Enjoy the main feature in Chelsea with a flat in a glam former cinema

NOW richer than ever, Chelsea is no longer a place for the duchess and the dustman as it was in the Swinging Sixties. However, imaginative projects that mix housing, retail and leisure are creating a fresh vibe for a new generation.

Essoldo House is the redevelopment of the Everyman cinema at the corner of King’s Road and Old Church Street. Boasting a distinctive curved façade of handmade Danish bricks and bronze, it is a new local landmark bringing 11 flats, below, a new art house cinema, street-level bars and bistros.

Most of the homes have outside space, including one with a 1,063sq ft terrace, while three are duplexes. A showpiece three-bedroom flat at the top of the building has a spectacular rotunda with an oval-shaped glass roof. Prices from £2,295,000 to

£4.95 million. Underground parking spaces cost £125,000. Call Susan Metcalfe Residential on 020 7581 3349.

King’s Road Park, a new neighbourhood being built on a former gasworks site on the boundary with Fulham, aims to cash in on Chelsea’s cachet. It will have 1,843 flats, some with roof terraces, in three distinct “character areas” overlooking six acres of public open space.

Beaumont, the first phase, has 345 homes and a glazed-roof subterranean spa with pool, gym, fitness studios and treatment rooms, plus two private cinemas, private dining rooms, a club lounge and virtual golf. Residents also enjoy private courtyard gardens. Prices start at £790,000. Call developer St William on 020 3004 4112.