Is Hammersmith a good area of London?
 

I have found a studio in Hammersmith in London and want to ask Fodorites' advice whether it is a good neighborhood. Is it kid-friendly? Is it close to attractions?

Hammersmith is not a bad area but not really close to any tourist attractions that I know of. You can check how long it would take to get to places on the tube map on Transport for London - www.tfl.gov.uk

It takes roughly 3 minutes between each tube stop so you can figure out how long it would take you to reach Covent Garden or Tower Hill or anywhere you may want to visit.

Hammersmith has a busy area near the tube with shops and restaurants. It's also on two different lines, the District and Piccadilly which is good in case they plan maintenance over the weekends (this is common but only on weekends and you can check in advance on the website above).

If you can find something more central at a price you are happy with, I would do that but if you don't mind a fair bit of travel each day, then Hammersmith is OK - as safe as anywhere else in London. If the Hammersmith studio is not within easy walking distance to the tube then I'd forget it.

Kay

As ever, a more precise address or postcode would help. How an agent or proprietor describes a place is not necessarily how everyone else would: if only because, as a bit of a traffic hub, some parts of Hammersmith are hemmed in by noisy and busy main roads.

Patrick's comment is <u>important</u> - we need the actual address or postal code. Or, if you don't have that, a link to the listing so we can work out exactly where it is.

It could be absolutely fine -- or not so much.

" Is it kid-friendly?"

Depends on the child. I can't imagine any studio is child-friendly ("studio" in London estate agentese = 1 room flat, in which kitchen, bedroom and sitting room are all the same room, though toilet and shower are separate), but you might be misquoting the description. Best to double-check, though.

That apart, personally I can't think of anywhere better to be a child than one of London's inner suburbs like Hammersmith. But some adults - though I suspect far fewer children - might disagree.

Typically, most inner suburbs consist of terrace houses (sometimes poncily called "townhouses" by foreign suburbanites) with small gardens. It's no longer safe for children to play in any of these streets (not so much careless motorists as self-centred cyclists being the real menace), but it's rare for there not to be a park within half a mile or so. Often, houses will be split into flats, and when this happens access to the garden is usually limited to one flat (Think Hoboken, New Jersey - the most English place in America).

If a child's odd enough to like the outdoors, it's important to check whether you'll have access to a garden, or whether there's a park nearby (just input the full postcode into Google maps, then look). Most London children have a sensible suspicion of Nature, and find the city's easy access to lots of things to do infinitely more fun than the horrors their backward cousins out in the sticks get inflicted on them.

The cousins, mostly, pretend to disagree: but try to sneak back whenever they can

I have once lived in Hammersmith for a short time. In my recollection, it is a typical middle-class neighbourhood, somewhat nondistinct. The good thing about Hammersmith is that you have excellent accesss both to Heathrow and to central London via tube. The critical factor to answer your question is how far it is from your actual location to the nearest tube station.

I don't have the exact address yet. Here is a link to the studio description: http://www.housetrip.com/en/holiday-...aviva-studio-9.

Well - if the map is accurate - the flat is on Glenthorne Rd midway between the Hammersmith and Ravenscourt Park tube stations. It would be fairly convenient to/from Heathrow and in to central London

BUT - do you realize how small that place is? It looks smaller than many hotel rooms I've had in London.

Look at the 2nd photo - it shows the bed, kitchen area, wardrobe, dining table and TV all in the same shot. That is the entirety of the place except for the bath and what looks like a small anteroom that may have a luggage stand and a dresser or something. The bath also looks very small (though that is pretty common)

meant to add - the description mentions a single bed -- that may be in that small extra room. But there isn't much space between the bathroom alcove and that chest of drawers so that may be a very cramped space.

If memory serves, Glenthorne Road is pleasant enough, but it is part of a one-way traffic system (use Google maps and Streetview to get an idea). The studio is, basically, an upstairs back bedroom in a late Victorian terrace house: or a "bedsit", as we would call it, of the kind that many people started out their adult lives in, albeit much more smartly done out. A lot of imponderables - what are the rest of the rooms and tenants like, is it a house or rooms over a shop or business,

Your studio is about 400 yards from the tube station Hammersmith which gives you excellent access to central London.

And it is less than half a mile to a little bank at the bank of the Thames.

Glenthorne Road is mixed, with residences, a small Hotel, a parking garage and office buildings. You find stores and restaurants in the neighbourhood. You may use Google Earth + Street View to see how the area looks. Street Views shows even the office building where our host worked.

The studio looks nice but tiny. The description is not clear. It says "1 bedroom" with "1 double and 1 single bed", but the photos do not show the single bed. It may be in this tiny, windowless anteroom (which would be called "closet" in the USA). If you are travelling with three persons, this place will be very small, albeit conveniently located.

With a kid, don't stay in a studio.

If you want to tour London, don't stay in Hammersmith -- too far away from central London.

I just read what should be your earlier post, and it indicates you will have you, spouse/SO and child. That means 3 people and you want to stay in a miniscule apartment? Seems daft.

"<i> Seems daft.</i>"

I disagree just a bit. There are a <u>lot</u> of very nice, comfortable, roomy studios for rent all over London. One large-ish room w/ a kitchen/kitchenette alcove and a nice bath. Plenty of space for a couple and child.

But this one in Hammersmith just just doesn't fit any part of that description.

Thanks all, I am not going to book the studio. Still looking for a place in Kensington or other centrally located areas.

Now I'm sure you made a good choice, RainyDay.

I couldn't wait to see what people wrote when I saw the subject line.

I strongly agree that it is a great place to live but you wouldn't necessarily want to visit there, and of course the studio is a deal killer.

That being said, neighborhoods outside central London can be terrific value for people who are staying for some time.

Our friend the Budget Traveler rented a room and bath in a house in one of those southeastern suburbs that the Tube never reached, half an hour or so from Central London, in a neighborhood of terraced houses with a shop and a newsagent and a charmfree pub on the corner. So, she took the train into London daily after the prices went down at 9 or so, and she saw the museums and historical sites of London for very little money compared to a hotel or more centrally located flat. But she was there for three months.