Marsh & Parsons

Area Profile - Kensington Lettings

The Kensington office of Marsh & Parsons has flats and houses to rent in the most expensive and exclusive district of London where houses can change hands for as much as £7,000 a week. The heart of Kensington boasts the bustling shopping streets of Kensington High Street and Kensington Church Street, where boutiques and high-street chains rub shoulders with antique dealers all compliemented by the sophisticated bars, pubs and restaurants.

There are tube stations on the High Street (District and Circle lines), at Notting Hill Gate (Central, District and Circle) and Gloucester Road (Piccadilly and District). Mainline services are also available at the western end of Kensington High Street at Kensington Olympia.

One of the biggest attractions of Kensington, however, is its palace and gardens which borders Hyde Park, and the most expensive property overlooks these beautiful open spaces. In Kensington Palace Gardens W8, Bernie Ecclestone and steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal have homes.

Marsh & Parsons not only lets flats and houses in this exclusive enclave but also throughout the W8 area.

So what will you get for your money in Kensington W8?

Verity Watts, Lettings Manager for Marsh & Parsons in Kensington, says that prices start at between £280 and £320 a week for a studio flat in a mansion block, such as Chatsworth Court and Vicarage Court and "one-bedroom flats in the Hillgate Street conservation area rent from about £400 a week."

Campden Hill and its surrounding streets which are equidistant from both Notting Hill Gate and High Street Kensington tube stations are among the most sought after addresses, but they were not always so glamorous. Campden Street and Peel Street were once an area of low-income housing with no sewers known as The Racks where people and pigs lived together. Marsh & Parsons, one of the area's longest established estate agents say that a two-bedroom apartment in Lexham Gardens W8 can rent for £550 to £750 a week.

Families looking for houses to rent in Kensington can expect to pay £800 a week for a two or three bedroom house in Pembroke Place or Adam and Eve Mews W8, handy for High Street Kensington tube station, and up to £950 a week in Stanhope Mews SW7, closer to South Kensington tube. On the Phillimore Estate on roads such as Argyll Road and Phillimore Gardens W8 prices rise to about £5,500 a week, sometimes more.

What else can you expect from Kensington W8?

Verity Watts says the attractiveness of the area is due to the charming surroundings offering "great schools, shops and restaurants with a wonderful atmosphere and a feeling of security".

Schools are certainly a big attraction for buyers moving into Kensington and the Good Schools Guide lists more than a dozen, including Ashbourne, Thomas's, Collingham, Mander Portman Woodward, Our Lady of Victories, Francis Holland and Saint Philip's.

Kensington also has some of the best pubs in London, including The Churchill, on Kensington Church Street, whose walls are adorned with Second World War memorabilia, and the Elephant and Castle on Holland Street, just behind the High Street. The Piano Bar, behind a tiny door on the High Street, is a real gem where Bazz Norton and his grand piano entertain drinkers with a wide mix of tunes and requests.

For formal dining, residents are spoilt for choice, from Sally Clarke's to Kensington Place, The Orangery and Maggie Jones's named after Princess Margaret. For shoppers, there is a vast array of boutiques, supermarkets and specialist retailers. The former Barkers department store has recently been replaced with a Whole Foods supermarket and on Saturdays, Kensington hosts its own farmers market.

As your local estate agent staff at Marsh & Parsons pride themselves on the quality and depth of their local knowledge and as well as providing information on the price of a resident's parking permit (£108 a year) and refuse collection (twice weekly), it also has its finger on the pulse of Kensington's hectic social scene.

Borough: Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Best thing: Kensington Roof Gardens on top of Barkers. A piece of genuine fantasia in the heart of London.