West Hampstead is an area in the London Borough of Camden. Neighbouring areas includes Childs Hill to the north, Frognal to the east, Swiss Cottage to the south-east, South Hampstead to the south and Kilburn to the south-west.

The neighbourhood is mainly residential, with several local amenities, including a range of independent shops, supermarkets, restaurants, bars, cafes and bakeries; most of these are concentrated in the northern section of West End Lane and around West End Green. Located in travel zone 2, West Hampstead is served by three stations: West Hampstead on the Jubilee line, West Hampstead Overground station and West Hampstead Thameslink station.

History

thumb|A map showing the West End ward of Hampstead Metropolitan Borough as it appeared in 1916

West End hamlet

An area, known as "le Rudyng" (indicating a woodland clearing) in the mid-13th century, had by 1534 come to be called West End. It was then a freehold estate belonging to Kilburn Priory, and was so called because it was at the west end of another, larger estate. Although it is possible that there was a dwelling on the estate prior to 1244, an estate house was certainly extant by 1646. West End Lane (named as such by 1644), the main road through the area, is still bent at a right-angle at the north and south ends where it connects to Finchley Road and Edgware Road respectively. This is because the lane used to form the boundary between a number of different estates. In 1897 large-scale development started on the east side of West End Lane, where three large houses, West End Hall, Canterbury House and Treherne House, had stood until then.

  • Hampstead Cricket Club moved to Lymington Road in 1877.
  • Hampstead Synagogue on Dennington Park Road, built on the site of Lauriston Lodge, opened in 1892.
  • Lilian Baylis House at 165 Broadhurst Gardens, opened in the 1880s. It was originally the Falcon Works, a place for tradespeople to work from. A few years later it was turned into a venue for concerts, meetings and other gatherings and named West Hampstead Town Hall. In 1928, Crystalate Gramophone Record Manufacturing took it over and moved its recording studio there. In 1937, Decca took it over and the building became Decca Studios until 1980. Artists including David Bowie and the Rolling Stones recorded there, but the Beatles failed their audition there on 1 January 1962, before they signed with Parlophone. It is now used as rehearsal space by the English National Opera.
  • The Railway Hotel on the corner of West End Lane and Broadhurst Gardens, built in 1881. which was two buildings away. The British blues/rock band Ten Years After did likewise on 14 May 1968, and released the performance as their second album Undead.
  • St. James Church on Road, the first church in the UK to house a main-branch post office and community centre, the Sheriff Centre.
  • West Hampstead Fire Station was opened in 1901 The plaques mark the residences of painter David Bomberg at 10 Fordwych Road, conductor Sir Adrian Boult at 78 Marlborough Mansions on Cannon Hill, newspaper proprietor Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe at 31 Pandora Road, and ophthalmologist Dame Ida Mann at 13 Minster Road.
  • Jim Carter – actor
  • Michael Clanchy - historian
  • Gus Dudgeon – record producer, lived at Kings Gardens and worked at Decca Studios
  • Maurice Feild – artist
  • Steven Finn – England and Middlesex County Cricket Club player
  • Marina Fiorato – author
  • Stephen Fry – actor and television presenter
  • GFOTY – artist and musician
  • Angela Griffin – actress and television presenter
  • Julia Hartley-Brewer – radio presenter, political journalist and newspaper columnist
  • Margot Heinemann – Marxist writer, leading member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, born at 89 Priory Road
  • Derek Jacobi – actor
  • Chaka Khan – singer
  • Phyllida Law – actress
  • Turner Layton – singer and composer, lived on Aberdare Gardens from the 1930s to the 1970s
  • Doris Lessing – author
  • Dua Lipa – singer and songwriter and YouTuber<!-- Please don't remove sourced -->
  • Matt Lucas – comedian and actor
  • Bill Nighy – actor
  • Slash – guitarist for Velvet Revolver and formerly for Guns N' Roses
  • Henry Spinetti – drummer, session musician and brother of actor Victor Spinetti
  • Dusty Springfield – singer, born and lived on Sumatra Road
  • Imelda Staunton – actress
  • Emma Thompson – actress, comedian and screenwriter
  • Eric Thompson – actor, television presenter and producer
  • Sophie Thompson – actress
  • Johnny Vegas – actor, comedian
  • Alec and Evelyn Waugh – authors, who grew up in Hillfield Road
  • Robert Webb - actor, comedian
  • Greg Wise – actor

Location in context

<gallery>

Image:West Hampstead.jpg|West End Green, near the northern end of West End Lane

Image:West Hampstead 2.jpg|Shops on West End Lane

Image:West Hampstead 3.jpg|Shops, Library on West End Lane

Image:West Hampstead Tube.jpg|West Hampstead tube station

Image:West Hampstead railway station 1.jpg|West Hampstead (old) London Overground station

Image:West Hampstead Thameslink stn slow look north June 09.JPG|West Hampstead Thameslink station

</gallery>

References

  • Hampstead Scientific Society