Living in Battersea: area guide to homes, schools and transport

The regenerating power station’s new homes, shops and eateries are the envy of the world. Period houses and great schools are here, too.
Daniel Lynch
Anthea Masey11 September 2019
You can tell how proud an area is of itself by the way its institutions carry its name. In south-west London, putting “Battersea” into your title adds something special.

Most famously, the Art Deco landmark Battersea Power Station is being transformed as part of a new riverside quarter with homes designed by some of the world’s leading architects.

With its four distinctive chimneys, the power station — and a huge inflatable pig —featured on Pink Floyd’s tenth studio album, Animals, in 1977. Soon it will be home to Apple in London and will contain some of the most desirable apartments on the planet.

Daniel Lynch

The listed Battersea Arts Centre building in Lavender Hill was previously home to the Metropolitan Borough of Battersea from 1900 until 1965, when it became part of the London Borough of Wandsworth. Battersea elected London’s first black mayor, John Archer, in 1913.

Today, the arts centre is an innovative fringe theatre specialising in developing new writing. It carried on almost without interruption following a devastating fire in March 2015 that partially destroyed the Grand Hall. Restored by award-winning theatre architects Haworth Tompkins, the hall reopened two years later.

Battersea Park is one of London’s loveliest parks. In 2004, the 200-acre green space celebrated an £11 million Heritage Lottery-funded makeover that saw the restoration of the Festival Gardens, including the spectacular fountains which were built as part of the Festival of Britain in 1951.

The park has a boating lake, children’s zoo and playgrounds, a bandstand, an art gallery and cafés.

Battersea Dogs & Cats Home rescues 7,000 animals a year and prides itself on never turning away a creature in need. Since it opened in 1860, more than three million animals have found a safe haven in its kennels or cattery.

Battersea Bridge, which links Battersea with Chelsea’s Beaufort Street was designed by renowned civil engineer, Joseph Bazalgette. It opened in 1890, replacing a wooden bridge that inspired paintings by Turner, Pissarro, Cotman and Whistler.

Now there is even a Battersea Brewery, a microbrewery and tap room based in one of the restored railway arches next to Battersea Power Station. And then there is Clapham Junction, the odd one out.

The busiest railway station in Europe with 2,000 trains passing through every day, confusingly it is in Battersea not Clapham, a mile to the south.

But when the station opened in 1863 the railway companies reckoned it would attract more passengers if it was associated with fashionable Clapham, rather than industrial Battersea.

Recent campaigns to get the station renamed have come to nothing — though there is now a sign at the entrance proclaiming: “Welcome to Clapham Junction Heart of Battersea”.

Most of Battersea’s factories have been swept away and replaced with swish riverside flats and its roads of Victorian and Edwardian houses attract families with healthy budgets who can afford to extend into attics, gardens and basements.

Estate agent Charles Streatfield from the Northcote Road branch of Marsh & Parsons says Battersea is a great place to bring up a young family with an amazing choice of state and private schools and an easy commute into central London. He also thinks the regeneration of Winstanley and York Road estates, north of Clapham Junction station, will make a big difference to the area.

Battersea is three miles south-west of central London with Chelsea across the river to the north; Nine Elms and Vauxhall to the east; Clapham to the south and Fulham and Putney straddling the river to the west.

The property scene

Of the many Battersea roads of Victorian terrace houses, most popular are those between Wandsworth and Clapham Commons, either side of yummy mummy shopping street, Northcote Road. Typical here is a five-bedroom extended house in Bramfield Road, on the market now for £1.5 million.

Battersea started life as a little riverside village around St Mary’s Church. Pretty Battersea Square has cafés and restaurants and in nearby Three Sisters conservation area, Victorian houses are smaller, with a three-bedroom home in Ursula Street for sale at £1.15 million.

Prince of Wales Drive overlooking Battersea Park has big, red-brick Victorian mansion flats. A studio in Primrose Mansions is £400,000, with a one-bedroom flat in Cyril Mansions at £450,000. A three-bedroom flat in Overstrand Mansions is £1.5million.

Two of the best riverside blocks are Montevetro by Richard Rogers, next to St Mary’s Church, where a six-bedroom penthouse on the top three floors is for sale at £8.5million, and Norman Foster’s Albion Riverside in Hester Road where a four-bedroom penthouse is for sale at £6.5million.

New-build homes

The £9billion Malaysian-backed Battersea Power Station development is transforming the listed Art Deco power station designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and the surrounding 42 acres into a new riverside quarter. When complete in the late 2020s there will be 4,000 new homes, of which 1,657 will be finished by 2021 in the power station itself.

These include the already completed Circus West Village; Battersea Roof Gardens, designed by Foster + Partners and now under construction, and Prospect Place, the first residential building in the UK to be designed by Gehry Partners of LA.

New shops, restaurants, a cinema and theatre have already opened in the railway arches next to Circus West Village, while 100 more new shops and restaurants will open in Electric Boulevard, a pedestrianised street running through the restored power station, where Apple will be the main commercial tenant. Flats start at £510,000.

The penthouses, priced from £5million, include spectacular duplexes with views over the river and beyond. Call 020 7501 0678.

The next most significant scheme is the regeneration of the Winstanley and York Road estates over 26 acres north of Clapham Junction.

The joint venture between Wandsworth council and housebuilder Taylor Wimpey will bring more than 2,500 new homes of which 940 will be affordable, mostly for social rent.

Junction House in Grant Road behind Clapham Junction station is the first phase. One-bedroom flats start at £545,000; two-bedroom flats at £620,000 and three-bedroom flats at £825,000. Call 020 3918 7611.

Battersea Exchange is a Taylor Wimpey scheme of 290 flats in Battersea Park Road, which will welcome a new high street along the train line between Battersea Park and Queenstown Road stations with many new shops, cafés and restaurants in renovated railway arches.

There will be 72 new homes in the scheme’s latest phase, Brogan House, a move-in ready 17-storey block. One-bedroom flats start at £600,000, two-bedroom flats at £695,000 and three-bedroom flats at £999,950. Call 020 3944 6805.

Prince of Wales Drive is a St William scheme on the site of a former gasworks overlooking Battersea Power Station, with 995 flats in nine blocks of nine to 26 storeys. In two acres of landscaped gardens, there is also a pool, sauna and steam room, plus residents’ roof terrace on the eighth floor of Kensington House.

Flats in the current phase, Regent’s House, will be ready in December and homes in Chartwell House will be ready next May. Prices start at £700,000 for a one-bedroom flat and £900,000 for a two-bedroom flat. The whole development is due to complete in 2025. Call 020 3944 7330.

The View, Battersea Park is a mixed-use scheme in Battersea Park Road. The 15-storey block, ready at the end of next year, contains 28 flats and three penthouses with offices on the ground floor.

One-bedroom flats start at £755,000; two-bedroom flats at £1.05 million and the penthouses at £1.45 million. Call Savills on 020 3430 6920 or Hamptons on 020 3451 1544.

Developer Avanton is building 299 studios and flats in partnership with housing association A2 Dominion at Coda on the two-acre former Homebase site in York Road.

The scheme also includes a new home for the Royal Academy of Dance. The homes are in three blocks from six storeys to 23 storeys. Studios start at £510,000; one-bedroom flats at £585,000; two-bedroom flats at £785,000 and three-bedroom flats at £1,495,000. They will be ready next autumn. Call 020 7052 5111.

Viewpoint in York Road is by Linden Homes, with 173 flats, of which 30 are affordable. The four blocks range from 10 to 16 storeys, with Lookers garage occupying three storeys of the tallest block.

One-bedroom flats start at £519,950; two-bedroom flats at £649,950 and three-bedroom flats at £1.1million, all ready to move into. Call 020 3553 9774.

Another scheme in York Road is Constance Court by Henley Homes, with 39 flats arranged in a four-storey block and a five-storey block. Ready to move into are one-bedroom flats from £500,000 and two-bedroom flats from £610,000. Call James Pendleton on 020 8099 1111 and Dexters on 020 7590 7299.

First-time buyers

Help to Buy is available at Viewpoint and Constance Court (as before). Housing association Clarion is dealing with the affordable homes at Prince of Wales Drive — call 0300 100 0303.

At Viewpoint, housing association Wandle has two two-bedroom shared-ownership flats left at The Cotton Apartments, from £142,500 for 25 per cent. Call 300 2000 120.

Rental homes

Lettings manager Ben Hayes from Marsh & Parsons says this is a busy time of year for Battersea rentals, with overseas firms and new graduates all looking. Homes near popular primary schools Belleville and Honeywell, between the Commons, rent quickly.

There is also rental demand from sharers but local landlords often prefer to let to families. Hayes says that apart from the many buy-to-let investors in modern riverside flats, most of his landlords are letting homes they have lived in themselves.

Postcode

SW11 is the Battersea postcode.

Best roads

Estate agent Charles Streatfield from the Northcote Road branch of Marsh & Parsons is a fan of the large Edwardian houses in Thurleigh Road, although technically this is the first road to fall into the SW12 Balham postcode.

Up and coming

The Shaftesbury Estate off Latchmere Road has pretty Victorian workers cottages. A two-bedroom house in Sabine Road is for sale for £795,000 and a three-bedroom house in Eland Road is on at £999,950.

Travel

Battersea will soon be on the Underground, with new stations on an extension of the Northern line at Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station due to open in autumn 2021. Until then commuters rely on the train service from Clapham Junction with trains to Waterloo, Vauxhall and Victoria.

Battersea Park station has trains to Victoria, while Queenstown Road has trains to Waterloo. Clapham Junction and Wandsworth Road stations are on the Overground with trains to Imperial Wharf and Kensington Olympia in one direction and Denmark Hill, Canada Water and Dalston Junction the other.

Residents at the southern end of Battersea use Clapham South Tube station on the Northern line. All stations are in Zone 2 and an annual travelcard costs £1,404.

Council

Wandsworth council is Conservative controlled. Band D council tax for 2019/2020 is £764.09.

Lifestyle

Shops and restaurants

Battersea Rise, Lavender Hill, St John’s Hill, St John’s Road, Northcote Road and Battersea Park Road are crammed with shops, coffee shops and restaurants, many of them independents.

Northcote Road is a particular favourite with young parents who gather after the school run at Gail’s or Aux Merveilleux de Fred, a splendid French patisserie; shop for the children’s clothes at Newbie, JoJo Maman Bébé, Trotters or La Coqueta; pop in for lunch at Arlo’s or Bill’s then browse beauty products at Caudalie, Kiehl’s, Neal’s Yard, or Space NK, or seek some interiors inspiration at The Painthouse, Maison Curate, Brissi or Farrow & Ball.

St John’s Road which runs down to Clapham Junction has more of the feel of an ordinary London high street with branches of M&S, currently being converted into a Food Hall; landmark department store Arding and Hobbs, part of Debenhams; Waitrose; Argos; Boots and TK Maxx.

Everyday needs are catered for with a large Asda in Lavender Hill and a nearby Lidl in Falcon Lane.

The Battersea Power Station development is opening up new riverside walks and there are now cafés, bars and restaurants to discover by walking under the brightly coloured Morag Myerscough-decorated railway bridge.

London House is a Gordon Ramsay restaurant in Battersea Square and Soif in Battersea Rise is a wine bar specialising in natural wines and serving small plates.

Open space

Battersea residents are blessed to have the 200 acres of Battersea Park on their doorstep and for residents living off Northcote Road there are Wandsworth and Clapham Commons.

Leisure and the arts

Battersea Arts Centre is a leading fringe theatre in a fine listed building, once Battersea Town Hall, in Lavender Hill. Above The Latchmere pub in Latchmere Road is the Olivier Award-winning Theatre503 fringe theatre.

Archlight Cinema is in a converted railway arch at Circus West Village, Battersea Power Station, almost next door to the recently opened Turbine Theatre.

The local council-owned swimming pool is at Latchmere Leisure Centre in Burns Road, where the wave machine is immortalised in a song by former indie rock band The Maccabees.

Schools

Battersea has a choice of private and state schools.

Primary school

The state primary schools, with one exception, are all judged to be “good” or better by the Government’s education watchdog Ofsted.

Those that get the “outstanding” rating are: Belleville in Belleville Road; Honeywell Infants and Juniors in Honeywell Road and Chesterton in Dagnall Street. Belleville Wix Academy in Wix’s Lane in Clapham is an unusual state primary school.

It shares its site with Ecole de Wix, a French primary school, part of the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle de Londres and offers English, French and bilingual streams.

The school has not been inspected by Ofsted since it became an academy after it was sent into “special measures”.

Comprehensive

The “outstanding” comprehensive school in Battersea is Harris Academy Battersea (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Battersea Park Road.

Other nearby “outstanding” schools are: Ashcroft Technology (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in West Hill in Wandsworth; La Retraite RC (girls, ages 11 to 18) in Atkins Road and Chestnut Grove in Chestnut Grove both in Balham. Ark Bolingbroke (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) a new Free School in Wakehurst Road, is judged to be “good”.

St Francis Xavier RC (co-ed, ages 16 to 18) in Clapham South is a sixth form college which runs popular adult evening classes; it is judged to be “good”.

Private

The private primary and preparatory schools are: Thomas’s Battersea (co-ed, ages four to 13) in Battersea High Street where Prince George is a pupil; Newton Preparatory (co-ed, ages three to 13) in Battersea Park Road; Northcote Lodge (boys, ages seven to 13) in Bolingbroke Grove; Eaton House the Manor (co-ed, ages two to 13) and Parkgate (co-ed, ages two to 11) both in Clapham Common North Side; Oliver House RC (co-ed, ages three to 11) and Broomwood Hall (co-ed, ages four to 13) both in Nightingale Lane, and Thomas’s Clapham (co-ed, ages four to 13) in Broomwood Road in Clapham South.

Emanuel (co-ed, ages 11 to 18) in Battersea Rise is the local private secondary school.