Marsh & Parsons

Area Profile - Clapham Lettings

Convenient Clapham

As one of the best known estate agents in the area, the Clapham office of Marsh & Parsons has flats and houses to rent in the old town of Clapham, the High Street and Clapham North as well as Brixton, Vauxhall and Stockwell. The area's residents are a huge mix of young sharers coming to London for their first job, young families attracted by excellent local schools and older families in search of big houses.

"Obviously the park is a huge attraction," says Graeme Young, the Lettings Manager of the Clapham office. "There are some stunning houses overlooking it on the north and south side. The transport links here are excellent, the bars and night life are buzzing and there is a thriving café culture on the streets. The Old Town Café near our office is an excellent example and on a Saturday morning you can barely get a table."

Schools are a big attraction of this area and the best include: Thomas's, Honeywell Infants and Junior schools, Hornsby House, Hotham Primary and Streatham and Clapham High School. Shopping here has changed dramatically in recent years and although there are good supermarkets nearby, there are also plenty of independent shops and boutiques. Abbeville Village is very much "Nappy Valley", full of young families and great nurseries. Clapham Old Town has plenty of boutiques and is very family friendly while the High Street is for a much younger crowd. The French school on Wix's Lane also attracts buyers from overseas.

Tube trains run from Clapham North, Clapham South and Clapham Common on the Northern Line, and on the Victoria Line from Vauxhall and Stockwell, but the mainline station to Victoria and London Bridge is a well-kept secret taking 14 minutes by train to Victoria and you can usually get a seat!

It has had and still has a number of celebrity residents, including Samuel Pepys and William Wilberforce, and is now home to Vanessa Redgrave, Vivienne Westwood and Piers Morgan.

As one of the premier estate agents letting properties in the SW4 area, Marsh & Parsons prides itself on its local know how. From the best schools in the area to the finest boutiques, bars and restaurants and the cost of a resident's parking permit, estate agents at Marsh & Parsons have their finger firmly on the local pulse.

So, what will you get for your money in Clapham?

As Clapham's premium estate agent, Marsh & Parsons will typically rent one-bedroom flats from between £315 and £335 in its core area of Clapham Old Town SW4. The High Street is slightly cheaper with rents for one-bedroom flats starting at £300 a week and in nearby Brixton SW9 rents start at £250 a week.

For a two-bedroom flat in the Old Town, tenants can expect to pay between £350 and £375 a week, falling to £350 on the High Street and £300 for a garden flat in Brixton SW9. Clapham is very popular with young sharers and a three bedroom house can be rented for £595 a week, with rents rising as high as £1,000 and upwards for the best houses on the Common.

So what else can you expect from Clapham?

Besides the 220-acre Common with its music festivals, gigs, kite flying and bike riding, Clapham has plenty of parks and other open spaces, as well as gyms and leisure centres, including Soho Gym, reputedly a favourite haunt of Geri Halliwell, which has no joining fee.

After all that fresh air and exercise you'll probably need a drink and something to eat and Clapham has no shortage of venues to suit all tastes. The Tim Bobbin is an old-fashioned local on Lilleshall Road rather than a gastropub, wine bar or disco, but instead it has a dartboard and good, straightforward grub. The Sun, five minutes' walk from the Common in Old Town, has a beer garden and a wonderful log fire indoors. The Sun serves Thai food, but service at the bar can be a bit slow when it's packed with bright young things and it has two sister pubs: The Railway on Clapham High Street and The Falcon on Bedford Road.

For more formal dining, Fish Club on St John's Hill, is a gastro-chippie and was voted Time Out's Best Cheap Eat; and Fish in a Tie is another-low-cost seafood eatery. More! is more upmarket and serves modern European cuisine with a rustic influence and is well worth a visit. Grafton House in Old Town is a sumptuous restaurant with sleek design, a fabulous atmosphere and excellent food, while Carmen on Clapham Common South Side, is a tapas bar that is packed on most nights.

There are too many shops to mention, including the ubiquitous High Street chains and supermarkets, but Clapham also has more than its fair share of independent retailers, including the fabulous M Moen & Sons butcher's on The Pavement, Places and Spaces, for furniture, and Joy on St John's Hill which sells everything from rubber ducks and crazy clothes to retro fashion and homewares.