Traversed by the east–west main roads of the A4 Great West Road and the A40Westway, many international corporations have offices in the borough.[1] The local council is Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council. The borough is amongst the four most expensive boroughs for residential properties in the United Kingdom, along with Kensington and Chelsea, the City of Westminster and Camden.[2]
The area of the modern borough broadly corresponds to the ancient parish of Fulham, which was historically part of the county of Middlesex. The manor (estate) of Fulham can be traced back to the seventh century when it was granted to the Bishop of London.[3] The chapelry of Hammersmith was given its own vestry in 1631, making it a separate civil parish from Fulham.[4]
From 1856 the area was governed by the Metropolitan Board of Works, which was established to provide services across the metropolis of London.[5] In 1889 the Metropolitan Board of Works' area was made the County of London. From 1856 until 1900 the lower tier of local government within the metropolis comprised various parish vestries and district boards. From 1856 until 1886 the two parishes of Fulham and Hammersmith were administered together as the Fulham District. The Fulham district was dissolved in 1886 when the vestries for its two parishes took on district functions.[6]
The modern borough was formed in 1965 under the London Government Act 1963, covering the combined area of the former metropolitan boroughs of Fulham and Hammersmith.[8] The new borough was originally called the London Borough of Hammersmith, but the council changed the borough's name to the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham with effect from 1 April 1979.[9]
Fulham saw industrialisation and urbanisation from the start of the 19th-century, with the establishment of the world's first energy utility company, at Sands End in 1824, followed by road and rail transport development to the east of the borough. Vacant land by the new railway sidings on the boundary with Kensington and Chelsea London Borough Council led to the development of the Earls Court Exhibition Centre, visited by Queen Victoria in 1879 when she attended Bill Cody's Wild West Show at West Brompton. There followed numerous international fairs and exhibitions for a century until the construction of Earls Court II in the borough in the 1980s. This was dismantled by developers in 2015.
According to the 2001 census Hammersmith and Fulham has a population of 165,242. 60% of the borough's population is White British, 20% white non-British (among which are large French, Polish, Portuguese and Irish communities), 5% black Caribbean, 8% black African with various other ethnicities (including Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Chinese) making up the remaining 11 per cent.
The borough has the second-highest proportion of single adults of any borough in England and Wales (55%), and a higher than average proportion for the London area of young adults aged 20–29 (24%).
Around 50% of households are owner–occupiers, and 22% of households were listed as "other" – that is, not single persons living alone or families. These are generally two or more unrelated adults living together, such as students or cohabiting couples.
The borough comprises a patchwork of extremely affluent as well as some less affluent neighbourhoods; The areas of Fulham, Parsons Green, Brackenbury Village, Brook Green, Ravenscourt Park and the Riverside compose of highly expensive Victorian and Edwardian houses, contrasting to the areas of White City and Shepherd's Bush. The unemployment rate is well below average at under 5%, although of these, 29% were listed as long-term unemployed.
See external links below for more census information from the borough.
Iberia operates the Iberia House in the borough.[21]All Nippon Airways operates the London Office on the fourth floor of Hythe House.[22][23]South African Airways has its United Kingdom office in the South African Airways House.[24] CE Europe, a subsidiary of Capcom, has its head office in the George House in Hammersmith in the borough. As of May 2011 it will be relocating to the Metro Building in Hammersmith.[25][26]Iran Air's London offices are also located in the borough.[27] The airline moved there by Wednesday 4 January 2012.[28]Disney and L'Oréal also all have UK headquarters in Hammersmith, as well as a number of other major businesses.[29]
Hammersmith & Fulham RFC have been playing in the borough at Hurlingham Park for over 30 years. They boast four senior men's sides and one Ladies XV. The men's 1st XV currently compete in London's NE2 League with the remainder of the sides participating in the Middlesex Merit Tables.
Tennis
Public and private courts are available throughout the borough.
Lower Mall hosted several rowing clubs at the end of the 19th century, of which there are two survivors and one founded slightly later. Among those who moved elsewhere or were disbanded were those in the headquarters of the national governing body, British Rowing, The Priory.
The first half of the Boat Race course, which is known as the Championship Course, hosting hundreds of eights the weekend before and many other races, is on the borough's most obvious boundary: its section of the Tideway – the upper estuary of the Thames.
Two main road arteries, the A4 road and the A40 road cross the borough.
Hammersmith bus station at Hammersmith Broadway, above the District and Piccadilly lines tube station, is an important bus hub to most parts of London.
In March 2011, the main forms of transport that residents used to travel to work were: underground, metro, light rail, tram, 26.8% of all residents aged 16–74; bus, minibus or coach, 8.8%; on foot, 8.8%; driving a car or van, 8.2%; bicycle, 5.1%; work mainly at or from home, 4.2%; train, 3.1%.[32]
Culture
The See of London has occupied the Fulham Palace riverside grounds for close on 900 years. The Palace is leased to the borough since 1977 and is now a museum.
Hammersmith has been the seat of the Polish Social and Cultural Centre, known as POSK in King Street, for several decades. It houses a number of organisations which serve Polish expatriates and others interested in Polish culture, including a theatre, an exhibition space, a library and archives as well as retail and dining facilities. It occasionally hosts other organisations in the borough, including the Fulham Symphony Orchestra. It is also the home of the Polish University Abroad.[33]
Public libraries in the borough include Askew Road Library, Avonmore Library, Fulham Library, Hammersmith Library, Sands End Library, and Shepherds Bush Library.[34] The Borough Archives, open to the public Mondays and Tuesdays, staffed mainly by volunteers, are accessed in Hammersmith Library.
The borough is the home of an 1893 establishment, the Sacred Heart High School, Hammersmith on Hammersmith Broadway, and of Lady Margaret School (LMS) on Parsons Green, a school that welcomes girls of all academic abilities aged 11–17 years. It has been at the forefront of girls' education for over 95 years and has its origins in Whitelands College School which was founded in 1842. When that school was threatened with closure Lady Margaret was established in September 1917 by the redoubtable Miss Enid Moberly Bell.[35] The borough is also home to two prestigious independent girls' schools – St Paul's Girls' School in Brook Green (often ranked in first place in the country in league tables, with nearly 50% of each year group gaining entry to Oxbridge), and the Godolphin and Latymer School, situated a few minutes' walk from Hammersmith Broadway.[citation needed]
The London Oratory School is a leading Roman Catholic secondary school in East Fulham.
The exclusive independent girls' preparatory school Bute House is also in Brook Green.
There are two notable independent French language primary schools: Ecole Jacques Prevert in Brook Green and the Ecole Marie d'Orliac in Hurlingham.
^"Religion - 2021 census". Office of National Statistics. 29 November 2022. Archived from the original on 29 November 2022. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
^"Contact." Capcom. Retrieved on 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"
^"Office Relocation for CE Europe to the Metro Building." Maris Interiors. May 2011. Retrieved on 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."
^Murawski, Michal (2020). "The Palace of Culture". In Hatherley, Owen (ed.). The alternative guide to the London boroughs. London: Open City. pp. 226–233. ISBN9781916016910.