 King's Road, looking east towards Sloane Square | |
 Interactive map of King's Road | |
| Length | 1.9 mi (3.1 km) |
|---|---|
| Location | Chelsea, London, England |
| Postal code | SW3,SW6,SW10 |
| South end | Sloane Square |
| West end | Waterford Road |
| Other | |
| Known for | Shopping,Peter Jones,Saatchi Gallery |
King's Road orKings Road (or sometimesthe King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents) is a major street stretching throughChelsea andFulham, both in west London, England. It is associated with1960s style and with fashion figures such asMary Quant andVivienne Westwood. SirOswald Mosley'sBlackshirt movement had a barracks on the street in the 1930s.[1]
King's Road runs for just under two miles (3.2 km) through Chelsea, in theRoyal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, fromSloane Square in the east (on the border withBelgravia andKnightsbridge) and through the Chelsea Design Quarter (Moore Park Estate) on the border of Chelsea and Fulham. Shortly after crossing Stanley Bridge the road passes a slight kink at the junction with Waterford Road, where it then becomes New King's Road, continuing toFulham High Street andPutney Bridge; its western end is in theLondon Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham.
King's Road derives its name from its function as a private road used byKing Charles II to travel toKew. It remained a private royal road until 1830, but people with connections were able to use it. Some houses date from the early 18th century. No. 213 has ablue plaque to film director SirCarol Reed, who lived there from 1948 until his death in 1976.Thomas Arne lived at no. 215 and is believed to have composed "Rule Britannia" there.Ellen Terry lived in the same house from 1904 to 1920, and alsoPeter Ustinov; Terry's residence is also commemorated by a blue plaque. The photographerChristina Broom was born in 1862 at no. 8.
In 1871, theChelsea Hospital for Women was founded on King's Road, later moving toFulham Road.[2] The corner of King's Road andManresa Road was occupied from 1895 to 1985 byChelsea College of Science and Technology before it was subsumed intoKing's College London and immediately sold into private hands.
The world's first artificialice rink, theGlaciarium, opened just off King's Road in 1876, and later that year it relocated to a building on the street.[citation needed]
During the 1960s the street became a symbol ofmod culture, evoking "an endless frieze of mini-skirted, booted, fair-haired angular angels", one magazine later wrote.[3] Mary Quant opened her boutique BAZAAR at 138a King's Road in 1955. King's Road was home in that decade to theChelsea Drugstore (originally a chemist with a stylised chrome-and-neonsoda fountain upstairs, later apublic house), and in the 1970s toMalcolm McLaren'sboutique Let It Rock, which was renamedSEX in 1974, and then Seditionaries in 1977. During thehippie andpunk eras it was a centre forcounterculture, but has since beengentrified. It serves as Chelsea'shigh street and has a reputation for being one of London's most fashionable shopping streets. Other celebrated boutiques includedGranny Takes a Trip.
484 King's Road was the headquarters ofSwan Song Records, owned byLed Zeppelin. The company was closed and the building vacated in 1983. King's Road was the site of the first UK branch ofStarbucks, which opened in 1999.
In 1984,Keith Wainwright, a pioneer responsible for starting one of the first men's hairdressers catering for the longer men's styles of the time, with such clients includingRoy Wood,Cat Stevens andThe Walker Brothers, opened the salon "Smile", at 434 King's Road.[citation needed]
535 King's Road was the headquarters ofCube Records, an independent record label of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The label folded in the mid-1970s, becoming part ofElektra Records. The building has since been demolished but the new building on the same site still houses a record company.
The road has been represented in popular culture on various occasions: "King's Road" is the title of a song byTom Petty & the Heartbreakers from the 1981 albumHard Promises and is name-checked in the song "Dick a Dum Dum (King's Road)" which was a hit forDes O'Connor in 1969. InIan Fleming's novels,James Bond lives in an unspecified fashionable square just off King's Road. Al Stewart wrote "Gina in the King's Road" for his 2005 album "A Beach Full of Shells."
In the 1960s radio seriesRound the Horne, in the 'Jules and Sandy' section, their establishment (named 'Bona...'), is often located in the King's Road (for example, Bona Books in series 4).[citation needed]
Pet Shop Boys met in an electronics shop on King's Road in August 1981.
The eastern part of King's Road is identified in theLondon Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.[4] King's Road is part of A3217.[5]
Buses11,19,22,49,211,319,328, andC3 all go down King's Road, yet most of these turn off the street at one point or another. The 11 and the 22 are the only routes which run the entirety of King's Road, with the 22 being the only route that runs all the way from Sloane Square to the end of New King's Road in Fulham.
The western end of King's Road is close toImperial Wharf railway station on theLondon Overground network, with connections toWillesden Junction andClapham Junction.Southern also run direct rail services toMilton Keynes Central andEast Croydon from this station. At the eastern end of the street isSloane Square, andFulham Broadway lies at the western end, on the boundary between Chelsea and Fulham. King's Road, and the area of Chelsea as a whole, is known for having poor links to theLondon Underground. Due to this, the route ofCrossrail 2 is proposed to have an underground station in this area, calledKing's Road Chelsea.
Chelsea Harbour Pier is also within easy reach of the western end of King's Road, with river bus services provided byLondon River Services and Thames Executive Charters toPutney andBlackfriars. Further east, the same services are also provided at Cadogan Pier, only a few blocks south of King's Road near theAlbert Bridge.
51°29′15″N0°10′08″W / 51.48737°N 0.168874°W /51.48737; -0.168874
