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

Of all the places you might have expected the grand US embassy to move to when it marched out of Mayfair, grimy, traffic-clogged Vauxhall wasn’t one of them. However, the decision has proved a game changer for this district south of the river.

The Americans’ announcement was the starting gun for the dazzling transformation of a largely overlooked inner-London neighbourhood that is an easy walk from the Palace of Westminster.

From the ugly Vauxhall gyratory, with its relentless roar of traffic, to the four chimneys of Battersea Power Station, huge swathes of industrial buildings have fallen under the wrecking ball, to be replaced with high-end pieces of architecture overlooking the Thames.

Many of the new residential towers may stand largely unlived in, snapped up off-plan by foreign investors, but Londoners prepared to play the longer game will benefit from a 20-year plan for Vauxhall and Nine Elms. The Netherlands embassy is following the American lead to move there, while 20,000 new homes are under way, with a linear park lined with cafés and restaurants, flagship Waitrose and Sainsbury’s stores, a pair of new Tube stations and two new schools.

Estate agent Justin Bhoday, of Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward says Vauxhall still manages to retain some of its period charm. “There has always been a strong community in Vauxhall and we are finding many buyers are migrating from north of the river to join them.” A number of community projects have been put in place to join the new and old communities. However, the magnitude of development, with so many absentee buyers, has not added to Vauxhall’s charm.

But it’s early days. Knitting together areas to create a new pattern is an organic process that does not happen overnight.

Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea is identified as an Opportunity Area under the London Plan, with the potential to accommodate large numbers of new homes and jobs. The two 50-storey tower blocks at One Nine Elms, sitting right on top of the Vauxhall gyratory at the junction of Nine Elms Lane and Wandsworth Road, will dominate the entry to the Opportunity Area.
 

The developer is Dalian Wanda, one of China’s largest property groups. The towers — River Tower and City Tower — will be serviced by the developer’s on-site five-star hotel, the first the group has built outside China.

Renting
Caroline Duvergier, lettings manager at Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward, says the neighbourhood is popular with young professional renters who appreciate the quick commute to work and the nightlife in Vauxhall and nearby Clapham and Brixton.
 

What's new?
Nine Elms Point is a Barratt scheme of 645 studios and one- to four-bedroom flats in Wandsworth Road, with 52 affordable. The first residents move in this summer. Next to the new Nine Elms Tube station, it will be arranged in seven buildings including two towers. Prices from £642,000. Call 0844 2250032.

The Residence, by Bellway, has 510 one- to four-bedroom flats, with 190 affordable, in Ponton Road. It launches in September and will be ready to move into next year. Call 0845 548 8035. Sky Gardens is a Strawberry Star scheme of one- and two-bedroom flats in two blocks with roof gardens in Wandsworth Road. Prices from £614,000. Call 020 3072 0040 (www.skygardensnineelms.com).

Keybridge, by Mount Anvil and Fabrica, includes the conversion of the BT building in South Lambeth Road into 37-storey Keybridge Lofts, the UK’s tallest brick tower. The 441 homes in four buildings, priced from £645,000 will be move-in ready from next year (www.keybridgelondon.com; 020 7205 4152). Atlas offers 553 student flats in a 35-storey block in South Lambeth Road opposite Vauxhall Park. Call 0151 707 2666.

Affinity Sutton has 29 shared-ownership flats at Nine Elms Point. Prices start at £455,000 and shares of between 25 and 75 per cent are available. Call 0300 100 0303.

Fabrica has 13 shared-ownership flats at Keybridge (020 7205 4152).

Renting
Caroline Duvergier, lettings manager at Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward, says the neighbourhood is popular with young professional renters who appreciate the quick commute to work and the nightlife in Vauxhall and nearby Clapham and Brixton.
 

Postcodes
Vauxhall straddles SE1, a large central postcode which stretches as far as Bermondsey, as well as SE11, the Kennington postcode, and SW8, the South Lambeth postcode which stretches as far as Clapham and Battersea. Nine Elms is in SW8.
 

Best roads
Fentiman Road has large four-storey Victorian terrace houses which have over the years been favoured by MPs. Bonnington Square, which was squatted in the Eighties, is now a green oasis. 
 

The occupiers built two “secret parks” which are open to the public and still maintained by the residents. Today, Bonnington Square is one of Vauxhall’s best addresses.

Up and coming
In an enclave of small terrace houses and purpose-built maisonettes, hidden away off Wandsworth Road, the roads to seek out are Crimsworth, Goldsboro’ and Thorparch.

Travel
Vauxhall station has trains to Waterloo and its Tube station is on the Victoria line. Seven buses — the No 2, 36, 87, 88, 185, 360 and 436 — stop at Vauxhall bus station with its landmark ski jump canopy, and cross Vauxhall Bridge to destinations all over central London including Trafalgar Square, Marylebone, Marble Arch, Paddington and Sloane Square. 
 

The extension to the Northern line will bring two new Tube stations, in Wandsworth Road at Nine Elms, and at Battersea Power Station. The two stations are scheduled to open in 2020.

Shops and restaurants
There is a new Waitrose flagship store in Nine Elms Lane and Sainsbury’s opens its new store later this year. Tesco has a store in Kennington Lane. 
 

There are local shops and cafés in Kennington Lane, and also along South Lambeth Road where there is a cluster of Portuguese cafés and restaurants serving the large Portuguese community.

At the entrance to Bonnington Square there is a community café with a rota of local cooks, and Italo, a Italian café and delicatessen run by Charlie Boxer, son of cookery writer Arabella Boxer, and father of chef Jackson Boxer, who runs the nearby restaurant Brunswick House in LASSCO, the architectural salvage operation on the Vauxhall gyratory. Restaurateur Mark Hix has teamed up with Damien Hirst to run Pharmacy 2, the restaurant in his new art gallery, the Newport Street Gallery.

The Canton Arms in South Lambeth Road is considered the best local gastropub. 
 

Vauxhall has a busy night-time economy. The Vauxhall Tavern is one of the capital’s oldest gay venues and tonight (June 1, 2016) hosts Queer Question Time on the EU referendum, with Conservative MP Nigel Evans on the panel.

Open space
Vauxhall Park is a small local park with tennis courts. Spring Gardens is home to Vauxhall City Farm where generations of young people have learned to ride or visited the pigs, chickens and ducks.
 

Leisure and the arts
Even before the arrival of Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery, where a big Jeff Koons show is now open, Vauxhall had a reputation for cutting-edge modern art with Beaconsfield Gallery Vauxhall, also in Newport Street, and Gasworks in Vauxhall Street.
 

The Tea House Theatre and café in Vauxhall Walk is a venue for a philosophy club and a debating society, as well as for films and plays.

Primary schools

With two exceptions, Vauxhall and nearby Kennington have primary schools rated “good” or better by Ofsted. Judged “outstanding” are: Vauxhall in Vauxhall Street; Wyvil in Wyvil Road; Archbishop Sumner CofE in Reedworth Street and Keyworth in Faunce Street.

Comprehensive

The “outstanding” local state comprehensive schools are: Lilian Baylis (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Kennington Lane; Platanos College (co-ed, ages 11 to 16) in Clapham Road; Oasis Academy South Bank (co-ed, a sixth form opens in 2018) in Westminster Bridge Road, and Notre Dame RC (girls, ages 11 to 16) in St George’s Road. King’s College London Mathematics School in Kennington Road is a specialist sixth-form college aimed at students wanting to study maths at university.

On the other side of the river the following also get an “outstanding” rating: Pimlico Academy (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Lupus Street and The Grey Coat Hospital (girls, ages 11 to 18 with boys in the sixth form) in Greycoat Place.

Private
Westminster School (boys, ages 13 to 18 with girls in the sixth form) is a high-achieving private school in Little Dean’s Yard in the Westminster Abbey precinct; its Under School (boys, ages seven to 13) is in Vincent Square.