Local Area Guides
The Earl’s Court Edit: An Honest Guide to SW5
Earl’s Court is not a neighbourhood that lobbies for your attention. It doesn’t have a signature food market or an art district in the making. What it has, at this particular junction of SW5, W8, SW7, and SW10, is arguably better: three of the world’s great free museums within fifteen minutes on foot, Hyde Park reachable in ten, Chelsea in twenty, and a neighbourhood character that is genuinely its own — international, slightly bohemian, architecturally handsome, and free of the self-consciousness that tends to arrive when a postcode becomes fashionable. What follows is what to do from one of its better addresses.
CULTURE
The cultural offer within walking distance of The Knaresborough is not something most guests expect. The V&A and Natural History Museum are both free, both twelve minutes on foot, and both inexhaustible. The Troubadour on Old Brompton Road has been running since 1954 — the cellar club hosted Dylan’s first London show, Hendrix, and Adele’s debut; the current live programme runs from folk and jazz to experimental performers, and the experience of sitting in that unchanged cellar while someone good plays eight feet away is one of the more distinctive evenings in this part of London. The Finborough Theatre is five minutes on foot: fifty seats above a pub, with a track record of West End and Broadway transfers that belies its size. The Institut Français runs French-language cinema and cultural events at the Cinémathèque Lumière, worth checking the programme before your stay.
Free. 250 rooms spanning five thousand years. See two or three things properly rather than attempt the survey. The Islamic Middle East galleries, the Cast Courts, and the fashion collection are the priorities. Lunch in the original 1857 Refreshment Rooms before you leave.
Visit site →Free. The Hintze Hall’s suspended blue whale establishes the terms within forty seconds of arrival. The Darwin Centre’s glass cocoon houses 22 million specimens. Arrive before 10am on weekdays to experience the building before the school groups do.
Visit site →Open since 1954. Dylan’s first London show, Hendrix, Adele’s debut — all in this cellar. The current programme runs folk, jazz, and singer-songwriters. Check the listings before your stay. The experience of sitting in that unchanged room while someone good plays eight feet away is one of the more distinctive evenings in SW5.
Visit site →Fifty seats above a pub. West End and Broadway transfers with a regularity that belies its size. New writing and neglected classic revivals. Do not let the unremarkable exterior deter you. Check listings and book before you go.
Visit site →The Cinémathèque Lumière screens French and European film in a proper cinema. Exhibitions and cultural events run year-round. More interesting than its low profile suggests. Worth checking the programme before your stay.
Visit site →PARKS & GREEN SPACES
Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens run together without interruption — 630 acres between Kensington Palace and Park Lane, with the Serpentine Gallery and Serpentine North (both free, both well programmed) sitting on either side of the lake. From Knaresborough Place, you reach the southern edge of the gardens in ten minutes. Brompton Cemetery is eight minutes in the other direction: forty acres of Victorian garden cemetery, the colonnaded chapel, avenues of limes, and monuments to Emmeline Pankhurst and Richard Francis Burton — one of the more quietly beautiful spaces in SW5, and almost entirely overlooked by visitors in a hurry to reach the museums. Edwardes Square, one of the most beautiful Regency garden squares in West London, is eight minutes on foot and worth the detour for the streets and architecture alone.
630 acres running together without interruption. The Long Water, the Italian Gardens, the Serpentine Gallery (free), and Kensington Palace form the natural route. The Round Pond on a clear morning is one of those London views that requires no explanation.
Visit site →40 acres, established 1840. The colonnaded chapel, avenues of limes, wildflowers in summer, and monuments to Emmeline Pankhurst and Richard Francis Burton. Free, open daily. One of the better quiet spaces in SW5, largely overlooked by visitors in a hurry.
Visit site →One of the most beautiful Regency squares in West London, developed in the 1820s. The square itself is private, but the streets and architecture around it are freely accessible. The Scarsdale Tavern on the corner is the appropriate place to register your approval.
View on map →Nestor Local Tip
The Round Pond in Kensington Gardens on a clear morning — before the joggers multiply — is one of those London views that requires no context or explanation. Bring coffee from The Troubadour and consider the matter settled.
SHOPPING & WANDERING
Old Brompton Road is the main artery of the neighbourhood for those who live here — independent wine merchants, bookshops, a cluster of long-running Spanish restaurants, and a general atmosphere of a street that has not been redesigned for visitors. Walk it end to end on a weekday morning and you have a reasonable picture of what Earl’s Court actually is. The stretch of South Kensington around Exhibition Road has a genuinely Parisian register — French brasseries, French-speaking residents, the Institut Français, and independent food shops that supply both. Kensington Church Street, running north from Kensington High Street towards Notting Hill, is one of London’s premier antiques streets: Georgian and Victorian furniture, silver, ceramics, and art in the Georgian houses, considerably less crowded than the Portobello Road equivalent.
Independent wine merchants, bookshops, three generations of Spanish restaurants, and a street that has not been redesigned for visitors. Walk it end to end on a weekday morning for a reasonable picture of what Earl’s Court actually is.
View on map →A genuinely Parisian register — French brasseries, French-speaking residents, the Institut Français, and independent food shops. The streets between South Kensington station and the museum complex are worth twenty minutes of wandering on any visit.
View on map →One of London’s premier antiques streets — Georgian and Victorian furniture, silver, ceramics, art — running north from Kensington High Street towards Notting Hill. Considerably less crowded than the Portobello Road equivalent.
View on map →GETTING AROUND FROM THE KNARESBOROUGH
Earl’s Court station is three minutes on foot — District line direct to Victoria in ten minutes, Sloane Square in five, and the City; Piccadilly line direct to Heathrow in 35 minutes without changes, Green Park in fifteen, and King’s Cross. The effect is that most of London is between ten and thirty-five minutes away without effort. Heathrow in particular — 35 minutes on the Piccadilly with no changes — makes Knaresborough Place one of the more rational addresses in the city for guests arriving or departing by air. Gloucester Road, ten minutes on foot, adds Circle and District line connections and is a useful alternative on the days the District line is being District line-ish.
Victoria in 10 minutes. Heathrow in 35, no changes. Green Park in 15. Sloane Square in 5. The Piccadilly line justifies the postcode by itself — most of London is reachable in under 35 minutes from your front door.
View on map →A useful alternative for reaching Paddington or the City without crossing to Earl’s Court. Worth knowing on the days the District line decides to be difficult.
View on map →Ready to see SW5 properly? The Knaresborough is a quiet Victorian street, three minutes from the tube, and everything that implies.