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Hammersmith

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For the Canadian rock band, see Hammersmith (band).
Hammersmith
OS grid referenceTQ233786
London borough
Ceremonial countyGreater London
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townLONDON
Postcode districtW6
Dialling code020
PoliceMetropolitan
FireLondon
AmbulanceLondon
UK Parliament
London Assembly
List of places
UK
England
London

Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles (eight kilometres) west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames. One of west London's key transport hubs and commercial and employment centres, and home to several multinational company offices, it is focused on the two London Underground stations, bus station and road network node at Hammersmith Broadway.

It is bordered by Shepherds Bush to the north, Kensington to the east, Fulham to the south and Chiswick to the west, and is linked by Hammersmith Bridge to Barnes in the southwest.

It has for some decades been the main centre of London's Polish minority.[1][2]

Neighbouring districts

See also: List of districts in Hammersmith and Fulham

Acton, Barnes, Chiswick, Fulham, Shepherds Bush, Kensington, West Kensington

History

House construction and industrial development flourished.[when?] Major industrial sites included the Osram lamp factory at Brook Green, the J. Lyons factory (which at one time employed 30,000 people) and the largest municipal power station in Britain, built near the gasworks in Sands End.

All these have subsequently been closed and redeveloped as the area has moved from an industrial base to a greater focus on commerce and services.

Geography

A panoramic view looking of the Thames at Hammersmith, opposite the Harrods Repository.
Panorama of the Thames river at Hammersmith, April 2011.

Economy

Hammersmith is a natural centre of activity, located at the confluence of a key arterial route out of central London (the A4) with several local feeder roads and a bridge over the Thames. The focal point of the district is the commercial centre (the Broadway Centre) located at this confluence, which houses a shopping centre, bus station, an Underground station and an office complex.

King Street

Stretching about 750m westwards from this centre is King Street, Hammersmith's main shopping street which contains its second shopping centre (King's Mall), many small shops, the Town Hall, the Lyric Theatre, a cinema and two hotels. Seraphine Hotels have opened their third boutique hotel on King Street, their first outside Kensington. King Street is supplemented by other shops along Shepherds Bush Road to the north, Fulham Palace Road to the south and Hammersmith Road to the east.

Hammersmith's office activity takes place mainly to the eastern side of its centre, along Hammersmith Road and in the Ark, an architecturally-unique office complex to the south of the flyover which traverses the area. The offices of International SOS, Bechtel, Coca-Cola, Disney, Pokémon, L'Oréal, NHS Hammersmith and Fulham, Sony Ericsson, Shazam, Universal Music Group, World Wrestling Entertainment, AOL UK, Accor UK, Next Fifteen Communications, US Airways, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, Frost Meadowcroft Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands and Royal Jordanian Airlines are all found in Hammersmith. Two NHS hospitals provide jobs in Hammersmith - Charing Cross Hospital to the south of the centre on Fulham Palace Road and Hammersmith Hospital in the north. Charing Cross Hospital is a large multi-disciplinary hospital with an accident & emergency department and teaching department run by the Imperial College School of Medicine.

CE Europe, a subsidiary of Capcom, has its head office in the George House in Hammersmith. As of May 2011 it will be relocating to the Metro Building,[3][4] an 11 storey, 106,000-square-foot (9,800 m2) building in Hammersmith.[4]

For a fifteen-year period,[5] Air France had its UK and Ireland office in Colet Court in Hammersmith.[6][7] In 2006 the UK and Ireland office was moved to Hatton Cross, London Borough of Hounslow.[5]

HammersmithLondon[8] is responsible for delivering a Business Improvement District (BID) to Hammersmith. It is a business-led not-for-profit limited company established to represent the views of local businesses in Hammersmith town centre. The company identifies and delivers tangible initiatives to benefit local businesses and improve their operating environment.

Architecture

Architecturally, Hammersmith is notable for

Property management

Hammersmith has a cornucopia of organisations that offer property management. It is a trade that has existed in the area for generations.

Culture and entertainment

The famous Dove Pub - entrance in the alley that is the only surviving trace of the old Hammersmith Village. (September 2005)
  • "The Dove" riverside pub, the oldest[citation needed] surviving riverside pub in London with, reputedly, the smallest bar in the world, frequented in the past by Ernest Hemingway and Graham Greene. The narrow alley in which it stands is the only remnant of the riverside village of Hammersmith, the bulk of which was demolished in the 1930s. Furnivall Gardens, which lies to the east, covers the site of Hammersmith Creek and the High Bridge. The site of the creek can be ascertained by a mound near the Great West Road.

US Broadcasters NBC and ABC both have their London News Bureau in Hammersmith.

Leisure and social activities

In addition to the cinema and pubs of King Street, leisure activity also takes place along Hammersmith's pedestrianised riverside, home to a number of pubs, rowing clubs and the riverside park of Furnival Gardens. Hammersmith also has a large municipal park called Ravenscourt Park located to the west of the centre. Its facilities include tennis courts, a basketball court, a bowling lawn, a paddling pool and playgrounds.[13] The whole area is covered by the same W6 postcode as Hammersmith town centre.

Hammersmith is the historical home of the West London Penguin Swimming and Water Polo Club, formerly known as the Hammersmith Penguin Swimming Club.

"Round Table London Hammersmith 48" is a community service and networking club for men aged 18 to 45. Regular meetings are held at the London Corinthian Sailing Club on the banks of the river Thames.

The "Polish Social and Cultural Centre" (known as POSK)[14] is based in Hammersmith, with facilities including a library, a theatre, restaurants and cafes, and houses many other Polish organisations.

Transport

Hammersmith Bridge
Hammersmith tube roundel

The area is on the main A4 trunk road heading west from central London towards the M4 motorway and Heathrow Airport. The A4, a busy commuter route, passes over the area's main road junction, Hammersmith Gyratory System, on a long viaduct, the Hammersmith Flyover. Hammersmith Bridge, the first suspension bridge over the River Thames, carries traffic to and from Barnes and southwest London.

The centre of Hammersmith is served by two tube stations, both named Hammersmith. One is the western terminus of the Hammersmith & City and Circle lines, while the larger one served by the Piccadilly and District Lines . The latter tube station is part of a larger office, retail and transport development, locally known as "The Broadway Centre". Hammersmith Broadway, itself, stretches from the junction of Queen Caroline Street and King Street in the west to the junction of Hammersmith Road and Butterwick in the east. It forms the north side of the gyratory system also known as Hammersmith Roundabout. The Broadway Shopping Centre includes a large modern bus station, which is open 24 hours a day and served by a large number of buses, night buses, airport transfer buses and some long distance coaches.

The length of King Street places the westernmost shops and offices closest to Ravenscourt Park tube station on the District line, one stop west of Hammersmith itself.

Hammersmith also used to be able to boast of having not one but two public passenger transport depots: Hammersmith Trolleybus Depot (coded "HB") situated opposite Fulham Palace Road and a Motor Bus Garage, known as Riverside (coded "R") to stop confusion with "HB". Riverside was originally a mansion and after the bus operations ceased the fascia of the building was listed.

Hammersmith features in Charles Dickens Great Expectations as the home of the Pocket family. Pip resides with the Pockets in their house by the river and partakes in boating on the Thames.

News from Nowhere (1890) written by William Morris is a utopian novel that describes a journey upstream the River Thames from Hammersmith towards Oxford; it is of growing interest to contemporary ecological and socialist political movements.

In 1930, Gustav Holst composed a work for military band (later rewritten for orchestra) entitled Hammersmith to reflect his impressions of the area, having lived across the river in nearby Barnes for nearly forty years. It begins with a haunting musical depiction of the River Thames flowing underneath Hammersmith Bridge. Holst was a music teacher at St Paul's Girls' School, where he composed many of his most famous works, including The Planets suite. A music room in the school is named after him.

Hammersmith has provided a location for several television programmes, including the BBC comedy series Bottom, Channel 4's TFI Friday, and the vampire drama Ultraviolet. The opening credits of Bottom show the Hammersmith Broadway (also mentioned in The Pogues' song Dark Streets of London) development, then called Centre West, when it was under construction. In addition, the Flying Squad were Hammersmith-based in the 1970s TV series The Sweeney. Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective contains scenes that appear to be under and adjacent to Hammersmith Bridge, and Peter Howitt's Sliding Doors includes scenes in and around Hammersmith Bridge. The popular Thames Television series Minder also features black and white photographs of Hammersmith Bridge and the Blue Anchor pub in the closing credits.

Notable people

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  • Russ Malkin (born 1960 ) – television presenter and producer

References

  1. ^ "UnToldLondon". UnToldLondon. 19 January 2012. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  2. ^ Kirby, Terry (11 February 2006). "750,000 and rising: how Polish workers have built a home in Britain". The Independent. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
  3. ^ "Contact". capcom-europe.com. Retrieved 12 August 2011. UK: CE Europe Ltd 26-28 Hammersmith Grove, 9th Floor London W6 7HA" and "Germany: CEG Interactive Entertainment GmbH Barmbeker Strasse 4 b 22303 Hamburg, Germany" and "France: Capcom Entertainment France 30 bis, rue du Viel Abreuvoir FR.78100 Saint Germain En Laye
  4. ^ a b "Office Relocation for CE Europe to the Metro Building". Maris Interiors. May 2011. Retrieved 13 August 2011. "Maris are pleased to announce the commencement of the office fit-out for CE Europe Ltd, who are relocating offices to the Metro Building, Hammersmith, London, W6." and "Maris are relocating CE Europe’s London operations from their present offices in George House, 26-28 Hammersmith Grove to Hammersmith’s Metro Building."
  5. ^ a b Press release (6 January 2006). "Air France and KLM Celebrate Official Inauguration of New Office in London". Air France. Retrieved 17 May 2011.
  6. ^ Pybus, Victoria. Live and Work in France. Vacation Work, 2002. 158. Retrieved from Google Books on 4 March 2011. "Colet Court, 100 Hammersmith Road, London W6 7JP" ISBN 1-85458-284-4, ISBN 978-1-85458-284-3.
  7. ^ "Career Opportunities." Air France Great Britain and Ireland. 15 August 2004. Retrieved 4 March 2011. "Our head office is in Hammersmith, West London,[...]"
  8. ^ iWeb @ www.iwebsolutions.co.uk. "hammersmithlondon.co.uk". hammersmithlondon.co.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  9. ^ "Savills UK | 404". Savills.com. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  10. ^ "Hammersmith Bridge Road Surgery London by Guy Greenfield". Galinsky.com. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  11. ^ Dan Hodges. "Best and worst of Hammersmith and Fulham buildings named".
  12. ^ "architectureweek.org.uk". architectureweek.org.uk. 24 June 2007. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  13. ^ "Time Out, "London's best local parks," 29 August 2008". Timeout.com. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  14. ^ "posk.org". posk.org. Retrieved 1 February 2012.

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