Commercial/education

Local business consists of small shops, offices and restaurants, with the Olympia Exhibition Centre

Olympia, London

Olympia is an exhibition centre and conference centre in West Kensington, on the boundary between The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham, London, W14 8UX, England. It opened in the 19th century and was originally known as the National Agricultural Hall.Opened in 1886,...

 nearby. Indeed, it is the mix of local shops that give the area its character.

West Kensington is within easy reach of Earl's Court, and the Broadways of Fulham

Fulham

Fulham is an area of southwest London in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, SW6 located south west of Charing Cross. It lies on the left bank of the Thames, between Putney and Chelsea. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...

, Hammersmith

Hammersmith

Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...

 and Notting Hill

Notting Hill

Notting Hill is an area in London, England, close to the north-western corner of Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...

.

There are several pubs and hotels, including The Albion public house which is reputedly haunted. The Baron's Court Theatre is also located in basement of "The Curtains Up" bar and restaurant.

The Carnival Store is a famous fancy dress and costume shop located in the same premises on Hammersmith Road and family owned for the past 40 years.

Avonmore Road has become home to Kensington Village. Kensington Village was built in the 1880s as
Whiteleys

Whiteleys

Whiteleys is a shopping centre in London, England. It was London's first department store, located in the Bayswater area. The store's main entrance was located on Queensway.-History:...

 Furniture Depositories, laundry and stables. Whiteleys

Whiteleys

Whiteleys is a shopping centre in London, England. It was London's first department store, located in the Bayswater area. The store's main entrance was located on Queensway.-History:...

 was London's first department store, based in Westbourne Grove. The Warwick Building, a vast high-ceilinged space, was used to store Whiteleys

Whiteleys

Whiteleys is a shopping centre in London, England. It was London's first department store, located in the Bayswater area. The store's main entrance was located on Queensway.-History:...

-sourced furnishings for wealthy folk that were spending time in the colonies, such as grand pianos, chaise longues, oriental room dividers and mahogany garderobes. Kensington Village now comprises a blend of modernised Victorian buildings, such as
the Warwick Building and modern new buildings such as the Pembroke Building, built in a similar
style to Warwick, with London stock brick and red lintels and full height glazing. There is a cafe gym and lawn in the centre of the complex. Occupiers in the complex include Publicis

Publicis

Publicis Groupe is a French multinational advertising and communications company, headquartered in Paris, France. It is one of the world's three largest advertising holding companies . Its current president is Maurice Lévy. Publicis Groupe S.A...

 the French advertising company that are marketing their offices through Frost Meadowcroft

Frost Meadowcroft

Frost Meadowcroft is a professional services company specialising in commercial property consultancy. Its offices are at 22 St Peter's Square former offices of Island Records and at 181 Kensington High Street...

 , RDF Media

RDF Media

Zodiak Media is a Anglo-American television production company. It was formed in 2010 when RDF Media Group was acquired by, and merged with Zodiak Entertainment...

 and CACI

CACI

CACI International Inc is a professional services and information technology company headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. CACI is a member of the Fortune 1000 Largest Companies and the Russell 2000 index. The company has approximately 13,700 employees in over 120 offices in the U.S. and...

. West Kensington is also home to the Cardinal Vaughan School, the St James Independent School for Junior Boys and Girls and St James Independent School for Senior Girls.

Notable people

• Edward Burne-Jones
  Edward Burne-Jones
  Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet was a British artist and designer closely associated with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who worked closely with William Morris on a wide range of decorative arts as a founding partner in Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, and Company...
  
  , architect, resided at the Grange, North End Crescent, West Kensington.
• William Crathern
  William Crathern
  William Crathern was a composer of sacred and secular music.He was baptised on 18 March 1793 at St Leonard’s, Shoreditch, the son of Thomas Anthony Crathern and his wife Martha....
  
  , composer, was organist of St Mary's, West Kensington (at that time known as "North End").
• Gustav Holst
  Gustav Holst
  Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets....
  
  , composer, music director at St Paul's Girls School, an independent school on the south side of Brook Green, 1905-1934; for his pupils he wrote the St Paul's and Brook Green suites, the latter being his last composition in 1933.
• Peg Entwistle
  Peg Entwistle
  Peg Entwistle was an English stage and screen actress who gained notoriety after her suicide at the age of 24 by leaping off of the Hollywood Sign.-Early life:...
  
  , Broadway actress whose 1932 suicide from atop the Hollywood Sign
  Hollywood Sign
  The Hollywood Sign is a landmark and American cultural icon in the Hollywood Hills area of Mount Lee, Santa Monica Mountains, in Los Angeles, California. The sign spells out the name of the area in and white letters. It was created as an advertisement in 1923, but garnered increasing recognition...
  
   forever tagged her as "The Hollywood Sign Girl", had her earliest childhood at 53 Comeragh Road.
• Estelle
  Estelle (singer)
  Estelle Fanta Swaray commonly known as Estelle, and formerly as Est'elle, is an English R&B singer-songwriter, rapper and record producer.-Early Life:Estelle was born 18 January 1980 in Hammersmith, London, England...
  
  , rapper, was born and raised in West Kensington; her song "1980" was written about growing up in the area.
• Tom Felton
  Tom Felton
  Thomas Andrew "Tom" Felton is an English actor and musician. He is best known for playing the role of Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter film series, the movie adaptations of the best-selling Harry Potter fantasy novels by author J. K...
  
  , actor, was born there
• Marcus Garvey
  Marcus Garvey
  Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Jr., ONH was a Jamaican publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator who was a staunch proponent of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism movements, to which end he founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League...
  
  , Pan Africanist, founder of the Black Star Line
  Black Star Line
  The Black Star Line was a shipping line incorporated by Marcus Garvey, organizer of the Universal Negro Improvement Association . The shipping line was supposed to facilitate the transportation of goods and eventually African Americans throughout the African global economy...
  
   shipping company and the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League
  Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League
  The Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League is a black nationalist fraternal organization founded by Marcus Garvey. The organization enjoyed its greatest strength in the 1990s, prior to Garvey's deportation from the United States of America, after which its...
  
  , lived and died in West Kensington.
• Mohandas K. Gandhi, lived in West Kensington for a year while a student.
• Henry Rider Haggard, author, lived for several years in Gunterstone Road and wrote King Solomon's Mines
  King Solomon's Mines
  King Solomon's Mines is a popular novel by the Victorian adventure writer and fabulist Sir H. Rider Haggard. It tells of a search of an unexplored region of Africa by a group of adventurers led by Allan Quatermain for the missing brother of one of the party...
  
  and She
  She (novel)
  She, subtitled A History of Adventure, is a novel by Henry Rider Haggard, first serialized in The Graphic magazine from October 1886 to January 1887. She is one of the classics of imaginative literature, and with over 83 million copies sold in 44 different languages, one of the best-selling books...
  
  while there.
• Stephen Hester
  Stephen Hester
  Stephen Hester , is currently the Chief Executive Officer of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group.-Early life:Hester is the eldest son of a university professor...
  
  , chief executive, Royal Bank of Scotland
• James Hunt
  James Hunt
  James Simon Wallis Hunt was a British racing driver from England who won the Formula One World Championship in . Hunt's often action packed exploits on track earned him the nickname "Hunt the Shunt." After retiring from driving, Hunt became a media commentator and businessman...
  
  , Formula 1 champion, lived in Normand Mews, 1980-82.
• Konnie Huq
  Konnie Huq
  Kanak Asha "Konnie" Huq is a British television presenter, who is best known for being the longest-serving female presenter of Blue Peter, having presented it from 1 December 1997 until 23 January 2008...
  
  , TV presenter, owns property in the area.
• James MacLaren
  James MacLaren (architect)
  James Marjoribanks MacLaren was a Scottish architect associated with the Arts and Crafts movement and the development of Scottish Vernacular architecture...
  
  , architect, designed 22 and 22A Avonmore Road for sculptor HR Pinkes.
• Freddie Mercury
  Freddie Mercury
  Freddie Mercury was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range...
  
  , pop singer, and Mary Austin lived at 100 Holland Road, W14.
• Sir Stirling Moss
  Stirling Moss
  Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss, OBE FIE is a former racing driver from England...
  
  , Formula 1 champion, was born in West Kensington
• David Reuben, businessman, has lived at the same West Kensington house for the past 20 years.
• Queen (band)
  Queen (band)
  Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
  
   shared a flat at 36 Sinclair Road
• William Butler Yeats
  William Butler Yeats
  William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...
  
   lived in Edith Villas with his family in 1867.

Transport

West Kensington is remarkably well served by public transport, owing to its central location between the Fulham

Fulham

Fulham is an area of southwest London in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, SW6 located south west of Charing Cross. It lies on the left bank of the Thames, between Putney and Chelsea. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...

, Hammersmith

Hammersmith

Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...

 and Kensington

Kensington

Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...

 hubs.

• Tube: Six separate Tube lines are within a 5 to 15 minute walk of West Kensington.

In the area:

• West Kensington (District Line
  District Line
  The District line is a line of the London Underground, coloured green on the Tube map. It is a "sub-surface" line, running through the central area in shallow cut-and-cover tunnels. It is the busiest of the sub-surface lines. Out of the 60 stations served, 25 are underground...
  
  )
• Barons Court (District Line
  District Line
  The District line is a line of the London Underground, coloured green on the Tube map. It is a "sub-surface" line, running through the central area in shallow cut-and-cover tunnels. It is the busiest of the sub-surface lines. Out of the 60 stations served, 25 are underground...
  
    and Piccadilly Line
  Piccadilly Line
  The Piccadilly line is a line of the London Underground, coloured dark blue on the Tube map. It is the fifth busiest line on the Underground network judged by the number of passengers transported per year. It is mainly a deep-level line, running from the north to the west of London via Zone 1, with...
  
  )
• Kensington (Olympia) (District line)

In areas surronding it:

• Hammermsith
• Earls Court
• High Street Kensington
• Fulham Broadway
• West Brompton
• Gloucester Road
• Goldhawk Road
• Shepards Bush

West Kensington Station

West Kensington tube station

West Kensington is a London Underground District Line station in West Kensington. It is located in North End Road close to the junction of that road and West Cromwell Road/Talgarth Road ....

, the
District Line

District Line

The District line is a line of the London Underground, coloured green on the Tube map. It is a "sub-surface" line, running through the central area in shallow cut-and-cover tunnels. It is the busiest of the sub-surface lines. Out of the 60 stations served, 25 are underground...

 branch (running between Kensington Olympia-Earl's Court-Kensington High Street), Piccadilly Line

Piccadilly Line

The Piccadilly line is a line of the London Underground, coloured dark blue on the Tube map. It is the fifth busiest line on the Underground network judged by the number of passengers transported per year. It is mainly a deep-level line, running from the north to the west of London via Zone 1, with...

 from Barons Court/Earl's Court, Circle and District Line from High Street Kensington

High Street Kensington tube station

High Street Kensington is a London Underground station at Kensington High Street.The station is on the Circle Line between Gloucester Road and Notting Hill Gate, and the District Line between Earl's Court and Notting Hill Gate. It is in Travelcard Zone 1....

, Hammersmith and City Line from Hammersmith tube station, and the Central Line

Central Line

The Central line is a London Underground line, coloured red on the tube map. It is a deep-level "tube" line, running east-west across London, and, at , has the greatest total length of track of any line on the Underground. Of the 49 stations served, 20 are below ground...

 from Shepherd's Bush and Holland Park.

• Overground: The London Overground
  London Overground
  London Overground is a suburban rail network in London and Hertfordshire. It has been operated by London Overground Rail Operations since 2007 as part of the National Rail network, under the franchise control and branding of Transport for London...
  
   is available from Kensington (Olympia) station
  Kensington (Olympia) station
  Kensington station is a station in West London managed and served by London Overground and also served by Southern and London Underground. It is in Travelcard Zone 2...
  
   and Shepherd's Bush
  Shepherd's Bush
  -Commerce:Commercial activity in Shepherd's Bush is now focused on the Westfield shopping centre next to Shepherd's Bush Central line station and on the many small shops which run along the northern side of the Green....
  
  .
• Bus: Several Bus routes are available in the area including the 9, 10, 27, 28, 49, 391 and C1. Along Hammersmith Road, there are numerous buses linking the area to Paddington
  Paddington
  Paddington is a district within the City of Westminster, in central London, England. Formerly a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965...
  
  , Hammersmith
  Hammersmith
  Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
  
  , Chiswick
  Chiswick
  Chiswick is a large suburb of west London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It is located on a meander of the River Thames, west of Charing Cross and is one of 35 major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, with...
  
  , Notting Hill
  Notting Hill
  Notting Hill is an area in London, England, close to the north-western corner of Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
  
  , Oxford Street
  Oxford Street
  Oxford Street is a major thoroughfare in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, United Kingdom. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, as well as its most dense, and currently has approximately 300 shops. The street was formerly part of the London-Oxford road which began at Newgate,...
  
  , Aldwych
  Aldwych
  Aldwych is a place and road in the City of Westminster in London, England.-Description:Aldwych, the road, is a crescent, connected to the Strand at both ends. At its centre, it meets the Kingsway...
  
  , King's Cross and Trafalgar Square
  Trafalgar Square
  Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...
  
  . The N9 bus also runs from Olympia to Heathrow via Isleworth
  Isleworth
  Isleworth is a small town of Saxon origin sited within the London Borough of Hounslow in west London, England. It lies immediately east of the town of Hounslow and west of the River Thames and its tributary the River Crane. Isleworth's original area of settlement, alongside the Thames, is known as...
  
   and West Middlesex Hospital
  West Middlesex Hospital
  The West Middlesex University Hospital is an acute NHS hospital in Isleworth, west London. It serves the London Boroughs of Hounslow and Richmond upon Thames...
  
  .
• Road: West Kensington is also conveniently located close to the A4 (West Cromwell Road) with links to the West and Heathrow and High Street Kensington with links to the Central London/West End.

Nearest tube stations

• West Kensington
  West Kensington tube station
  West Kensington is a London Underground District Line station in West Kensington. It is located in North End Road close to the junction of that road and West Cromwell Road/Talgarth Road ....
  
  
• Barons Court
  Barons Court tube station
  Barons Court is a London Underground station in West Kensington, Greater London. This station services the District Line and the Piccadilly Line. The station is located on Gliddon Road, a short distance from Talgarth Road in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham...
  
  
• Kensington (Olympia)
• Earl's Court
  Earl's Court tube station
  Earl's Court tube station is a London Underground station in Earls Court. The station is located between Earls Court Road and Warwick Road . It is on the boundary of Travelcard Zone 1 and 2 and is in both zones....
  
   (Exhibition
  Earls Court Exhibition Centre
  The Earls Court Exhibition Centre is an exhibition centre, conference and event venue located in west London, United Kingdom in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea . It is the largest exhibition venue in central London. It is served by two underground stations, Earl's Court and West...
  
   Entrance)
• High Street Kensington
  High Street Kensington tube station
  High Street Kensington is a London Underground station at Kensington High Street.The station is on the Circle Line between Gloucester Road and Notting Hill Gate, and the District Line between Earl's Court and Notting Hill Gate. It is in Travelcard Zone 1....
  
  
• West Brompton
  West Brompton station
  West Brompton is a Network Rail West London Line and London Underground District Line station in west London. It is located on Old Brompton Road immediately south of Earls Court Exhibition Centre and to the west of Brompton Cemetery....
  
  
• Hammersmith

Nearest locations and places of interest

• Queen's Club
  Queen's Club
  The Queen's Club is a private sporting club in West Kensington, London, England. Founded in 1886, the Queen's Club was the world's first multipurpose sports complex and named after Queen Victoria, its first patron...
  
   - home to The Queen's Club Championships
  Queen's Club Championships
  The Queen's Club Championships is an annual tournament for male tennis players, held on grass courts at the Queen's Club in West Kensington, London. Between 1970 and 1989 it was part of the Grand Prix tennis circuit. The event is now an ATP World Tour 250 series tournament on the Association of...
  
  
• Olympia Exhibition Centre
  Olympia, London
  Olympia is an exhibition centre and conference centre in West Kensington, on the boundary between The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham, London, W14 8UX, England. It opened in the 19th century and was originally known as the National Agricultural Hall.Opened in 1886,...
  
  
• Sotheby's
  Sotheby's
  Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...
  
   central London sales room is located at the Olympia
  Olympia, London
  Olympia is an exhibition centre and conference centre in West Kensington, on the boundary between The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham, London, W14 8UX, England. It opened in the 19th century and was originally known as the National Agricultural Hall.Opened in 1886,...
  
  
• Blythe House
  Blythe House
  Blythe House is a listed building located at 23 Blythe Road, West Kensington, London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, UK. Originally built as the headquarters of the Post Office Savings Bank, it is now used as a store and archive by the Victoria and Albert, Science and British Museums.-Post...
  
   stores and off-site facilities for Victoria & Albert, Science and British Museums
• North End Road Market
• Charing Cross Hospital
  Charing Cross Hospital
  Charing Cross Hospital is a general, acute hospital located in London, United Kingdom and established in 1818. It is located several miles to the west of the city centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham....
  
  
• Earls Court
  Earls Court
  Earls Court is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It is an inner-city district centred on Earl's Court Road and surrounding streets, located 3.1 miles west south-west of Charing Cross. It borders the sub-districts of South Kensington to the East, West...
  
   Exhibition Centre
• Kensington High Street
  Kensington High Street
  Kensington High Street is the main shopping street in Kensington, west London. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
  
  
• Holland Park
  Holland Park
  Holland Park is a district and a public park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in west central London, England.Holland Park has a reputation as an affluent and fashionable area, known for attractive large Victorian townhouses, and high-class shopping and restaurants...
  
  
• Hyde Park
  Hyde Park, London
  Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
  
  
• Fulham Broadway
• Hammersmith Broadway
  Hammersmith Broadway
  Hammersmith Broadway is a street which serves as a major transport node and shopping centre located in west London. It is home to the Piccadilly and District lines' Hammersmith station, as well as Hammersmith bus station. It is located on Hammersmith Road, in the London Borough of Hammersmith &...
  
  
• Hammersmith Apollo
  Hammersmith Apollo
  Hammersmith Apollo is a major entertainment venue located in Hammersmith, London. Designed by Robert Cromie in Art Deco style, it opened in 1932 as the Gaumont Palace cinema, being re-named the Hammersmith Odeon in 1962...
  
  
• Westfield London
  Westfield London
  Westfield London is a shopping centre in White City in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. The centre was developed by the Westfield Group at a cost of £1.6bn,...
  
  

Cultural associations

Heather Graham and Mia Kirshner

Mia Kirshner

Mia Kirshner is a Canadian actress and social activist who works in movies and television series. She is best known for her portrayal of Jenny Schecter on The L Word and for her role in the 2006 crime film The Black Dahlia as Elizabeth Short.- Early life :Kirshner was born in Toronto, Ontario,...

 play upper-middle-class dilettantes from West Kensington in the 2008 movie Buy Borrow Steal.

In the film Trainspotting

Trainspotting (film)

Trainspotting is a 1996 British satirical/drama film directed by Danny Boyle based on the novel of the same name by Irvine Welsh. The movie follows a group of heroin addicts in a late 1980s economically depressed area of Edinburgh and their passage through life...

, the flat that Renton shows the young couple around when he gets the job as an estate agent and ultimately stashes Begbie and Sickboy in is 78A North End Road, opposite West Kensington tube station.

The Nashville Rooms, now the Famous Three Kings pub, hosted many rock and punk concerts in the 1970s and early 1980's. Joy Division, The Sex Pistols and The Police all played there regularly.

External links

• The Queen's Club official website
• The Artois Championships official website
• W14london - online community site