Applause for Clapham
Clapham is a multifaceted community, with the common as a centrepiece for all seasons. Clapham Common is a great place to take a walk on a chilly autumn day; it’s also perfect for a summer picnic. The 220plus acres feature three ponds and a restored bandstand. Other local green spaces include Wandsworth Common and Battersea Park.
Clapham attracts a wide-ranging demographic and particularly appeals to young professionals and families, with its many transport links and excellent state and private schools.
It is best known to many as the location of Nightingale House, part of Nightingale Hammerson, offering expert care for the elderly in the Jewish community. Nightingale House is adjacent to Wandsworth Common.
We asked estate agent Hamptons about the attractions of the Clapham property market.
WHY MOVE TO CLAPHAM?
The Abbeville and Clapham Old Town areas have a charming village community feel, while the high street represents a more typical London suburb with an array of amenities, retailers, bars and restaurants.
The transport links are a true feature of the area with three tube stations (Clapham North, Clapham Common and Clapham South) and three overground stations (Clapham High Street, Wandsworth Road and Clapham Junction).
A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY
The present-day Clapham High Street is in fact an ancient Roman road — a stone marking its existence can be found at the entrance to the former Clapham Library. The area was mentioned in the Domesday Book and was previouslypart of the Brixton Hundred and within Surrey. Many large 17th- and 18th-century country homes were built around the Common and attracted the wealthy gentry, including Samuel Pepys. Today, the area is split into two halves: the Old Town around Abbeville Road, which is popular with families, and the ‘Young Clapham’ around the high street, where there is new development.
ARCHITECTURE AND PROPERTY
Clapham has many different styles of houses, from detached and semidetached family homes to characterful terraced properties, as well as apartments. There is a strong family market for houses and an equally buoyant flat market for the younger professionals wanting to be within easy commutable distance of central London. Properties range from Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian and Arts and Crafts era to new-build, modern homes.
SHOPPING AND AMENITIES
Shopping in Clapham is excellent, with both small, independent shops and larger chains featuring prominently on Clapham’s High Street, Abbeville Road, Nightingale Lane, St John’s Road and Northcote Road.
Clapham Old Town offers a variety of shops, coffee shops and a local organic
food store. Brixton is close by, with its own line-up of independent and chain shops, restaurants and coffee shops.
GOING OUT
There are many pubs and restaurants in Clapham, which has something of a reputation for being a great night out. There are gastro pubs, independent bistro restaurants; there is even a Michelin star restaurant, Trinity.
Clapham’s bar scene is just as varied, including cocktail bars, lively pubs and nightclubs. Clapham is also home to a Picturehouse cinema.
SCHOOLS
Apples and Honey, at Nightingale House, offers “an intergenerational
pre-school and daycare with a Jewish ethos”. There are 13 primary schools (four rated outstanding by Ofsted), plus several secondary schools that are rated outstanding.
TRANSPORT
Two train stations run on the East London Line and there are three underground stations on the Northern Line. Clapham Junction is Europe’s busiest railway station, with arrivals every 13 seconds in peak time. From here it’s just ten minutes into central London, but it’s also possible to travel further afield to Surrey, Hampshire and the South Coast. Buses are also convenient and for cyclists there’s the Cycle Superhighway 7 via the common.
CLAPHAM DEVELOPMENTS OFFERED BY HAMPTONS
Two Grade II listed Georgian townhouses have been redesigned into ten characterful apartments at 381-383 Clapham Road. They have period features such as high ceilings, beautiful fireplaces and sash windows; the interiors are modern and luxurious and they come with off-street parking. They are ready to move into. Prices start at £450,000.
Medal Makers House is a new development of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, all with outside space and access to the communal roof terrace with far-reaching views of the Shard. The development is on a peaceful side road but is moments from Clapham Common or the high street. It is 0.2 miles from the Northern Line tube and 0.3 miles from Clapham High Street (Overground). Prices start at £520,000.
Edgeley Road is an impressive period conversion with three onebedroom open-plan apartments, on a popular residential road, well placed for Clapham High Street, Clapham Old Town and Clapham North. Clapham Common is within easy reach. Local transport links include Clapham North tube and Wandsworth Road and Clapham High Street Overground, plus excellent bus services, providing quick, easy access into the City, West End and Canary Wharf. Prices start at £489,950.