Area guide: Kensington

Like SW1, the postcode W8 itself symbolises the very best that London has to offer. Hyde Park and Kensington Palace to the East, Holland Park to the West; bisected horizontally by the busy retail thoroughfare of the High Street and vertically by Kensington Church Street.

Kensington Church St Lancer Square
Kensington Palace

Highlights

And such world class quality property acts as a focal point for great service - the gastronomic stars of Clarke's, the Kensington Wine Rooms (both on Church Street) and Kitchen W8 (on Abingdon Road); there are pop-up shops and department stores, pet spas and fishmongers; whole food, organic food and fast food in a cornucopia of sights, smells and sounds. Here are established communities, based, for example, around leading schools (Thomas's, Glendower for example) and churches (Christchurch Kensington for example), in a beautiful setting; an example of this being Victoria Road/Cottesmore Gardens, home to some of the most valuable property in London.

Knightsbridge, the fashion mecca and the Royal Albert Hall are just a few minutes away – the No 9 bus is perhaps the smartest route in London, filled with suits – and churches, hotels, hospitals, schools and other services proliferate with abandon. And RBK&C is without any doubt the best parking permit in London. This is a location to let your aspirations achieve realisation.

Kensington
Launceston Place W8

Location

Reaching out west to Holland Road and east to Hyde Park, this village runs to Cromwell Road to the south and Gloucester Road to the East.

Local Property

Throughout this area of immensely valuable real estate, there are imposing detached villas (in Phillimore Gardens, Edwardes Square, Argyll Road on the eastern edge of Holland Park), large terraced houses in Palace Gardens Terrace, mansion blocks of apartments, both new and old, (Scarsdale Villas, Allen Street and the Phillimores on Campden Hill Road) as well as examples of early and late Victorian, brick-built houses in terraced rows – it's a magnet for the very wealthy, wanting convenience, comfort and choice.

To view current properties for sale in Kensington click here.