The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is up there with the capital’s most affluent areas. It commands top market prices, but its residents can call some of the UK’s most beautiful buildings home. Structures here range from elegant Victorian townhouses, characterised by stepped porches and wrought-iron gates, to lavish Georgian mansions shrouded by London plane trees. Read on to learn the top rated places to live in Kensington and Chelsea.
HomeViews Top Rated Development ranking takes into account the Star Rating and HomeViews Transparency Rating of every development in the area
A playground for the wealthy, the borough’s shops, bars and restaurants are decidedly upmarket. Days in Kensington and Chelsea can be spent sipping mimosas over brunch on sunny terraces, and browsing the designer boutiques. As for nightlife, in hotspots like Sloane Square, there are fine dining restaurants and also, exclusive nightclubs. As well as this, The pubs round here are fancy, too, with sleek interiors and inventive British menus.
The best high-end stores line up on King’s Road, where even the Oxfam charity store stacks mainly designer wares (hand-me-downs from well-off local residents). In Kensington’s centre, you’ll find luxe high street favourites, such as: L’Occitane and Oliver Bonas. And less than a 10-minute drive north there’s Portobello Road Market, which brags the world’s largest collection of antique stalls.
Some of the capital’s most popular green spaces can be found in Kensington and Chelsea. Head to Hyde Park for concerts, exhibitions, and plenty of space for peace and quiet. Visit Kensington Gardens for its namesake palace and iconic Peter Pan statue – these attract tourists world-over. As well as this, don’t miss Chelsea Physic Garden for a peek at some 5,000 historic and medicinal plants.
The Kensington and Chelsea borough is also a fantastic springboard. Not just for its well-connected train and tube links, but because it’s got London Heathrow Airport on its doorstep. With some 78 million passengers jetting in and out of here each year, it’s the UK’s busiest.
“On the doorstep are stylish rooftop wine bars, members-only haunts, upscale pubs, and a myriad of eateries offering everything from multi-course fine dining to cocktails and cicchetti. The shopping scene is first-class, too. Kensington High Street and its side roads are the area’s retail epicentre, and provide a mix of high-end boutiques with more affordable household names, with plenty of cafés thrown in for good measure.” – HomeViews Property Professional on Courtfield Gardens, SW5
“I like the area because it has charm but is central and walking distance to shops etc.” – Verified tenant at Courtfield Gardens, SW5
“The village feel of Kensington appeals to many, with its history and culture woven into the landscape – there’s a juxtaposition between the bustling high street with its chain stores and huge choice of restaurants, and the quiet leafy side roads of old Kensington.” – HomeViews Property Professional on 19-27 Young Street, W8
It is located in a quiet street, meanwhile very close to everywhere, best for residential area in zone 2.
We have moved in for more than 4 months, the lift didn’t work for most of the time (less than 20%), very upset especially we are living on 5/F and during the heatwave. In addition, walking up/down few times on a daily basis like that is dangerous to people with knee problem.
We are blacklisted by delivery, all goods are left in the lobby G/F as no one wants to climb up. Consequently, unattended goods are blocking the fire hose in/outlet hence breaching fire safety regulations.
As far as we understand, all residents are chasing SHG over months, but the team is slow in response and only making excuse, no timeline is given and transparency is very low. Poor residents can only suffer endlessly.
If I had known the recurring lift outage issue is that severe, I wouldn’t have moved into 5/F at all. This is contrary to the selling documents and advertisements.
This is unfair to landlords as the property value will inevitably impacted, and is unfair to tenants as they need to walk up/down few times a day while paying full rental.
No dedicated team member is assigned to the recurring lift outage issue, very slow in response (everytime by different team members), no timeline is given and transparency is low. Reluctant to deal with the issue and incapable to mange the vendor. However, the team is very good at making excuse and finger pointing.
Decent to get to West Kensington tube station and Kensington Olympia overground station, not a far walk, good to be next to two different tube lines. Nice coffee shop down the road, Chapters, although a bit expensive. Council estate behind the development gets quite rowdy and lots of anti-social behaviour happening that trickles into the development because the gates aren’t closed properly, so we have a lot of rowdy noise at anti-social times. Traffic noise is not bad considering this is central London. Good to have a Sainsbury’s nearby and the big Tesco along the A4 a bit further away. Bus stations very good. Short walk to North End Road which isn’t the nicest of places, especially at night.
Outside building is gorgeous, love that the development decided to keep the old 1920s structure of the buildings and exterior. The interior is good, flats are well insulated and noise proof. The windows are great, very lovely big windows that let a lot of air in during the summer. The interior of the bathroom in particular is incredible, love the design and colour of the bathroom wall tiles! Some finishing touches could be improved, it was clear that the job by the end was rushed as there are some paint marks around the skirting board, sockets, detail areas etc., and certain aspects of the apartment don’t work (faulty shower head and the towel rail doesn’t work). Management could be better as well, they are very proactive at criticising occupants but very poor at replying to emails or answering the after-care phone line! The lift in Peacock Court is also constantly broken, please fix this!
Wish I had known a bit more about the effects of living right in front of a council estate, there is a lot of anti-social behaviour outside at night.
Please improve the management team and please close the gates to the development as it gets very rowdy, especially in the evenings! There was a man from the council estates behind the development who would feed pigeons multiple times a day, this is very unhygienic and promotes pigeon nests and roosting in the nooks and crannies of our buildings. Please also be more responsive with the after-care team, they are very poor at picking up phone calls, management team also poor at replying to emails. The lift is also always constantly broken, please fix this!
Great location, small sainsburys, Tesco within 3 min walk and a large Tesco extra within 7 min walk.
Also has Waitrose and coop about 10 min away
Lots of nice coffee shops and restaurants and only a short bus ride to High Street Kensington or Parsons Green. Fantastic location but on a quiet, tree-lined street meaning you don’t realise you’re in central london
The quality of the blocks and finish inside the flats is to a high standard and they are really nice to walk around.
The gardens are cared for regularly and it gives a lovely place to come home to. The place feels spacious despite having lots of flats in the area. They are also in the process of building a new community centre for the residents and a children’s playground which will further add to the appeal
Hammersmith and Fulham council are moving to prevent any new tenants from being able to access on street parking.
Very slow – it has now been 6 months since we moved in and the issues we raised are still waiting to be fixed. Just lots of ‘sorry’ and no action.
Takes ages to get things done large price to pay for not so good service
lots of issues when moving in under floor heating paintwork takes ages for things to resolved lack of help understanding no parking no flexibility for elderly disabled staff
takes ages to get anything done repairs noted at time of purchase
need better service
no
yes a few not all resolved, some were reported over 6 months ago
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