London/South Kensington-Chelsea

South Kensington-Chelsea is a district of central London. It is one of the most densely populated places in London and most affluent areas in the world. For travellers, the main points of interest are Albertopolis, containing several of the UK's major museums, and the shopping around Knightsbridge and Sloane Square.

Understand
This district is defined as the southern part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBK & C), from the Thames in the south to Kensington High Street in the north, also taking in Hyde Park in the east and the area around Kensington Olympia in the west. It includes the area south of the Royal Parks commonly known as High Street Kensington and South Kensington, west to Earl's Court, and south to West Brompton, Sloane Square and Chelsea. Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens combine to form the largest green space in metropolitan London and provide a real oasis in the heart of this vast city.

South Kensington hosts four of London's largest and finest museums, its oldest and one of its most famous concert hall, and is home to the venerable Imperial College. High Street Kensington leads to a long line of shops and department stores, offering a less hectic version of Oxford Street, and very upmarket stores in Knightsbridge. Sloane Street connects Knightsbridge to Chelsea via Sloane Square and is lined with luxury brand boutiques.

Chelsea is an extensive riverside area of London that extends broadly from Sloane Square in the east to the World's End pub in the west and down to the River Thames. The King's Road marks the main thoroughfare of Chelsea.

The district contains the second largest population of American immigrants in the United Kingdom, many of whom work in the financial sector in the City, while others are connected to institutions such as the American International University, which has a campus just off High Street Kensington. Many local shops, from convenience stores to supermarkets, stock American products in their ethnic food sections. South Kensington is sometimes called the "21st arrondissement" because the number of French expatriates living there would make London the sixth largest French city. The community results in many French cafés, delicatessens and other businesses in the area. Knightsbridge is known for its Russian and Arab populations, with the accompanying restaurants and institutions they bring.

The whole of the district contains some of the most expensive residential property in the world but is a little more downmarket towards its western edges.

Albertopolis
Following the success of the Great Exhibition of 1851, of which he was a key figure, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, proposed a cultural hub to continue the Exhibition's work and to promote both arts and sciences together in one area. Profits from the Exhibition were used to purchase land, which was then in the countryside, and begin an ambitious plan for the area. The prince was so influential that the project became known as "Albertopolis", first in mockery and later with affection. The first building, the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum), opening in 1857. Today Albertopolis, loosely the area around Exhibition Road, contains a collection of world-class museums, universities, conservatories, and other cultural institutions. Its tradition for innovation continues: in 2012 Exhibition Road was redeveloped and converted into a shared space for pedestrians and motorists, with no kerb to separate them.

History of Chelsea
Chelsea's modern reputation as a centre of innovation and influence originated in a period during the 19th century when the area became a veritable Victorian artists' colony: artists such as Dante Gabriel Rossetti, J.M.W. Turner, James McNeill Whistler, William Holman Hunt and John Singer Sargent, as well as writers such as George Meredith, Algernon Swinburne, Leigh Hunt and Thomas Carlyle lived and worked here. A particularly large concentration of artists existed in the area around Cheyne Walk (pronounced Chey-nee) and Cheyne Row, where the pre-Raphaelite movement had its heart.

Following the Second World War, Chelsea, like many other formerly prosperous areas became rather run down and poor. It became prominent once again as an artistic centre, Bohemian district and hot spot for young professionals in the 1960s. The Americans called this period "Swinging London" and the King's Road became the definition of style and fashion and both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones lived in the neighbourhood.

In the 1970s, the "World's End" area of the King's Road was home to Vivienne Westwood's shop ("Sex"), and witnessed the genesis of punk music and style with many Mohawks to be seen on the road against the background of the closed down shops. Thereafter, working-class youth culture was priced out of the area and gravitated to Camden, Islington, Ladbroke Grove, Brixton and Brick Lane.

In the 1980s, the rise of the Sloane (archetypally Princess Diana) and the Mohawks gave way to twin-set pearls, pink Polo shirts and what Americans would call a "preppy". Chelsea seems to have settled into stylish affluence and aspiration.

By Tube
This is a large district, served by a similarly large number of Tube stations, in Zone 1 if not otherwise noted, and three Tube lines:


 * Hyde Park Corner (Piccadilly line) – For Hyde Park.
 * Knightsbridge (Piccadilly line) – For Harrods, Harvey Nichols and other upmarket stores.
 * Sloane Square (District and Circle lines) – For King's Road.
 * South Kensington (District, Circle and Piccadilly lines) – For the museums.
 * Gloucester Road (District, Circle and Piccadilly lines)
 * High Street Kensington (District and Circle lines) – For general shopping and Kensington Gardens.
 * Earl's Court (District and Piccadilly lines, Zones 1 and 2) – Interchange with connections to all stations on the District line. Use Earl's Court for budget lodging and step-free tube access to/from Heathrow Airport too via Acton Town on the Piccadilly line. Trains to Kensington Olympia run on weekends and bank holidays, so check with Transport for London (TfL) before travelling.
 * Kensington Olympia (District line, Overground, Zone 2)
 * West Brompton (District line, Overground, Zone 2)

By bus
Like most parts of Zone 1 (Central London), this area is well connected by a variety of bus services. Here is a general list of the bus routes serving each major destination in this area:


 * South Kensington Museums: 14, 49, 70, 74, 345, 360, 414, 430, C1
 * Knightsbridge: 9, 14, 19, 22, 23, 52, 74, 137, 414, 452, C1
 * High Street Kensington: 9, 23, 27, 28, 49, 52, 70, 328, 452, C1
 * Sloane Square: 11, 19, 22, 137, 170, 211, 319, 360, 452, C1
 * King's Road Chelsea: 11, 19, 22, 49, 211, 319
 * Earl's Court: 74, 190, 328, 430, C1, C3
 * Hyde Park Corner: 2, 9, 14, 16, 19, 22, 23, 36, 38, 52, 73, 74, 82, 137, 148, 414, 436, C2

The most useful buses for visitors to this area are:



All of these routes use iconic London red double-deck buses, except C1. They typically operate at least every 10 minutes. The usual TfL fares apply.

By train
The nearest mainline train station is London Victoria with services to places in southern England and the Victoria Coach Station which goes all over Britain!

West Brompton and Kensington (Olympia) are on the London Overground Mildmay line (formerly the West London Line (WLL)) from Willesden Junction to Clapham Junction via Shepherd's Bush and Imperial Wharf:



Museums
Exhibition Road and Cromwell Road in South Kensington are home to several world class museums and all have free entry, only charging for special temporary exhibitions. They do accept (and encourage) donations if you feel you have enjoyed your visit.

Each of them more than justifies a full day's visit. It's probably more rewarding to spend your time on a relaxed visit to one or perhaps two of the South Kensington museums, giving yourself a chance to breathe in the atmosphere of the institutions and wander through some of the less obvious galleries, than it is to attempt to fit all of them into one day.





Parks and gardens
This area, while urban, is not lacking in green areas. Many residential squares have gated gardens in their centre, although only the residents will usually have keys to access them. Many other green areas will be open, however. The dominant green area is, of course, Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. These royal parks are contiguous and often mistaken for just one park, called Hyde Park, although they are officially separate and have different opening hours. Together they are one of the larger metropolitan parks on Earth and cover more land than some small countries. The parks are popular for urban bird-watching as they hold over a hundred different species, from common urban birds and waterfowl to kestrels, owls and parrots. Flocks of the latter, ring-necked parakeets, have established themselves throughout London, although no one knows from where they came (one theory is that they escaped from the filming of The African Queen in 1950, although there are records of urban parrots as far back as the Victorian period).





Blue plaques
Blue plaques mark the buildings in which the notable people of the past lived and worked. The scheme started in London in 1866 and continues to this day. There are hundreds of houses and other buildings marked in this way in the area; the following are just a sample of those that can be viewed. This can be a pleasant way to look around the city, something to see on your journey, or the focus of a pilgrimage to see the historic sites related to a specific figure.


 * On the same 220-m street are plaques for the founder of the Scouting movement Robert Baden Powell, author and playwright Edith Bagnold, sculptor Jacob Epstein, and one for each of Leslie Stephen (writer) and his daughters Vanessa Bell (artist) and Virginia Woolf (novelist) who were both born at number 22.
 * On the same 220-m street are plaques for the founder of the Scouting movement Robert Baden Powell, author and playwright Edith Bagnold, sculptor Jacob Epstein, and one for each of Leslie Stephen (writer) and his daughters Vanessa Bell (artist) and Virginia Woolf (novelist) who were both born at number 22.
 * On the same 220-m street are plaques for the founder of the Scouting movement Robert Baden Powell, author and playwright Edith Bagnold, sculptor Jacob Epstein, and one for each of Leslie Stephen (writer) and his daughters Vanessa Bell (artist) and Virginia Woolf (novelist) who were both born at number 22.
 * On the same 220-m street are plaques for the founder of the Scouting movement Robert Baden Powell, author and playwright Edith Bagnold, sculptor Jacob Epstein, and one for each of Leslie Stephen (writer) and his daughters Vanessa Bell (artist) and Virginia Woolf (novelist) who were both born at number 22.
 * On the same 220-m street are plaques for the founder of the Scouting movement Robert Baden Powell, author and playwright Edith Bagnold, sculptor Jacob Epstein, and one for each of Leslie Stephen (writer) and his daughters Vanessa Bell (artist) and Virginia Woolf (novelist) who were both born at number 22.
 * On the same 220-m street are plaques for the founder of the Scouting movement Robert Baden Powell, author and playwright Edith Bagnold, sculptor Jacob Epstein, and one for each of Leslie Stephen (writer) and his daughters Vanessa Bell (artist) and Virginia Woolf (novelist) who were both born at number 22.
 * On the same 220-m street are plaques for the founder of the Scouting movement Robert Baden Powell, author and playwright Edith Bagnold, sculptor Jacob Epstein, and one for each of Leslie Stephen (writer) and his daughters Vanessa Bell (artist) and Virginia Woolf (novelist) who were both born at number 22.
 * On the same 220-m street are plaques for the founder of the Scouting movement Robert Baden Powell, author and playwright Edith Bagnold, sculptor Jacob Epstein, and one for each of Leslie Stephen (writer) and his daughters Vanessa Bell (artist) and Virginia Woolf (novelist) who were both born at number 22.
 * On the same 220-m street are plaques for the founder of the Scouting movement Robert Baden Powell, author and playwright Edith Bagnold, sculptor Jacob Epstein, and one for each of Leslie Stephen (writer) and his daughters Vanessa Bell (artist) and Virginia Woolf (novelist) who were both born at number 22.

Other




Do

 * Football: Chelsea FC aren't based in Chelsea but a short walk west of it. Their home ground Stamford Bridge is just west of Brompton Cemetery, which puts it over the boundary into Fulham.





Budget
Despite being a very upmarket and affluent area, there are still many places to eat on a budget, especially on the high street areas by the stations, each of which has its share of chain restaurants and fast food outlets. Gastropubs are another eating option, which can be found in the Drink section.



Chelsea
The southern area by the river has had a bohemian reputation since the nineteenth century, when it was a famous artists colony. In the 1960s it was part of the Swinging London culture, in the 1970s it was famous for punks, and in the 80s known for rich Sloane Rangers.



Earls Court–Brompton
The western side of this destination is, in relative terms, the cheaper end of the area. Major urbanisation, and drinking establishments, came with the underground stations in the 1860s.



Knightsbridge–Sloane Square
The eastern side of this destination is the most exclusive. Knightsbridge was constructed in the 19th century, at a time when pubs and beer shops were considered something only frequented by poor people. The owners and designers of Knightsbridge included pubs in the plans, for their servants, but made sure to place them down side streets where they wouldn't spoil the view.



Sleep
This destination has many hotels and accommodation across a range of price points. As with most things in London, cost is often relative to the distance from the centre. For this destination, the hotels around Knightsbridge in the east are more in the splurge range, while those around Earls Court in the west are mostly budget or mid-range. For more splurgey, upmarket hotels, you might want to look at Mayfair-Marylebone. For more budgety, affordable hotels, try either Hammersmith and Fulham or Paddington-Maida Vale.

Hostels
If privacy and luxury are not big concerns, or just not in your price range, these hostels will at least give you a place to sleep for the night.

Budget
Many of these listings are converted townhouses, often on streets full of other converted townhouses.



Connect
There are public phone booths on the main streets throughout this area.

Libraries
There are three public libraries within this destination, all of which have Wi-Fi networks available to anyone. They all also have computers available for public use but a library membership card is required to book these machines.



Emergencies
For medical supplies, there are pharmacies throughout this area. The principal emergency medical facility in this destination is Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, with more facilities in neighbouring areas. There is one police station in this area. The next closest police stations are in Notting Hill (Notting Hill-North Kensington), Belgravia (Westminster) and Fulham (Hammersmith and Fulham).

General supplies
The two largest supermarkets within this area are in the western, slightly cheaper area. Most general supplies can be found at either.

Go next
Your interests may decide your onward journey:
 * For more shopping like Sloane St and King's Rd, try Mayfair-Marylebone, which includes Oxford St, Regent St, Bond St, etc.
 * For cultural centres like Albertopolis, you want to look at South Bank, home of (amongst others) the National Theatre and the British Film Institute.
 * Museums abound in London but one of its other major examples is the British Museum in Bloomsbury.