side closed, the building was converted into the Omnibus Theatre, run by a local charity. Studio Voltaire in Nelson’s Row is an independent art gallery which is currently showing The Oscar Wilde Temple by McDermott & McGough, an immersive work of art celebrating the life of Oscar Wilde.
The local council swimming pool is at Clapham Leisure Centre in Clapham Manor Street.
Schools
Primary schools
State primary schools with Ofsted “outstanding” ratings are: Clapham Manor in Belmont Road; St Mary’s RC in Crescent Lane; Macaulay CofE in Victoria Rise; Iqra, a Muslim school, in Park Hill; Belleville in Belleville Road and Honeywell Infants and Juniors in Honeywell Road.
Belleville Wix primary in Wix’s Lane shares its site with École de Wix, a French primary school, part of the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle de Londres, and offers three streams: an English stream; a French stream and a bilingual stream.
The school has not been inspected by Ofsted since it became an academy after it was sent into “special measures”.
Comprehensive
The “outstanding” comprehensive schools are La Retraite RC (girls, ages 11 to 18) in Atkins Road; Platanos (co-ed, ages 11 to 16) in Clapham Road; Chestnut Grove in Chestnut Grove, Balham, and Harris Academy Battersea (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Battersea Park Road.
Ark Bolingbroke (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) a new Free School in Wakehurst Road in Battersea, is judged to be “good”.
Higher education
St Francis Xavier RC sixth form college (co-ed, ages 16 to 18) in Malwood Road also runs popular adult evening classes and is judged to be “good”.
Private
The private primary and preparatory schools are: Eaton House the Manor (co-ed, ages two to 13) and Parkgate (co-ed, ages two to 11) both in Clapham Common North Side; Oliver House RC (co-ed, ages three to 11) in Nightingale Lane; Thomas’s Clapham (co-ed, ages four to 13) in Broomwood Road; Newton Preparatory (co-ed, ages three to 13) in Battersea Park Road; London Steiner (co-ed, ages three to 14) in Weir Road; Broomwood Hall (co-ed, ages four to 13) in Nightingale Lane; The White House (co-ed, ages three to 11) in Thornton Road; Northcote Lodge (boys, ages seven to 13) in Bolingbroke Grove and Hornsby House (co-ed, ages four to 11) in Hearnville Road in Balham.
Emanuel (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Battersea Rise is the local private secondary school.
School buses serving the Dulwich private schools pass through Clapham. The Laurels RC (girls, ages 11 to 18) in Atkins Road is moving to Chelsea Embankment in September next year.