Marsh & Parsons

Area Profile - North Kensington Lettings

Variety in North Kensington

Sean Stewart is the Lettings Manager of the North Kensington office of Marsh & Parsons, which lets flats and houses in the areas of North Kensington, Maida Vale, Queen's Park Estate, Kensal Rise, Kensal Green and Notting Hill. Sean believes it is diversity that makes his patch so popular with tenants. "The area is a real mix of people and property," says Sean. "We have a lot of young professionals moving out from Notting Hill and Kensington as well as young sharers attracted by the local night life and good transport links to the City and West End."

There are good Tube links into the City and roads leading out of the capital to Heathrow airport. North Kensington also offers a wide range of shops, boutiques, bars and fine restaurants, as well as parks and open spaces. Notting Hill Carnival, which was started by a social worker in 1965, is of course one of the area's best known events.

The best schools in the area, according to the Good Schools Guide, include Basset House School, Pembridge Hall School and Wetherby School. "Oxford Gardens Primary is also an excellent state school," says Sean.

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

"The price of a studio flat to rent starts at £200 a week," says estate agent Sean Stewart. "There are a lot of Victorian conversions in streets like St Helen's Gardens W10, which is ten minutes' walk from Ladbroke Grove tube station. "One-bedroom flats to rent range from between £275 to £300 in Cambridge Gardens W10.

Tenants looking for a two-bedroom flat to rent through Marsh & Parsons can expect to pay upwards of £400 a week in roads such as Ladbroke Grove. A three-bedroom house with a garden starts form £550 a week in Balliol Road W10 and a four bedroom house in good condition will rent from £1,000 a week.

Prices are slightly lower in Maida Vale W9, where studios start from £195 a week, but two-bedrooms in a mansion block, such as Biddulph Mansions, start from £450 a week. The Queens Park Estate is particularly popular for its small cottages and two bedrooms are available from £400 a week. Prices fall further in Kensal Rise NW10, where a one-bedroom conversion flat to rent starts at £275 a week, and three bedroom houses with gardens are available to let from £495 a week.

Notting Hill on the other hand is pricier and Marsh & Parsons has one bedroom flats to rent from £300 a week and four bedroom houses from £1,650 a week.

What else can you expect from North Kensington?

Shopping is as diverse as the people who live in the North Kensington and ranges from EJ Barnes, a bicycle shop which is the oldest business in the area, to De La Fluente, a sumptuous deli on Portobello Road. The area is renowned for its fashions and Paul Smith and Tonic are among its most popular boutiques.

Wormwood Scrubs may be better known as a prison, but it is in fact a huge park with its own stables, and Little Wormwood Scrubs is another open space, popular with dog walkers and families, as it has a new children's playground. There are also gyms, a leisure centre and climbing wall but if all that sounds a bit energetic, North Kensington and its surrounds have a range of great pubs and restaurants serving food from all corners of the globe.

The Pelican on All Saints Road is one of the most popular gastropubs and the acclaimed Metropolitan serves progressive Modern Cuisine. Eclipse has a beautiful garden in summer and a roaring fire in winter as well as the best burgers you could eat. For more formal dining, try The Grove Fish Bar or Sausage and Mash, which serves not only bangers but also Spanish and Thai meals.

As one of the premier estate agents letting and selling property in the North Kensington area, Marsh & Parsons prides itself on its local know how, including the cost of a resident's parking permit, details of rubbish collection and even where to find the nearest bank, florist or locksmith.

Borough: Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Best thing: Books for cooks. A bookshop dedicated to nothing but eating.