Organisers of a new competition are inviting Londoners to re-imagine the city’s urban spaces in a practice known as “commoning”, or reclaiming public spaces to be used by the communities in which they are located. With London’s open spaces increasingly being developed for profit and managed by private owners (sound familiar in West Hampstead at the moment?) […]
The rapid rise of the West Hampstead Square towers is the most visible sign of change in the neighbourhood, but the retail landscape is changing fast too. Foxtons in, Mamacita and Social out, Holistic… no-one seems quite sure. Most of the changes are happening on the strip of West End Lane bookended by Tesco and […]
Last February, we reported on local resident Alan Grogan’s campaign to rid West End Lane of the large number of estate agents’ boards that were attached to many properties along the road. Many agents responded swiftly to our article and, within a couple of weeks, had voluntarily removed their boards from buildings. However, quite a few of the […]
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 […]
The incomparable Edward Petherbridge has put together a wonderful short film about the women of West Hampstead, focusing on the early part of the 20th century. It’s well worth watching and has some great old photos and some local history you may not have known… such as the West Hampstead building that was the first […]
Last Saturday, Tori & Ben’s Farm was awarded this year’s prize for “Customers’ Favourite Stall” at the West Hampstead Farmers’ Market. The stall sells lamb and Longhorn beef from their farm on the Derbyshire / Leicestershire borders. The runner-up was last year’s winner, Brinkworth Dairy, which sells milk and cream at its stall, as well as […]
Ever wondered what West Hampstead Life events are really like? Or maybe you’ve already been to a few and want to relive those heady evenings? Either way, now’s your chance. We teamed up with talented amateur filmmaker – and West Hampstead local – Helen Carrie, who has put together this brilliant short film of the last whampdinner, held […]
A Series of Increasingly Impossible Acts puts the audience in charge, exploring the mighty failures and great triumphs of human endeavour. Each night the audience helps choose the protagonist and the rest of the Secret Theatre Company puts them through their paces as they try to achieve the impossible in this riotous and uplifting show. […]
The 2017 version of the West Hampstead gym guide is now available. New Year, new fitness regime? It may be a cliché, but the statistics bear out that January is the most popular time to join a gym. If you want to make sure you’re not part of the other cliché – giving up in […]
With just two weeks to go, it’s beginning to look a LOT like Christmas in West Hampstead. Here’s our seasonal guide to what’s going on around the neighbourhood in the next couple of weeks, including December 25th. Still need to get a Christmas tree? They’re on sale outside The Sherriff Centre, on the corner of Sherriff […]
Tomorrow is Small Business Saturday – a government-backed initiative set up to support small businesses of all kinds in the all-important run-up to Christmas. Conveniently, this year, it falls on the same day as the West Hampstead Christmas Market, so December 6th will be the perfect day for festive shopping with some refreshments along the way […]
The West Hampstead Christmas Market takes place tomorrow, December 6th, between 10am and 4pm on West End Green. There will be a range of stalls selling Christmas gifts and decorations, including local businesses such as Monsters of Art, The Village Haberdashery and Achillea Flowers. Edible treats will also be available – The Kitchen Table and Bake-a-boo […]
Finished your Christmas shopping yet? If panic is starting to set in, fear not. West Hampstead Life has scoured the shops in the area to bring you these twelve hand-picked local presents. Instead of getting into fist-fights at Westfield, why not have a leisurely shopping trip without leaving the neighbourhood. And if you’re out and […]
If you’re a regular visitor to Fortune Green, you might have noticed the green has lost a few trees over the past months, some due to storm damage, some due to disease. Yesterday, Camden contractors replaced some of the missing trees. New lime trees have been planted along the main path heading towards the cemetery […]
Here it comes, as seasonal in its way as twinkling fairy lights and Christmas shopping: TfL’s annual announcement about ticket price rises. How will the changes affect the average West Hampstead resident in January? If you commute by tube into central London each day, a weekly Zone 1-2 Travelcard will increase by 2.2%, meaning a […]
A constitution for West Hampstead’s newest residents’ association has just been finalised, and residents are now waiting for a meeting to formally adopt the constitution and elect its committee. The MILAM Residents’ Association will represent the interests of people living in Maygrove, Iverson, Loveridge, Ariel and Medley Roads. As with many residents’ associations, the catalyst […]
Remix’s new bar/salon on Broadhurst Gardens is the latest victim in a spate of break-ins to West Hampstead businesses that’s now reached double figures in the past few weeks. After West End Lane Books and La Brocca suffered burglaries at the weekend, Remix’s new premises was burgled in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Intruders […]
Regular commuters on the Thameslink line have faced frustrating delays and cancellations since Govia took over the running of the line from First Capital Connect on September 14th. Govia has released its performance figures and they bear out the public perception that the service has got worse: the Thameslink Public Performance Measure (PPM) for Period 7 […]
Wondering where to go to watch fireworks on Bonfire Night? Your only local option for a big free display is Brent Council’s show at Roundwood Park on 5th November. This is a big display and is always very popular and busy. If you’re planning to take children, there’s a children’s display earlier in the evening at […]
If you thought that literary festivals mainly happened in fields on the outskirts of small Welsh towns, think again. The first-ever Kilburn Literary Festival starts today and runs until 4th November, with events in various local venues including West Hampstead’s very own Sherriff Centre. The eclectic programme includes talks by authors, workshops for budding writers […]
‘Tis the season to be… scary, so here’s a roundup of Halloween happenings in West Hampstead. First you’re going to have to get a tasteful costume sorted in time for Friday. Party Party on Kilburn High Road or Oscar’s Den on Abbey Road are your friends here. And if you go to Oscar’s Den on […]
Burglars broke into pan-Asian restaurant Toomai on Sunday night, making off with the weekend’s cash takings and causing damage to the premises. Sachin Mulane, proprietor of the West End Lane restaurant, said that the intruders had entered the building by climbing onto the roof and breaking a window to gain access to the kitchen at […]
Think you know Kilburn? A new art project invites you to (re)discover Kilburn High Road and the surrounding streets. For the project, entitled You Are Here, the organisers have brought together artists and local businesses to create a number of diverse artworks scattered throughout shops, cafés and public spaces. It runs until November 2nd. Kingsgate Project Space, […]
The Wet Fish Café on West End Lane often showcases artists’ work on its tiled walls but, for another week, there’s a different kind of artwork on display. West Hampstead resident Steven Marlow, builds professional-quality guitars for musicians, celebrity clients and collectors from all over the world, working closely with each customer to create bespoke […]
From September 12th 2015, the tube will run all night on Fridays and Saturdays on the Jubilee, Victoria and most of the Piccadilly, Central and Northern lines. Around six trains will run every hour on the “night tube”. No doubt many West Hampstead and Kilburn residents will rejoice at the arrival of a more convenient […]
A fire broke out in a kitchen on the upper level of the Brondesbury Medical Centre on Kilburn High Road last night, meaning customers at the neighbouring Tricycle Cinema had to be evacuated. The theatre performance had ended for the evening; however around 400 cinemagoers were in the building for a screening of Gone Girl […]
Former Middlesex and England cricketer John Emburey came to West Hampstead to cut the blue ribbon at a Mill Lane business this morning. Aqua Pharmacy moved from its former premises at 102 Mill Lane to number 59 a few months ago, causing some controversy at the time. No. 59 used to be home to upholstery […]
Deliveroo is a new food delivery service that allows you to enter your location and order dishes from a list of your local restaurants. Sound familiar? Deliveroo claims to be different from the other food delivery platforms you already know, love and feel faintly guilty about using quite so often. Its approach is to curate […]
Residents in Fortune Green have become increasingly unhappy with motorcycle showroom Capital City on Fortune Green Road, and have persuaded Camden to take action. Capital City has, however, failed to comply. According to locals, who are reluctant to be named after what they claim have been some altercations with the showroom owners, the business continues […]
Simon Howley, a West Hampstead film maker, has spent two years producing a new documentary about the Great Train Robbery. A Tale of Two Thieves features interview footage with one of the last surviving gang members, Douglas Gordon Goody, now 85 years old and living in Spain. He reminisces about the notorious 1963 robbery that […]
We’re bang in the middle of tomato season, and what better way to make the most of them than in a Summer Tomato Tart. Local residents and enthusiastic foodies Emily and Sophie Cook from the Cooks Cook website have kindly shared this great recipe – they popped down to the West Hampstead Farmers’ market on Saturday […]
It’s a cry that has reverberated round the streets and social media networks of the area for years: “Why can’t West Hampstead have a butcher?” Now the (non-vegetarian, at least) residents of West Hampstead have reason to celebrate. The Hampstead Butcher and Providore, a well-known fixture on Rosslyn Hill in Hampstead, has announced that it […]
West Hampstead is getting a new street food market on weekday evenings, starting tomorrow September 1st. The market will be on the Thameslink forecourt (where the farmers market is) Monday to Friday evenings, timed to meet the home-time rush-hour crowd between 4pm and 8pm. Alexandra Gee, who runs the West Hampstead Food & Flea market […]
If you’ve ever needed to get from West End Lane to Finchley Road on foot, chances are you’ve peered down Billy Fury Way, the footpath linking the two roads, and then decided to keep walking and taken a brighter-lit alternative, such as Lymington Road or Blackburn Road. Now, Cllr Philip Rosenberg is questioning whether the […]
West Hampstead Life has had a gruelling couple of weeks. In a tireless quest to keep you informed about gastronomic developments in the area, we’ve been out investigating the newest restaurants and menus, sampling a few (ok, many) dishes along the way. Here are some tasty tidbits to whet your appetite while we go off […]
When is traffic relevant and when is it not in determining planning applications? This is the question in Fortune Green where a shisha bar and a higher education college are both seeking planning permission, which may hinge on the council’s understanding of congestion levels. Earlier this month, Camden contacted the The New School of Psychotherapy […]
If you’ve ever yearned to recreate the West Hampstead dining experience in your own home, now’s your chance. The first in this new series of recipes in association with local restaurants is this deliciously simple salmon salad, courtesy of The Wet Fish Café. We whipped it up in the West Hampstead Life kitchen and it […]
Yesterday afternoon, drinkers at The Railway gathered to show their support for the campaign to turn it into a community pub and upstairs venue rather than see the upper floors converted into office space and self-contained flats. Many of the regulars seemed unsure of what exactly the planned changes to the building entailed and what […]
Police broke up an eviction protest on Thursday afternoon in Lymington Road at which fourteen arrests were made. According to protestors, the evicted tenant, whose name is given only as Mark, had been ordered by the landlord to vacate the room he was renting at 1 Lymington Road after it had been ruled too small […]
Kilburn is teeming with eating options, but how many have you actually tried? Now’s your chance to sample something new during the first ever Taste of Kilburn food festival, which launches on Saturday. At 11 am in Kilburn Square (the southern end of the high road near WH Smiths), the Deputy Mayor of Brent opens […]
Last Saturday, West Hampstead Fruit and Vegetables finally opened its doors. Local foodies had been excitedly awaiting its arrival, eager to get their 7 a day. There’s been a steady stream of customers since then, and tweets have been overwhelmingly positive. But is the range of produce more imaginative than the name above the door? […]
People don’t tend to salivate at the prospect of shopping centre dining. Indeed, in some places it seems we’ve barely moved on since the days when a jacket potato with chilli was considered cutting-edge cuisine. Yet, on the eve of another restaurant opening there – Frankie & Benny’s starts trading Monday – the O2 Centre […]
A studio flat in Hillfield Road, West Hampstead has just gone on the market for £160,000 – a bargain if you want to live on one of the area’s most desirable roads. As you’d expect, the downside to Foxtons’ low asking price for this room (+ shower room) is its tiny size – just 11 […]
The Tricycle Theatre has always been vocal in its support of young people but for the first time, Kilburn’s premier cultural venue is putting its money where its mouth is and handing over control of the building for a week to the Tricycle Young Company. During The Takeover Festival, which runs from March 30 – […]
The New School of Psychotherapy and Counselling (NSPC), a small psychotherapy college, is planning to move into one of the vacant units at 53 Fortune Green Road – also known as The Sager Building and Alfred Court. It has nearly come to a 15-year rental agreement for the vacant unit adjacent to Tesco at Alfred […]
Last Wednesday, around 30 people crammed into Frida’s, the downstairs bar at Mamacita, for the first of a new regular meetup event: Whampsocial. A specially-created menu of delicious cocktails (only £5!) and filled tacos served in glazed roof tiles (amazing) were the accompaniment to some lively chat amongst local people keen to meet and mingle […]
If you’re interested in how West Hampstead has changed since the mid-1970s, you could do worse than have a chat with David Jacobs. Dave, as he’s known to his staff and customers, has been running print shop Colour Division from the same premises on West End Lane since day one, exactly 40 years ago today. […]
If you’ve been out and about in West Hampstead lately, you might have noticed a few changes. You may also remember our article on Alan Grogan’s petition a few weeks ago to officially rid West End Lane of estate agents’ boards. At the moment, the rule is that boards should come down 14 days after […]
Nearly 100 comments have been added to an online interactive map of West Hampstead, giving an interesting insight into the issues that matter most to local residents. You can explore the map and comments below. View Larger Map Commonplace The map outlines the “growth area” (in blue; the NDF boundary is in red), which […]
The residents of Crediton Hill, West Hampstead, have been disturbed by a couple of unsettling incidents in the past week and police are asking householders in the area to be extra cautious about answering their doors to strangers. Firstly, at least four different houses in the road have had swastikas daubed on their front doors. […]
West Hampstead is one of the latest Tube stations to benefit from Virgin Media WiFi coverage. Virgin Media has extended its London Underground WiFi service to cover an additional 10 stations, including West Hampstead and Finchley Road, bringing the total number of stations covered to 131. The service is included in the package cost for […]
Can you recommend a hotel in West Hampstead? It’s a question we hear surprisingly often from locals. Many people don’t have spare rooms available for when friends and family come to visit, so it’s useful to know about local accommodation. For this guide we’ve cast our net wider than we normally would, as there aren’t […]
As part of the major upgrade to the Thameslink service, West Hampstead commuters can look forward to a fleet of state-of-the-art new trains and a more frequent, “tube-like” service. Just not quite yet. The new trains are scheduled to start coming into service in 2016, and will be gradually phased in over the following two […]
What is love? This has occupied many great minds through the ages, from Stendhal to, erm, Haddaway. It even topped the list of Google searches a couple of years ago. Now, pupils at Emmanuel School in West Hampstead have tackled the question, and published a book of their thoughts on the subject. Definitions vary, but range […]
Valentine’s Day is happening (again!), and it’s happening this Friday. It’ll be pretty much unavoidable, so why not just embrace it. Once you’ve chosen the perfect card – I rather like the Pingu ones from West End Lane Books – what next? Here’s a by no means exhaustive list of some Valentine’s events in West Hampstead. […]
West Hampstead resident Alan Grogan is a big fan of West End Lane. The only thing he doesn’t like is the large number of estate agents’ boards that he feels are a blight on the otherwise attractive street. In conjunction with Camden council, he’s launching a petition to ban all agents boards from the road. […]
Rumours surfaced on Twitter this morning of strange goings-on outside West Hampstead library. “What’s up at the library on WEL? Film crew loitering. Multiple cameras. Road sweeper involved” (@CAMarks1) Then a man in a chicken suit appeared. It sounded like more than the latest Nando’s stunt, so I went to investigate. I caught up with the […]
Whether you’re in a hurry for a curry, savouring a sushi platter, or tucking into some tapas, now’s your chance to eat so that others can eat. Dine2DonateNW aims to bring the community together to support food poverty. From February 9th to 13th, participating restaurants in West Hampstead and Finchley Road will donate up to 30% of […]
Starter for ten… where and when are the best pub quizzes in West Hampstead and Kilburn? This is a question we get asked a lot, especially during the cold winter months. The Black Lion on West End Lane seems to get a lot of love on Twitter for its Sunday night quiz, but what are […]
The 2017 version of the West Hampstead gym guide is now available. Last January’s article about gym memberships in and around West Hampstead proved extremely popular, so I’ve updated it here with 2014’s prices. Most rates have gone up a little (it’s an extra 95p per month at Virgin Active), one has stayed the same […]
Photographers captured the moment a lorry crashed into the side of the Travis Perkins building at 156 West End Lane today. The vehicle brought down brickwork and masonry from the corner of the building, surprising the Wickes showroom staff inside. Dan Hirai, who works on Maygrove Road, was walking back from lunch at Nando’s at […]
Eagle-eyed readers of the Mill Lane pharmacy article will have spotted that as well as the two dispensing chemists’, a third business was mentioned – Escott’s Upholsterers. The family business closed its doors at 59 Mill Lane for the last time last Wednesday, leaving many local customers asking what had happened to this long-standing West […]
Andrea Hartlova gets out of bed at 3.30 each morning to cycle from her home in Islington to her new bakery Hart & Lova in Kilburn, such is her passion for her craft. Together with master baker Nicolas Juaneda, she produces bread, pastries and cakes and serves Monmouth coffee from the attractively bright and airy […]
Once upon a time there were two pharmacies on Mill Lane. They were about 200 metres apart. But not for long. Aqua Pharmacy, at 102 Mill Lane, is planning to move to 59 Mill Lane, which has been occupied by Escott’s upholsterers for many years. This would bring it just 10 doors away from T. […]
Burglars broke into The Wet Fish Café on Sunday night. They made off with the safe, which had only a few hundred pounds in it. However, the burglars also caused around £1,000 worth of damage to the building. Owner André Millodot arrived at work on Monday morning but didn’t immediately notice the chaos. “I opened […]
This Wednesday, January 8th, is enrolment day at Sidings Community Centre. The Camden-funded centre runs a variety of courses for adults, ranging from computer skills to healthy meal planning. Want to brush up on basic maths? Or get a beginner’s guide to using Photoshop? There are some fantastic free courses available whether you want to […]
Actress and local resident Angela Griffin was interviewed for the Metro’s “My London” feature, published last Friday. Asked where she would set the denouement of her (hypothetical) novel, the one-time Coronation Street star singled out West Hampstead as somewhere with “a little bit of edge”. Her location of choice: Hampstead Cemetery in Fortune Green. It’s […]
Next Friday, January 10th, another hairdresser arrives on West End Lane. Headmasters is a chain with 65 unisex salons in the UK and Norway, and its West Hampstead branch will be at 220 West End Lane. Eagle-eyed readers will notice that these are the premises previously occupied by Chez Chantal. It is tempting in prospective […]
The magical, twinkling glow of the Christmas tree can become an unbelievably depressing sight in the cold light of January once all the presents are unwrapped and pine needles are littering the carpet. Step outside your house after Twelfth Night, and chances are the pavements will also be strewn with festive detritus, as already spotted […]
It’s as inevitable as the New Year hangover. From January 19th, your tube or bus journey will likely cost you more than it did last month. In this article we’ll look at TfL’s fare increases for 2014, and also untangle the proposed staffing model changes for next year – what do they mean for West […]
By popular demand, here’s a round-up of New Year’s Eve events in West Hampstead (and a couple in Kilburn). Whether your idea of a good night involves karaoke, fancy dress, or a three-course dinner, there’s a party for you. The Gallery, 190 Broadhurst Gardens There’s an ‘80s-themed party at The Gallery, with fancy dress encouraged […]
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Mulled wine. Chestnuts roasting by an open fire. And of course, the annual ritual of present-shopping. Trying to seek inspiration in the same old chain stores on Oxford Street, or waiting anxiously for Amazon deliveries, can really put a dampener on the festivities, don’t you find? But […]
I went to an open day at JW3, the new Jewish community centre on the corner of Finchley Road and Lymington Road, to check out its health and fitness offering. Various classes will take place in the pleasantly light and airy dance studio, which was all set up for a yoga class as I put […]
Quite a few people have been asking about this on Twitter, so here’s the form you need to print out and fill in for free swimming at Swiss Cottage leisure centre during August (Camden residents only). Click the image to get the full-size version
Are there too many hairdressers in West Hampstead? I hear a resounding chorus of “yes” ringing out. An oft-heard criticism of West End Lane is the sheer number of stylists (and of course estate agents, but I’m not here to discuss them, slick though their hair may be). Wandering the main streets of the area […]
Rumour has it that summer might finally have reached North West London. The BBC predicts sunshine and temperatures of 20C and upwards this week, and I even spied a few summer dresses and pairs of shorts at the farmers’ market yesterday. Of course my first thought was for the horrendous state of my feet (shallow […]
For my latest fitness review, I’ve looked into my crystal ball to discover how the people of West Hampstead will be exercising in the future. We’ll be consuming our Eggs Benedict and soya latte in pill form, naturally, but how are we keeping our bodies toned? Movers and Shapers, on West End Lane, offers a […]
The 2017 version of the West Hampstead gym guide is now available. It might be a January cliché, but many people are looking to start a healthy regime after the excesses of Christmas, and gyms and fitness centres are all too aware of this. But which to join in NW6? I reluctantly left the comforting […]
Everyone laughed when I announced I was off to a personal training session at Gloves Boxing Club. Aside from any concerns or prejudices about women participating in combat sports, I don’t think people see me as particularly tough or aggressive. “What’s lighter and girlier than fly-weight?” mused my sister. “You’re probably powder-puff weight.” Ignoring the […]
In the first of a regular new West Hampstead Life column, my health & beauty correspondent @ZENW6 investigates an alternative to a sports massage at a new Mill Lane clinic. Over the coming months, ZENW6 will look at everything from hair salons to fitness studios in and around West Hampstead. Do with any comments or […]
