Bayswater

Bayswater
View across Bayswater, looking south towards Kensington Gardens, from the roof of a block on the Hallfield Estate
Bayswater Bayswater shown within Greater London
Population	10,300 (2011 Census. Westminster Ward)[1]
OS grid reference	TQ255805
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LONDON
Postcode district	W2
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
EU Parliament	London
UK Parliament	Cities of London and Westminster Westminster North

Bayswater is an area within the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in central London.^[2] It is a built-up district located 2.5 miles (4.0 km) west-north-west of Charing Cross, bordering the north of Kensington Gardens and having a population density of 17,500 per square kilometre.

Bayswater is one of London's most cosmopolitan areas: a diverse local population is augmented by a high concentration of hotels. In addition to the English, there are many other nationalities; in particular there is a large Greek community around St Sophia's Cathedral, Moscow Road – London's Greek Orthodox Cathedral, a sizeable French community, Americans and London's largest Brazilian community. There is also a significant Arab community present here. The area has attractive streets and garden squares lined with Victorian stucco terraces, mostly now subdivided into flats and boarding houses. The property ranges from very expensive apartments to small studio flats. There are also purpose-built apartment blocks dating from the inter-war period as well as more recent developments, and a large council estate, the 650-flat Hallfield Estate, designed by Sir Denys Lasdun and now largely sold off.

Queensway and Westbourne Grove are its busiest main streets, both having many ethnic-cuisine restaurants.

History

The land now called Bayswater belonged to the Abbey of Westminster when the Domesday Book was compiled; the most considerable tenant under the abbot was Bainiardus, probably the same Norman associate of the Conqueror who gave his name to Baynard's Castle. The descent of the land held by him cannot be clearly traced: but his name long remained attached to part of it; and, as late as the year 1653, a parliamentary grant of the Abbey or Chapter lands describes "the common field at Paddington" as being "near a place commonly called Baynard's Watering." In 1720, the lands of the Dean and Chapter are described to be the occupation of Alexander Bond, of Bear's Watering, in the same parish of Paddington. It may therefore fairly be concluded that this portion of ground, always remarkable for its springs of excellent water, once supplied water to Baynard, his household, or his cattle; that the memory of his name was preserved in the neighbourhood for six centuries; and that his watering-place now takes the abbreviated name Bayswater.

Notable residents

Local politics

The Bayswater area elects a total of six councillors to Westminster City Council, three each from the eponymous Bayswater Ward,^[8] and from Lancaster Gate Ward.^[9]

Following the 2018 Westminster City Council elections, five members belong to the Conservative Party and one to the Labour Party, with the Bayswater Ward being a split-party marginal and Lancaster Gate being a fully Conservative-held ward.

Education

Nearest places

• Paddington
• Notting Hill
• St John's Wood
• Knightsbridge
• Little Venice
• Kensington

Nearest tube stations

Bayswater station

The stations within the district are Bayswater and Queensway. Other nearby stations include Paddington (Bakerloo, Circle and District lines and Circle and Hammersmith & City lines),^[10] Royal Oak (In Westbourne) and Lancaster Gate (To the east).

Places of interest

• Whiteleys Shopping Centre
• Marble Arch
• Hyde Park
• St Sophia's Cathedral
• Opus Dei UK headquarters
• The Mitre, Bayswater

References in fiction

• In John le Carré's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Liz is a member of the Bayswater South Branch of the Communist Party.
• In le Carré's Smiley's People, the retired Russian major lives in a dingy flat on Westbourne Grove.
• Many of the characters in Samuel Selvon's novel The Lonely Londoners live in Bayswater.
• The Alfred Hitchcock film Frenzy was filmed in the area.
• In Martin Amis's Success, the two main characters live together in a flat in Bayswater, which he calls 'the district of transients.'
• In Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Bracknell indicates that the perambulator (carrying Jack, as a baby) was found "standing by itself in a remote corner of Bayswater".
• In Saki's short story "Cross Currents" (1909), Vanessa Pennington lives on a "Bayswater back street" but would have preferred "smarter surroundings."
• In Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited, Charles Ryder's father lives in Bayswater.
• Whiteleys is frequently seen in film, e.g. Love Actually, Closer, and was referred to in My Fair Lady as Eliza Doolittle is sent "to Whiteleys to be attired" in Pygmalion. It also has Princess Productions' studios on the top floor.
• Scenes in Alfie (1966) were filmed around Chepstow Road.
• The main character in Iris Murdoch's novel A Word Child, Hilary Burde, has a "flatlet" near Bayswater Tube Station.
• Scenes in The Black Windmill refer to, and were filmed around, the area.
• In the Italian comics series Dylan Dog the main character lives in Craven Road.
• Nick Jenkins meets Uncle Giles for tea at the Ufford Hotel, "riding at anchor on the sluggish Bayswater tide", in The Acceptance World (1955), volume three of A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell.
• The Poisonous Seed a novel by Linda Stratmann is set almost entirely in Victorian Bayswater.
• In Lauren Willig's Pink Carnation Series, her character Eloise Kelly lives in Bayswater while writing her doctoral thesis.

See also

• In reference to the Bayswater river, refer to River Westbourne
• Aeroford – automobile manufactured in Bayswater
• Leinster Gardens – a false façade on this street hides a London Underground line from view
• Craven Hill Gardens

References

https://tfl.gov.uk/maps/track/tube

External links

• Media related to Bayswater at Wikimedia Commons