Calendar
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If you’d like your event to appear on the calendar, please drop us a mail: events@westhampsteadlife.com. For the time being we’ll accept most free things / community events happening in West Hampstead, on the Kilburn High Road or Finchley Road/Swiss Cottage that we deem appropriate. We accept commercial events for a small charge.
What have you missed since March 26th?
Hello. Today’s final “What have you missed…” comes from both Mark and Jonathan. Why? Sadly, this is the end. WHL has been going for nine years, but all good things etc. etc. We explain all (including what’s happening to the mailing list – don’t worry, we’re not selling your data!) We’ll both be at a […]
Local elections 2018: The candidates
The local elections are on May 3rd. This is when you get the chance (and “you” includes EU citizens) to vote for three councillors for the ward you live in. All the ward councillors who are elected form Camden council (or Brent council for those of you the other side of the Kilburn High Road). […]
Is West Hampstead due an £8 million Liddell Road windfall?
Liddell Road – a school, some office space and apartments. It was a controversial scheme when it went through planning a few years ago, with Camden acting as developer and approver. There was much talk of how the numbers added up and why there was to be virtually no affordable housing. Three years on, some […]
Tom enjoys some good kombunations at Ham
Finally it was my time to sample Ham, the new upmarket restaurant on West End Lane, which arrived to plenty of interest, and with a chef with a reputation. Ham kindly invited me to try it out and the welcome from David and the team was very warm. We gazed around at the interior, with […]
George Rose: Death in the Caribbean
Actor George Rose travelled an unusual path from Bicester to Broadway. He lived in West Hampstead for the best part of a decade while he learned his craft from great actors and directors such as Tyrone Guthrie, Laurence Olivier, Peter Brook and John Gielgud. And after a very successful career on the stage, he died […]
The artist and the punks of West Hampstead
In April 1977, Tony Drayton moved to London from Cumbernauld, a new town in Scotland between Glasgow and Edinburgh. From 1976 to 1979, Tony was the editor of the early punk zine, Ripped and Torn. He lived in London, Paris, and Amsterdam and had a very varied career, including fire eating. In the summer of […]
An Insight with: Ellias from David’s Deli
One of the pleasures of writing West Hampstead Life is writing these Insights during which we get to know some familiar West Hampstead faces a bit better, behind the facade even. This month’s is no exception as we caught up with Ellias from David’s Deli. We all know him as Ellias, in fact his full […]
Five Mother’s Day presents from West Hampstead
Seaching for a present for your mother (or the mother of your kids, or whoever you want to express your gratitude to)? We have been searching the snowy streets of West Hampstead for inspiration (and bagged you a couple of discounts along the way!) First stop, a WHL favourite, Achillea Flowers on Mill Lane. It […]
An Insight on Lately: Gordon Stevenson tells all
Regular readers will know that West Hampstead nightclub Lately has closed after almost 40 years. We met up with owner Gordon Stevenson. What brought you to West Hampstead? “Buying Lately, that’s what! I opened it 38 years ago after I was offered the club by a friend. Previously it was a called Vincent’s but had […]
Raising the roof on the student housing block
The new owner of the student housing block on Blackburn Road, has put in a planning application to add 41 additional rooms (studios) to the block buy adding extra floors on top. The development already has 347 units and has already been given planning permission to add an extension to the internal courtyard and a […]
A walk up West End Lane
Following our recent walk down the Kilburn High Road, we took a similar walk up West End Lane. Joining us was John Saynor, chair of WHAT (West Hampstead Amenity and Transport), which takes a keen interest in these matters too. We didn’t really focus on the litter situation, because – dare I say it – […]
Luxury retirement development ‘can’t afford’ to pay for affordable housing
West Hampstead is facing yet another large-scale property development. It’s the third proposal to redevelop the site at the former Gondar Gardens reservoir. The history of the previous proposals have been well documented on these pages, but what really caught our eye about this one was that it offers no affordable housing either on-site or as […]
Could departing councillor Phil Rosenberg be back sooner than expected?
It’s getting hard to miss but the local elections are coming soon. West Hampstead ward looks set to see three new faces as none of the existing councillors are standing again – or rather we know two are not and one hasn’t returned any of our messages. In 2014, Labour took a clean sweep of […]
Council tax is going up by 4.99% and here’s why
Last night Camden accepted the recommendation that council tax bills will rise, a decision that will be ratified at full Council on the 26th. For the second year running, it will rise by 4.99%, an increase comprised of a 2.99% council-tax increase and an ‘Adult Social Care’ precept of 2%’. Average Camden band D council tax […]
Labour leader visits West Hampstead
Cllr Georgia Gould, the relatively new leader of Camden Council, was out and about in West Hampstead this week. She’s visiting each ward across the borough specifically to meet the groups that make Camden tick. She was in our ‘hood with Cllr Phil Rosenberg visiting the Sherriff Centre, which impressed her. “It’s unbelievable. I’ve never […]
The Kitchen Table bows out after 10 years on Mill Lane
The Kitchen Table is changing hands. It had been up for sale for a while, and the owners Jennie Vincent and Tom Leslie found a buyer a few months ago (after an earlier offer fell through). However, it has taken a long time to finally dot the ‘i’s and cross the ‘t’s (or teas). The Kitchen […]
State-of-the-art fitness studio opens in West Hampstead this July
Sponsored post Forget everything you know about fitness studios – the revolution is coming – and the first in line can get a fantastic pre-opening offer. For the team behind Studio Society, a brand new next-generation fitness studio, there was no other place to launch than West Hampstead which has a tendency to favour specialist […]
Out with a bành: Pay what you want on Ladudu’s last day
This month West Hampstead says farewell to Ladudu, the rather good Vietnamese restaurant by the stations. We will be sad to see it go but, as you will find out, when one door closes another one opens (in fact two). Teresa considers herself a West Hampstead local as she lives in the area – it’s her […]
It’s Snowest Hampstead!
The Beast from the East Arrived. West Hampstead got photographing. It all kicked off on Monday with the first flakes of snow. It’s chilly out there people of #westhampstead. Wrap up warm. pic.twitter.com/7p9s1UaT5o — West Hampstead Life (@WHampsteadLife) February 26, 2018 And we woke on Wednesday to this… Good morning #WestHampstead @WHampstead ?????? #snowday #BeastfromEast […]
House collapses on Sumatra Road
At midday on a quiet Monday, Sumatra Road was shaken (literally) when the walls collapsed on a house undergoing renovation. At the time of the collapse, first tweeted by Chris Simpson, there were builders in the house, 163 Sumatra Road, but they saw ‘the writing on the wall’ when large cracks appeared and were able to […]
Camden ‘criminalises’ West Hampstead dog owners
There have been rumours that Camden was changing the rules on taking dogs into the cemetery, a popular walking spot for local dog-owners, but there had been nothing concrete. So WHL thought it would ‘doggedly’ investigate the issue. It appears that a change was indeed added to a piece of legislation introduced last February – […]
Overground redevelopment (just about) on track
It’s been a year since the redevelopment of the Overground station started in earnest and it’s taking a while. Inevitable, as TfL chose (wisely) to keep the station open during the works, even though that also means higher cost. For those of us using the station, it’s been impossible to miss the arrival of the […]
No step closer to step-free access for West Hampstead tube station
Many local organisations have been pushing for step-free access to West Hampstead tube station over the past few years – even if opinion diverges on what the solution should be. It was therefore disappointing, as local residents association WHGARA pointed out recently, that West Hampstead was not included in the recent batch of stations to […]
West Hampstead passengers top 20 million a year
As long-suffering commuters in (and through) West Hampstead are aware, it’s feels ever more crowded at our stations – especially the tube station. But do the numbers back up that perception? We crunched the numbers, and we were surprised at the results. The line up to "tap" on at WH underground. A temporary 1 tap […]
Liddell Road school to open with spare capacity
Liddell Road has a new name. After much careful thought and consideration it has been renamed, wait for it…, “Liddell Place”. Someone suggested an alternative, but for some reason Camden didn’t like it. Where’s Liddell Road? It’s the former council-owned light industrial estate just off Maygrove Road that’s being redeveloped to house an infants school […]
Kids coding camp coming to town
Sponsored post Today’s economy is properly digital. Many of us spend all day at a computer and then come home to order groceries online, chat with friends online and research a good plumber online. It takes a huge amount of infrastructure to keep all those businesses ticking and to keep improving them as our expectations […]
Residents concerned over Beckford School road closure plan
Camden Council has announced plans to implement a temporary road closure near a primary school in West Hampstead, angering many local residents. There are public meetings to discuss the proposals this Thursday. The affected area is around Beckford School on Dornfell Street. Camden’s proposal is to close Broomsleigh Street at the Mill Lane end at […]
Bringing West Hampstead insight to national property statistics
Sponsored post Every week newspaper headlines vary between ‘house prices rise’ or ‘house prices fall’ – but which headline is accurate? We thought we’d delve behind the headlines for this month’s West Hampstead Life column; we’ll be sharing some interesting stats and sprinkling them with some local insight to bring them to life. First-time buyers […]
West Hampstead property price rises set to outpace London average
Sponsored post It can be easy to generalise when talking about the London property market. However, London has often been described as a collection of villages, each with its own unique style, atmosphere and charms. For this reason, when discussing the London property market, it’s important not to look at the capital as the sum […]
Positive sentiment in West Hampstead property market for 2018
Sponsored post As we move into 2018, there are signs that the property market in West Hampstead is improving. Despite what others may say, there is evidence of a market out there for those looking to sell their home. With changes to stamp duty in the autumn statement and the hesitation caused by Brexit beginning […]
Watch out! There’s a scammer about.
Watch out, there’s a scammer about (and below we have details of how to contact your local police about this and other security issues). The police have now issued a photo of the woman and more details about her. A resident of Achilles Road reported that he was woken up at 6 am on Sunday […]
Police “taken by surprise” by explosion in phone thefts
There was a good turnout at last night’s public meeting on moped-crime. It’s a hot topic that didn’t need any extra emphasis, but even as the meeting was taking place another moped-based phone snatch was happening taking place outside Finchley Road tube station. The first speaker, Judy Thomson, is a public safety officer from Camden, […]
Crime tops the agenda at upcoming public meeting
This Thursday, local councillors will host an Area Forum (aka: public meeting) at the Synagogue Hall in Dennington Park Road. Crime is top of the agenda. The meeting starts at 19:00 with the main business from 19:30. Last night two suspects were arrested in Broomsleigh Street following a moped-related stabbing that had taken place earlier […]
The best new fitness classes in West Hampstead
New Year, new round-up of West Hampstead’s fitness and gym options (would you believe, this is our most popular article year in, year out). Most of you will already know about the main local gyms to help you shed those post-Christmas pounds (or kilos): Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre, Virgin Active at the O2 and the […]
Finishing line is in sight as Studio Society nears completion
Sponsored post As 37 Fortune Green Road – aka Studio Society – nears the end of its 8-week build, this 8,000sqft empty space has been transformed into state-of-the-art group exercise studios. As the physical build draws to a close, the technicians are now taking control, installing multiple projectors and creating a floor-to-ceiling cinematic visual experience […]
Keep your kids safe from dental damage during sport
Kids are in their element when playing sport. Running around with their teammates, safety is often an afterthought in the excitement of a live game. Parents have to be especially vigilant when their kids are playing contact sports, and though children’s orthodontics may not be at the front of many parents’ minds, thinking about it […]