Locale South Kensington

  • SW7

Home of several museums (including the Science Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum and Natural History Museum), Imperial College, the Royal Albert Hall and Pierino's. Also home to a massive European population, particular Italians and French, with a large French college and the French embassy. Speaking of which, there are tens of other embassies throughout the area.

South Kensington is part of the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, so it is very clean and home to a large number of wealthy people. However, it is also immensely popular with [tourists]? and those new to London, since there are many hotels and B&Bs, and there is quick access to central London from the tube station and via buses.

South Kensington is a rather undefined area bounded loosely by Brompton to the east, Chelsea to the south, Earl's Court to the west and Kensington High Street and Hyde Park (or more accurately, Kensington Gardens to the north.

The focal point is at South Kensington station where there are a large number of shops, restaurants and cafes, with particular usefulness for tourists. There is also a smaller centre at Gloucester Road.

The main routes through South Kensingon are the A4 Cromwell Road and the [Old Brompton Road]? east-to-west. [Fulham Road]? probably counts too although whether it's in South Ken or Chelsea is debatable.

There aren't many supermarkets in South Kensington. [Tesco Express]? appears in South Kensington (Old Brompton Road) and on Gloucester Road (24hr) but is comparatively expensive; for larger scale shopping you need Sainsbury's (24hr exc. weekends) on the Cromwell Road, a few hundred metres west from Gloucester Road (where there is a more expensive but higher quality [Waitrose]?).

Tube

Travel into or out of London is easy with the Circle, District and Piccadilly lines serving South Kensington and Gloucester Road stations. Heathrow is about an hour away direct on the Piccadilly line, and Piccadilly Circus is only about 15 minutes away. King's Cross is about 30 minutes.

Buses

At night, South Kensington is served by the 24-hour routes mentioned above (14 & 345) as well as the N74 (same as 74 but extended to [Roehampton]?) and N97 (Trafalgar Square via Piccadilly Circus & Hyde Park Corner to Earl's Court, [West Brompton]? & Hammersmith).

OS X co-ord: 527000     OS Y co-ord: 179000     (Latitude: 51.495174 Longitude: -0.170313)
Last edited 2004-11-06 16:07:20 (version 19; diff). List all versions.