Kensington Church Street

Kensington Church Street is a shopping street in Kensington, London, England, designated the A4204, and traditionally known for its art and antiques shops.

Kensington Church Street

A4204
Kensington Church Street, 2019. Looking south towards St Mary Abbots church
Location within Central London
Former name(s)	Church Lane, Silver Street
Location	Kensington, London
Postal code	W8
Nearest Tube station	Notting Hill Gate
Coordinates	51°30′21.03″N 0°11′39.53″W
North end	Notting Hill Gate
South end	Kensington High Street
Other
Known for	Shopping, fine art and antique sellers.

Buildings at the southern end date back to the early 1700s.^[1] It is named after Kensington's original church of St Mary Abbots. The south part was formerly called Church Lane, and the north part, Silver Street. Until 1864 there was a toll gate at Campden Street.^[2]

The street runs north to south from Notting Hill Gate to Kensington High Street. There are several Grade II listed Georgian and Victorian buildings.^[3]

Time Out calls it "eccentrically posh".^[4]

Bombing

On the night of the 29 August 1975, Joseph O'Connell and Eddie Butler, members of the IRA's Balcombe Street Gang placed a bomb in the doorway of a shoe shop. A warning was phoned to the Daily Mail at 9:35pm. The bomb exploded at 10:12pm, killing Roger Goad, a Metropolitan Police explosives officer who was attempting to defuse it.^[5][6][7]

Notable shops

Until it moved in 1973, Barbara Hulanicki's influential fashion shop Biba was located in Kensington Church Street.^[8]

Notable residents

The composer Muzio Clementi lived at Number 128 from 1820 to 1823, and is commemorated with a blue plaque.^[9][10][11]

In fiction

The street is mentioned several times in The Napoleon of Notting Hill by G. K. Chesterton.

References

1. "The village centres around St Mary Abbots church and Notting Hill Gate | British History Online". British-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
2. Weinreb, Ben; Hibbert, Christopher (1992). The London Encyclopaedia (reprint ed.). Macmillan. p. 435.
3. "The London Magazine". The London Magazine. 1 December 2014. Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
4. Out, Time (15 April 2016). "12 reasons to go to Kensington Church Street, W8". Timeout.com. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
5. Moysey, Steve (2013). The Road to Balcombe Street : the IRA Reign of Terror in London. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. p. 93. ISBN 978-1-317-85607-8. OCLC 869091705.
6. "CAPTAIN ROGER GOAD GC BEM". Palace Barracks memorial garden. 29 August 1975. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
7. "Bomb expert killed by explosion in Kensington street". The Times. No. 59488. London. 30 August 1975. p. 1.
8. Davis, John (2022). Waterloo Sunrise: London from the Sixties to Thatcher. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-691-22052-9.
9. "Clementi House :: Historic Houses Association". Hha.org.uk. 10 December 2014. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
10. "Muzio Clementi". Rbkc.gov.uk. 17 September 2009. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
11. "Buildings - 128 Kensington Church Street, London W8 4BH". Archived from the original on 21 September 2016. Retrieved 16 September 2016.

External links

Media related to Kensington Church Street at Wikimedia Commons