Living and renting in Hammersmith: travel links, parking, schools, best streets — and the average cost of monthly rent

The front line between prime central London and regular everyday London, Hammersmith is a much more down-to-earth rental option than neighbouring Kensington - although a ripple of renters priced out of W8 has seen some serious recent price growth.

Once a major industrial centre, Hammersmith is now firmly residential and growing in status thanks to its location only four miles from the West End, its excellent state and private schools and extensive regeneration.

Work is due to begin this year on the redevelopment of Hammersmith & Fulham town hall in King Street, creating new facilities alongside the council’s new quarters including a cinema, cafes and shops, office space for start-ups and 200 new homes.

Who lives there? The area’s houses are pretty large and thus tend to be rented by families, says Jonathan Bird, head of lettings at Finlay Brewer estate agents.

“It is quite a varied demographic,” he adds. “We have quite a lot of finance workers but they don’t dominate like they do in other areas. And there are a lot of media people in Brackenbury Village in particular.”

The presence in Brook Green of the Ecole Francaise Jacques Prevert, teaching the French curriculum, inevitably means the area attracts London-based renters from across the Channel. “We joke that French is our second language in Brook Green,” says Bird.

Young professionals take on the area’s flats – many work locally for multinational businesses Disney, General Electric and L’Oreal.

An annual resident’s parking permit costs £119, but a permit for a second vehicle will cost £497 a year.

There are 22 offences reported per 1,000 residents around Hammersmith Broadway – more than twice the London average.

Keen swimmers can join the West London Penguin Swimming and Water Polo Club, based at Latymer Sports Centre.

The newly built centre also has facilities for cricket, badminton and basketball, plus its own boathouse for river rowing — Hammersmith is at the mid-course point of the annual Boat Race.

There are also branches of PureGym, Virgin Active and DW Fitness First close to the Broadway.

Source: Rightmove

Jonathan Bird, head of lettings at Finlay Brewer estate agents, nominates the small, leafy enclaves of Brackenbury Village and Brook Green, the former for good pubs and proximity to Ravenscourt Park, and Brook Green for its open space and “incredible sense of community”.

However, renters pay a premium to live in both areas. A typical two-bedroom flat would cost between £425 and £600 per week, while a five-bedroom house could cost up to £3,000 per week.

Hammersmith residents are spoiled for choice with two Zone 2 stations and four Tube lines: District, Circle, Hammersmith & City and Piccadilly.

There is also Hammersmith Bus Garage. “It has really good disabled access which is important to me because my dad is disabled and we can just get on a bus and go anywhere when he is in London,” says Hammersmith renter Aimee Long.

There’s a great choice of state schools: Sacred Heart High School, St Paul’s CofE Primary School, Larmenier & Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School, and Brackenbury Primary School all get top marks from Ofsted.

Hammersmith also has a concentration of high-performing private schools, notably Latymer Upper School, The Godolphin and Latymer School, and St Paul’s Girls’ School.

There’s Sainsbury’s, Marks & Spencer, Tesco Metro and Iceland, on or around King Street.

More exciting are the two weekly food markets held in Lyric Square with a range of street food vans and stalls on Thursdays, and Fridays.

The Hammersmith Bridge closure has cut off the area from south London, while Hammersmith Broadway shops are somewhat dull. For Bird the main disadvantage is cost.

“It is now an expensive area, which does cut a lot of people out.”

Running her own marketing company and working with clients based across the capital means living in central London is vital to Aimee Long.

And so, 18 months ago, she left the suburbs — Putney to be exact — and moved to a one-bedroom modern flat in Hammersmith, just west of Hammersmith station, so she can zip into central London in about 15 minutes.

“It is just so convenient, and it feels like a safe area which is important to me as I live on my own,” says Aimee, founder of marketing agency The Whole Project. During her down time there are loads of local bars and restaurants to explore, and two of central London’s best parks are within easy walking distance.

Rents in this neighbourhood are not cheap. Aimee, who is 26, pays just over the average price for her flat, at £2,250 a month.

With this kind of budget she could, of course, afford a mortgage. “Renting is just so convenient,” she explains. “I can just move when I need to. Also you need a huge deposit to buy a flat. Renting means I can live how I want to and enjoy life.”

Aimee is an online shopper, but locally the Broadway shopping centre on Hammersmith Broadway has almost two dozen chain stores, and there are more all the way along King Street.

There aren’t many more interesting shops, although the London Vintage Fashion, Textiles and Accessories Fair at Hammersmith Town Hall is a joy.

The two heavy hitters are the Eventim Apollo and the Lyric Hammersmith. The Art Deco Apollo is best known for live music, but also has comedy and entertainers such as illusionist David Blaine.

The Lyric is one of London’s most respected producing theatres, and also has a restaurant with a terrific roof garden. Close to the river, the Riverside Studios is an arts, performance and live events space, set to reopen later this year after redevelopment.

Aimee recommends Pergola, a newly opened restaurant perched atop Olympia London exhibition centre, as well as her local Gail’s Bakery. For pubs she particularly likes The Hand & Flower gastropub. “The same people are always in there — it feels like being back up in Yorkshire,” she says.

On the other side of Hammersmith there is Brackenbury Village, with cute cafés including Pekoe Mellow Tea House and cosy pubs such as the Andover Arms.

Hammersmith isn’t the leafiest postcode, although Brook Green has its own long, skinny open space which is small but pretty.

However, as Aimee points out, with Holland Park and Hyde Park both within walking distance, she isn’t short of wide-open spaces.

The area’s flats are popular with young professionals, including many working locally for multinationals Disney, General Electric and L’Oréal.