The Roof Gardens (formerly known as Kensington Roof Gardens) is a private roof garden covering on top of the former Derry & Toms building on Kensington High Street in west London.

Originally opened in 1938, the gardens were open to the public until January 2018 when the leaseholder, Virgin Limited Edition, was unable to reach an agreement with the freeholder about renewal of the lease.

As of 2026, the site hosts a private member's club/night club.

The building housed the department store Derry and Toms until 1973, and then Biba until 1975. In 1978, the garden's Art Deco tea pavilion was redeveloped into a Régine's nightclub, in 1981 Virgin Limited Edition bought the lease to the roof garden and the pavilion, and in 2001 Virgin turned the pavilion into the Babylon restaurant. the roof garden buildings were Grade II* listed by English Heritage in 1981 as part of a listing given the whole building, and the garden itself was given a Grade II listing in 1998 within the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.

Virgin ceased its operation of the Roof Gardens in January 2018 and the site was closed to the public. Stephen Fitzpatrick, founder of OVO Energy and Vertical Aerospace, acquired the site in 2021 and planned to re-open The Roof Gardens as a three-storey social club in 2024.

The Roof Gardens reopened in 2024 as an exclusive private member's club.

The gardens

It is divided into three themed gardens:

thumb|The Kensington Roof Gardens are barely visible from [[Kensington High Street.]]

  • a Spanish garden, in a Moorish style based upon the Alhambra in Spain, with fountains, vine-covered walkways and Chusan palms;
  • a Tudor style garden, characterised by its archways, secret corners and hanging wisteria. Roses, lilies and lavender contribute the rich summer scent to the garden;
  • an English water garden, with over 100 species of trees, a stream, and a garden pond that is the home to pintail ducks and four flamingos called Bill, Ben, Splosh and Pecks. There are over 30 different species of trees in the water garden, including trees from the original planting over sixty years ago. The roof was designed to bear the load of one hundredweight per square foot (approximately 500 kilogrammes per square metre) with a drainage layer of brick and clinker beneath the soil. Although they are on a rooftop, the trees were made the subject of tree preservation orders in 1976.

<gallery>

Image:99_high_street_kensington.JPG|99 Kensington High Street entrance on Derry Street. The street-level entrance to the roof gardens

Image:Kensington_roof_gardens_window.JPG|One of the windows in the walled garden

Image:Kensington_roof_gardens_trevor_bowen_plaque.JPG|Plaque in the garden showing Trevor Bowen, director of Barkers of Kensington

Image:Ralph Hancock Plaque.jpg|<small>Ralph Hancock Commemorative Plaque, unveiled by members of the Hancock family on 29 January 2012</small>

Image:Kensington_roof_gardens_flamingo.jpg|One of the pink flamingos that live in the gardens

Image:Kensington_roof_gardens_tent.jpg|A tent in the Spanish garden

</gallery>

References