Spotlight on Primrose Hill
Primrose Hill’s claim to countryside – a medieval forest before it became meadowland covered with primroses – is no great hike. At only 63 metres above sea level, it would be towered over by St Paul’s Cathedral, but it has views to rival anywhere in the capital.
Those views are now strictly protected and have helped the north London locality become a magnet for celebrity homebuyers. But the hill might have faced a very different fate, had Eton College, which once owned it, had its way.
In the 1830s Eton planned to turn the hilltop into a grand cemetery with classical buildings and a botanical garden, but permission was refused. Instead, in 1842 the hill became a public park from which could be enjoyed a vista south over Regent’s Park and central London.
In the Nineties “The Primrose Hill set” was the name given to the group of emerging British actors and musicians who chose to live there, with the antics of modern-day stars such as Jude Law, his then wife Sadie Frost, and his subsequent girlfriend Sienna Miller, helping to raise the area’s profile in countless tabloid pages.
But Primrose Hill has been an arty enclave for generations. Victorian illustrator Arthur Rackham, painter — and friend of Virginia Woolf — Duncan Grant, and musician Henry Wood were all residents.
The heart of Primrose Hill lies along Regent’s Park Road, a highway humming with cafés, restaurants and independent shops, where on the first sign of sun, tables spill out on to the pavements and no one seems in any hurry to get back to work.
But this privileged enclave does have its serious side. The Primrose Hill Community Association recently rode to the rescue of the local library which Camden council was threatening with closure. In a campaign supported by playwright Alan Bennett, a local resident, the association raised almost £600,000 and signed up 180 volunteers to run the facility.
A house, or even a flat, in Primrose Hill is such a desirable commodity that prices are now well above the past peak. According to estate agent Matt Poore of the Camden branch of Chesterton Humberts, the price per square foot in Primrose Hill now averages £1,000, with good houses reaching £1,500. “There has been a flight to quality. In the boom times people would buy anything. Now they are happy to wait for the right property.”
Properties: Primrose Hill was developed from the Forties onwards. There are large detached homes, semi-detached villas and terraces of stucco houses on Prince Albert Road, Regent’s Park Road, Albert Terrace and St Mark’s Square, which is strangely not a square. A house in this southern section of Primrose Hill, where the architecture is inspired by the Regency architecture of Regent’s Park, starts at around £3 million, with larger detached houses selling for over £5 million.
The area attracts: actors, musicians and those working in the media.
Elsewhere, there are slightly later Victorian, mainly terrace houses with stucco on the lower floors and brickwork above. The notable exception is Chalcot Square, where the houses have large first-floor living room windows and a tradition of being painted in different pastel shades. There is different feel in the pocket north-west of Primrose Hill.
The Chalcots Park Estate off King Henry’s Road is a Seventies development of modern houses and flats. These are not to everyone’s taste, but inside many have been given very stylish, modern makeovers. Houses here start at around £1.2 million.
In Elsworthy Road and Wadham Gardens there are detached Twenties Queen Anne-style houses selling for between £5.6 million and £16 million.
Best roads: Prince Albert Road, Regent’s Park Road, especially the houses overlooking Primrose Hill itself, Chalcot Square, Chalcot Crescent, St George’s Terrace, Elsworthy Road and Wadham Gardens.
Up and coming: The Chalcots Park Estate off King Henry’s Road is cheaper because the Seventies houses are not as desirable as the nearby period homes, but they offer the chance to create strikingly modern interiors.
Schools: Primrose Hill has two state primary schools — Primrose Hill in Princess Road, which is judged “outstanding” by the Government’s education watchdog Ofsted, and St Paul’s CofE, which is judged “good”.
Haverstock, the local comprehensive school in Haverstock Hill, is where Ed and David Miliband were pupils. It occupies a striking new green and terracotta-faced building by architects Fielden Clegg Bradley and is judged “good” by Ofsted, although the GCSE results are below the national average.
North Bridge Prep school (girls aged seven to 11, boys aged seven to 13) in Avenue Road is popular, and there is a senior school (co-ed, aged 11 to 16) on the same site. St Christina’s in St Edmunds Terrace (boys aged three to seven, girls aged three to 11) is a private Catholic school.
Shops and restaurants: Regent’s Park Road is the main shopping street and it is dominated by independent shops, cafés and restaurants. Only furniture and interiors retailer Graham & Green, bathroom and kitchen shop CP Hart, small supermarket group Shepherd Foods, and fashion boutique Anna have branches elsewhere, although none could be described as high street chains.
Even the Save the Children charity shop has its own independent identity; it is called Mary’s Living and Giving. Women’s fashion boutique Press, run by the former creative director of Whistles, Melanie Press, in Erskine Road, stocks cult fashion brands and is a favourite of Jools Oliver and Meg Mathews.
Richard Dare is a long-standing and much loved cookware shop for local foodies. Lemonia and Manna restaurants are two Primrose Hill institutions having been around for over 30 years. Lemonia is Greek, Manna is one of London’s top veggie restaurants.
Odette’s is also a classic favourite since 1978. This restaurant is now owned by top Welsh chef Bryn Williams. Marine Ices opposite Chalk Farm Tube station sells home-made Italian ice cream.
Open Space: Primrose Hill obviously, and it is possible to walk or cycle into the West End through Regent’s Park.
Leisure and the arts: The Roundhouse at Chalk Farm puts on everything from circus to music to poetry to Shakespeare.
Travel: Primrose Hill is served by two Tube stations, Chalk Farm and Camden Town. Both are in Zone 2 (annual travelcard to Zone 1 is £1,168) and both are on the Northern line.
Council: Camden (Labour controlled); Band D council tax for the 2012/2013 year is £1,328.25.
Average prices: buying houses and flats in Primrose Hill
One-bedroom flat: £319,000
Two-bedroom flat: £500,000
Two-bedroom house: £903,000
Three-bedroom house: £1 million
Four-bedroom house: £2.36 million
Source: Hometrack
Average prices: renting houses and flats in Primrose Hill
One-bedroom flat: £350 to £525 a week
Two-bedroom flat: £400 to £700 a week
Three-bedroom house: £1,500 to £2,000 a week
Four-bedroom house: £2,000 to £3,000 a week
Five bedroom-plus house: £2,500 to £10,000 a week
Source: Chesterton Humberts