So long, West Hampstead!

After 7 years and 22 posts, I am now leaving West Hampstead. Sadly, a week after my New Year's resolution to start my West Hampstead blog, I made a sudden decision to look for a new house.

Did I look in West Hampstead? Well, no. My budget and my ideal home cannot both reside in NW6.

So am I sad to leave?

I will miss the shops, the restaurants, the superb transport links and my delightful downstairs neighbours. The rat run traffic and the parking situation, I'll gladly leave behind. But all in all I've had a great run here. I have loved my flat and the area that it is in. I have watched West Hampstead blossom from an area in the shadow of its NW3 neighbour to a residential destination in its own right.

A big thanks to everyone who has read my site. Special thanks to my fellow bloggers - I look forward to revisiting NW6 through your posts.

I'll keep the site up for a few months, but for now it's pastures new. Forest Hill, South East London, Zone 3 - wish me luck!!

Wet Fish Cafe breakfast

I don't often go to the Wet Fish Cafe, though I always love it when I do. Usually at the weekend it looks too much of a nightmare to get a table.

As we were early(ish) for breakfast this morning, we thought we would give it a try.

We both had a chorizo and potato egg scramble - delicious. It is slightly more expensive than the competition, but this is not your standard fry up. Although service can be a tad slow, if you are in the mood, it has a real nice relaxed vibe - assuming you got a table!

West Hampstead in the snow

For once, the bbc got it right. It isn't that often that you get to see the snow lying in these parts and it did come as a bit of a surprise following on from Friday's 17c.

Very cute.

Though - not bbq weather yet then.

View of London from West Hampstead

Thanks to roofworks, I have been able to see what the view is like from the top of our house. I have to say that I was slightly disappointed! There isn't that much that I can pick out as recognisable. The BT tower is sadly out of shot to the left.

Camden Parking robbery

As of April 1st, the cost of daily permits for tradesmen parking in Camden rises from 9 pounds a day, to a staggering 33!

Whilst you can still get 10 standard visitor permits per year at 5.25 each, these will never go very far if you need to get any work done. It may be worthwhile in future suspending bays which seems to be a 50 quid fee, then a tenner a space after the first day - but you do need to give 3 weeks advance notice (which wouldn't work with many of the tradesmen I've ever hired).

This seems to have been introduced rather on the quiet. I don't remember getting any notice and to date there doesn't appear to be much in the press about it. But as this could cost you in excess of 700 pounds a month (assuming a 5 day week), I imagine there will be many people who are upset/ caught out by it.

It is unclear to me why this has been introduced. If it is a money making scheme - my hat off to Camden - raise your prices by near 4 fold and tell your customers to lump it - not many businesses could show such blatant disregard for their customers.

According to Camden, the new permits are especially handy as they can be used anywhere in Camden. As the cost will get passed to me, and I only own one residence, I don't find this very helpful...

The Green Room

Time Out, Ham & High and the girl downstairs have all raved about the Green Room on Broadhurst Gardens. For all three to agree, I felt that I should try it out.

Look beyond the rather dull exterior (as proven by my photo) and we have a little gem. At long last, a restaurant that you feel that you can take people from outside the area to. I know that Walnut is meant to be all that - but I've only been once and never felt the desire to return. Part of Walnut's downfall for me is chatty decor and at the time, rather poor service. The Green Room suffers from neither.

On both occasions I have visited, there has been a warm welcome, both from the lady owner who is front of house and the rest of her staff. The decor is simple but elegant in a laid back way, really befitting of a neighbourhood joint. The food is good and the bill reasonable.

Thoroughly recommended.

Traditional Wood Fired Pizza Oven

You gotta imagine Sarracino does indeed have a wood fired pizza oven.

Comedy Nights

I normally love Bank Holidays in West Hampstead. So many people go away that you can wander the streets and reclaim them as your own. The weather last weekend however severely curbed my enthusiasm.

My heart went out on Sunday to the poor guy standing outside Barclays with a placard advertising a comedy night. Not only was it freezing out there, but there wasn't anyone around to notice.

A bit of searching reveals that The Gallery on Broadhurst Gardens has a comedy night every few Sundays. So, along with the Mirth Control nights on Wednesdays in the Lower Ground Bar on West End Lane, we seem to be quite the place for comedy.

I haven't been to either, but sounds like they might be a laugh.

New "Artistic Gallery"

The new art gallery has opened on West End Lane, near the tube. This is a slightly peculiar site for the purpose, as the entrance gallery is very narrow and not really wide enough for you to stand back and look at the art. This coupled with an absurd idea of having a tv screen at eye level so that you cannot see in must have kept some people away in the first week.

The tv screen has been moved and the place is bright and welcoming. There is also a downstairs gallery, which is much more successful as it gains the room lost to the stairwell in the floor above and is therefore easier to view the art.

Currently on display is work of one Gerry Laffy. Part Banksy, part Warhol, part Murakami - he certainly seems to be going for the crowd pleasers. Most of the art is in the under three grand category, currently viewed as 'affordable art'. In theory West Hampstead now attracts the type of young, cash rich types to pay for such things, so it will be interesting to see how this does.

It looks from the website that the gallery will get a rotation of artists from a central dealer. It will be interesting to see which other artists are shown over the coming months.

Gerry Laffy is a singer, guitarist and producer.

Sex and the City meets West Hampstead

"Let's go to bake-a-boo."
"Peek-a-boo?"
"No, bake-a-boo."
"Will there be loads of kids?"
"Well, maybe, but come on."


As a small venue, it was a relief that were only a few kids the other Saturday when I went with a girlfriend to bake-a-boo on Mill Lane (although a number of little cherubs had been banished outside by their parents - poor souls). This isn't a place for buggies of a Saturday afternoon as it is a relatively small space and it was packed on our visit.


I have to say that there was a very significant female to male proportion (I counted 1 male waiter). I have been on weekdays and found a few men looking rather uncertain in this girls haven. It does remind me of the SATC girls going to the Magnolia bakery on Bleecker Street.

In comparison though, this is a really cute place to sit for a cup of tea, a cupcake and a natter. The decor is very country kitchen ie Cath Kidston and perfect for the purpose.

I have found the actual cupcakes variable, though a much more sensible size than the enormous Magnolia bakery variety. I had a fabulous moist banana cupcake (on my birthday, hoorah) but a recent lemon one was rather dry and frankly not as good as those at Starbucks.

I would however recommend bake-a-boo to any girl and her friends. I think Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha would love it. But you probably want to leave Mr Big at home.

Inglewood Mansions

I was a little astonished when I saw the door buzzer that is being installed on one of the two blocks that make up Inglewood Mansions on West End Lane today. There are over 30 bells.

I thought I was seeing funny, but a little research shows that there are 65 studios no less. These are being marketed for immediate occupation (presumably once the buzzers are working, but maybe not).

Turns out that they were 60 units under the old landlord when they were a dreadful eyesore to the area. I hadn't realised until now that the old landlord was eventually convicted of almost 200 offences.

The new blocks look great and are a huge improvement to the street. I hope they stay that way. At the rental price they should do!

Czechoslovak National House, 74 West End Lane

I have been meaning to go here for years. Occasionally when I mention that I live in West Hampstead, someone will say, "Have you been to the Czech place?"

The slight deterrent for me has been the fact that this is a social club. I always think of clubs as places that I visited once when I was a kid for school friends' birthday parties, never to return again, as my parents neither played golf, worked in the local mine nor were expats, and hence I was ineligible to go back.

So I was uncertain how welcome non Czechs would be at the Czech and Slovak national club. I needn't have been. Yes, on a Wednesday night the clientele was largely from mid Europe, but we were made really welcome by an excellent waiter who showed us into the time warp front room/ restaurant.

At the end of the day, this is a house. Like many of the large houses in West Hampstead it has been converted, but you can still see the original features of the house despite the conversion work which presumably was done sometime after 1946 when the club opened (it moved from Holborn as they couldn't serve beer there!).

There is a restaurant in the front room, more relaxed tables and chairs in the back room, a bar in the hallway and the loos are in the back bedroom. Don't let any of this put you off. As I say, our welcome was great. We enjoyed 2 and a half courses, some great Czech beer on tap, coffees and all at less than 20 quid a head.

Two things to note though - they only take cash and the food is exceptionally filling. You feel like you can have your calorie intake for a week in one sitting. That said, the rest of the customers in on Wednesday were very svelte young Czechs. Maybe they also have a gym I don't know about!

Blogging Estate Agents

Everyone has the right to blog. I'm all up for that. Generally, you just find some are a bit more interesting to read than others.

When I first started this blog, I did a bit of research and came up with this blog which was at the foot of the wikipedia page for West Hampstead. 2 days this estate agent seems to have lasted, in what looks like a blatant plug for a certain local agent.

So it wasn't the greatest surprise to find a new estate agent blog on the block. I was slightly more surprised to see one of my photos on the front page on a piece they wrote on Tesco - wee bit cheeky!

I don't think there is anything malicious in this - its just a blog I am not likely to keep reading. Presumably they see the blog as cheap marketing for them, although I am glad they have changed their bloggers name to 'Paramount Investments' from an individual's name which it was yesterday.

I do have one tip though - if they want to get people excited about the area and bring them in from outside, which I guess they do - they need slightly more upbeat topics - not reference to panic amongst small traders re the Tesco development or that the Camden New Journal reckons we are swimming in pizza!

Wax On, Wax Off!

Apologies boys, I drew you in with the Title, but you need to stop reading now...

I haven't done a huge amount of research, but in the last 12 months alone, I have been to 5 different ladies in 2 establishments whilst getting my wax done.

I used to go to Holistic, which was fine (and closest to my flat). I then thought I would try the place I see on the way past the tube, the originally titled, "Hair & Beauty Lounge". Lulled in by the offers that they show on the window, I assumed they were newly opened. Turns out that they have been there years but did a make-over a couple of years ago.

Both salons are hairdressers upstairs with beauty rooms below. This can be slightly disconcerting the first time you go as you are uncertain what is down below. I can report that both are nice, clean salons. The Lounge wins out though, as it is quite large downstairs, looks more beauty salon like and opens out into a garden, so has a nice welcoming feel. It is also marginally cheaper - and on an offer day is really quite good value.

But the real find is Santina. This lady is now my heroine. She does a great (and relatively pain free) job using her own tea tree oil wax special concoction which seems to work very well on my hypersensitive skin. She has also worked at the salon for 7 years, so you get the feeling that a) she must be good, b) she will still be there the next time you go - and I find that heartening - the only reason I have seen 5 in the last year is that the girls keep moving on.

So she really is my hot tip - and I feel I should share her with you.

Thinking about it - boys, if you are still reading - you know those sprouty bits on your shoulders - the bits that scare us and are nothing like as cute as they were on Gizmo - Santina may be able to help you...

Underground, Overground?

A real bonus of living in West Hampstead is the excellent travel links. The downside, this week, has been being on the Jubilee line. The further downside for me has been that I work in Canary Wharf which has rather poorer transport links - and is also on the Jubilee line.

So how do you go when the Jubilee line is down?

There is no consensus. I take the Overland to Stratford, pray that the Jubilee Line is working from that end or take the DLR. There are a number of problems with this (not least that I stray into Zone 3, thereby costing me money as well as time). This Tuesday, I couldn't get on the first Overland train and the next was delayed (and there are only 4 an hour). When on the train, it was jam packed - and generally the Overland customers don't seem to understand how to cram themselves into a carriage the way us tube dwellers do... And it feels so slow. But you do get a fun view of the rear end of people's houses and the Olympic site. I am very supportive of Ken's plans for the Overground (this is the line that I used to name Scarylink), but we will need a lot of patience and that will be hard if the Jubilee line keeps up its 2008 track record. Time to Canary Wharf: 1hr 10.

Returning on Wednesday was even more problematic. With the Jubilee out, the DLR packed to bursting and boiling points, I took a bus. Canary Wharf is actually a great place to get a bus. Noone knows where they are or where they could possibly get to. I bus'ed to Mile End. Took two tubes to Farringdon, then the Thameslink home. Time home: 1hr 20.

OK, so the timings aren't great - but I did it! And my guess is that lots of you did it somehow different.

Choice. No bad thing.

Tesco - Every Little Helps?

Does it bollocks.

So, we are to get a Tesco Express. Having only just blogged about our new delis and their need for local support a few weeks ago, it turns out the big boys are wading into the pine shop site. When I heard, my heart sank. I am trully saddened.

I have to say that it didn't at first dawn on me that the furniture shop was actually closing down. What with the fact that it always seems to have a sale on. Although I was (and still am) suspicious about the temporary Paramount estate agents offices next door that haven't had a 'To Let' sign outside for months now.

Truthfully, I have never liked Tesco at the best of times, not cheap and cheerful enough to really help those on a tight budget and not qualitative enough to appeal to the chattering classes. (I did laugh out loud at Sandi Toksvig's line in the Stephen Fry version of Cinderella: "You do like Tesco. It keeps the chavs out of Waitrose.")

Ham & High reports that "Leader of Camden Council and West Hampstead councillor Keith Moffitt said: 'People who are less well off will probably welcome a shop on their doorstep where they can buy things at a reasonable price.'" Right! Because Tesco's 'Finest' ready meals and bags of rocket salad are just what you need when you are budgeting.

But my dislike of Tesco aside, we do not need another convenience store and we have long liked the fact that we were not another high street. Our shops (if not our coffee ones) are unique and local to our area and what makes West Hampstead what it is. Realistically there will not be enough custom for those shops and the lower prices of a new multi store chain.

I had always thought that there was a reason we were chain free. West End Lane is single carriageway and twisty. Far from ideal for delivery trucks. Have they seen the corner with Lymington Road?

I have come across a Lib Dem blog dealing with the issues arising from the opening of the Belsize Park Express store. Apparently morning deliveries now leave between 7.15 & 8am. Well the photo above was taken at ten past eight and those vans were stationary. Could local politicians not have done something before the store opened?

There is an interesting site out there called 'Tescopoly' that highlights concerns with the negative impacts of supermarket power. Maybe there is hope. I for one, certainly hope so. This will be the end of our high street.

Fancy a curry?

I was going to blog about the 2 curry houses that face off on West End Lane- Bengal Spice, which always seems to be packed and the subterranean Spice Plaza, which generally seems empty. A fact that never ceases to amaze me as it seems conversely proportional to the quality of the food. (I have been to Bengal Spice twice in the 7 years I have lived in the area and been impressed by the consistency of the food on both occasions....)

As you may guess, I am the kind of girl who comes out of the tube and turns right, but with a friend in tow on Monday night I decided to turn left. Turns out that Monday night is not the best night to turn left, as my first two suggestions were shut. My friend however was very keen to sample the Sri Lankan restaurant that we had already passed and hence we ended up in Elephant Walk - just us two and the staff at 7.15 on a Monday night. But I am glad we did.

The staff were eager to please (not just us - but also the other clientele that arrived later!), the decor is fine in a minimal way but the food is the real highlight - which is exactly what you want in a local. I know very little about Sri Lankan food, however what we tasted was very good. Quite complex spices lead to a different taste to the usual curries that you get at an Indian. The curries we had were relatively light although the sauces were a little salty to the taste. Matched with a cabbage and cumin dish as well as lovely lemon rice and paratha, this really did not deter from the overall taste of the meal.

In fact we were so eager with the menu that we went for a full 3 courses and coffees. Maybe more places should be open on a Monday!

lovefood? Love Gustoso's?

Having long been over-endowed with estate agents, charity and coffee shops, we seem to have recently become overrun by deli's and grocers.

That Organic Place started in the unlikely position on Mill Lane and apparently does free delivery over 25 quid. The optimistically named North West Deli provides a useful array of fruit and veg, organic meat and Middle Eastern spices by the fire station.

But deli-wars seems to have come to fruition at the Dennington Park Road crossing. lovefood opened late last year in the heart of the main drag of West End Lane taking over a rather forlorn looking cafe. Green in colour and philosophy I thought it a welcome addition to the area. Then Gustoso's opened hardly a month or two later. More posh deli this time, it is a second branch to a popular Maida Vale store which provides deli delights and upmarket ready meals at Maida Vale prices. It should also be heralded for cleaning up that particular shop unit.

Numerous and loyal customers will be what will make them a success. So, go shop & support your local businesses.

lovefood does a good coffee btw!

Idea of heaven?

I went for a wander today around Hampstead Cemetery at the top of Fortune Green Road. This is often commented on as a good place to go for a walk around and it has taken me many years to get round to it. Sight of this lovely photo posted on flickr by 'outblissed' spurred me into action (and lets face it, in January - it is good to do something that doesn't cost anything!).

As I walked up the hill past the monstrous building site for the new flats, I turned into the cemetery gates. The place is - well, it is like a cemetery. But the view is significantly better if you cock your head slightly to the right.

To the left, the flats, sorry "updated mansion block" (the architects words, not mine) are even more overwhelming than they are from the road. CZWG are the architects and the flats are already up for sale with Goldschmidt & Howland although they won't be ready till September.

The website states that there will be a central pavilion "in ziggurat form to obviating the overlooking of nearby graves". Great use of the English language.

Although the cemetery is surrounded on most sides by residential housing, which to the north includes some sizable houses, nothing encroaches like the new flats. My viewpoint isn't from a dislike of modern vs 100 year old housing stock. I love modern architecture for both living and commerce, but any architecture should fit in with its surroundings - complementing rather than detracting from the area.

I'm sure the flats will do much to raise the profile and amenities of that stretch of road - for good & bad no doubt, but they aren't for me and I doubt I'm alone.

West Hampstead on eBay!

Playing around the other day, I thought I'd look up West Hampstead on eBay. Turns out there were a few items. One was an old railway ticket, another a bill from Witham & Co Ltd, Motor Engineers and Carriage Builders, 219 West End Lane (now Ladbrokes!). Quite a history lesson.

I wonder how much the whole place would go for?