Bayswater

Bayswater
Rooftop view of Bayswater, looking from the top of one of the Hallfield Estate tower blocks towards Kensington Gardens.
Bayswater Location within Greater Lunnon
OS grid reference	TQ255805
Region	Lunnon
Kintra	Ingland
Sovereign state	Unitit Kinrick
Post toun	LONDON
Postcode destrict	W2
Diallin code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	Lunnon
Ambulance	Lunnon
EU Pairlament	London
UK Pairlament	Cities of London and Westminster

Bayswater is an aurie o Central Lunnon in the Ceety o Wastmeenster . It is a biggit-up destrict locatit 3 mile (4.8 km) wast-north-wast o Charing Cross, borderin the north o Hyde Park an haein a population densitie o 17,500 per square kilometre.

Bayswater is ane o Lunnon's maist cosmopolitan area, wharein a diverse local population is augmentit bi a heich concentration o hotels. In addition tae the native Inglis, thare is a significant Arab population towards Edgware Road, a lairge Greek commonty attractit bi Lunnon's Greek Orthodox Cathedral, mony Americans an Lunnon's main Brazilian commonty.

The area haes attractive streets an gairden squares lined wi Victorian stucco terraces, maistly nou subdividit intae flats an buirdin hooses. The property ranges from very expensive apairtments tae sma studio flats. Thare are purpose-biggit apairtment blocks datin frae the inter-war period as well as mair recent developments an aw, an a lairge council estate, the 650-flat Hallfield Estate, designed bi Sir Denys Lasdun an nou lairgely sauld aff.

Queensway an Westbourne Grove are its busiest main streets, baith haeing mony ethnic-cuisine restaurants.

History

The laund nou cried Bayswater belanged tae the Abbey o Wastmeenster whan the Domesday Book wis compiled; the maist kenspeckle tenant unner the abbot wis Bainiardus, probably the same Norman associate o the Conqueror that gied his name tae Baynard's Castle. The strynd o the laund held bi him canna be clearly tracit: but his name lang remained attached tae pairt o it; an, as late as the year 1653, a parliamentary grant o the Abbey or Chapter launds descrieves "the common field at Paddington" as bein "near a place commonly cried Baynard's Watering." In 1720, the launds o the Dean an Chapter are descrieved tae be the occupation o Alexander Bond, o Bear's Watering, in the same parish o Paddington. It mey tharefore fairly be concludit that this portion o grund, aawyes remarkable for its springs o excellent watter, ance supplee'd watter tae Baynard, his hoosehauld, or his cattle; that the memory o his name wis preservit in the neebourheid for sax centuries; an that his wattering-place nou taks the abbreviatit name Bayswater.

Notable residents

• Damon Albarn
• James Dundas
• Brett Anderson
• Mike Atherton
• J. M. Barrie, playwricht an novelist, author o Peter Pan, an his wife Mary née Ansell, at 100 Bayswater Road
• Tony Blair
• Winston Churchill
• A. J. Cronin
• Ade Edmondson
• Roger C. Field, inventor an designer whose first hame wis flat D, 15 Cleveland Square
• Alexander Fleming
• Mariella Frostrup
• Ferdinand de Géramb
• Reginald Gray (Erse Airtist) lived wi his wife Catherine at 105a Queensway from 1958 to 1963.Efter thair divorce in 1975 Catherine mairit jazzman Chris Barber.
• J. B. Gunn, physicist, livit wi his mither, the Freudian psychoanalyst L. F. Gunn / Grey-Clarke, at 14 Dunbar Terrace, in the 1940s
• Alice Hart-Davis
• Dylan Jones
• Jonathan King
• Keira Knightley
• Guglielmo Marconi (the pioneer o wireless communication) livit at 71 Hereford Road atween 1896 an 1897 wi his mither upon arrival in Ingland (markit bi a Blue Plaque)
• Rik Mayall
• Stella McCartney
• Dermot O'Leary
• Irfan Orga (exile, writer) livit at 29, 35 an 21 Inverness Terrace frae 1942 till the mid fifties, publishin his memoirs Portrait of a Turkish Family in 1950.
• Jennifer Saunders
• Paul Simonon
• Sting occupied a basement flat at 28A Leinster Square in the late seiventies durin the formative years o The Police. Trudie Styler, nou his wife, livit in a basement flat twa doors doun.

Various persons of internaitional renown are frequently reportit as buying property in the aurie, includin Claudia Schiffer.

Local politics

The aurie elects sax cooncillors tae Wastmeenster Ceety Cooncil, currently aw Conservative. Three are electit frae the wairds o Bayswater, whare the Conservatives hae a majority in excess o 250 votes ower the Leeberal Democrats. Three are electit frae Lancaster Gate an aw, which is a safe Conservative waird, representit bi leader o the Cooncil Simon Milton.

Education

For education in Bayswater, see Leet o schuils in the Ceety o Wastmeenster.

Nearest places

• Paddington
• Notting Hill
• St John's Wood
• Knightsbridge
• Maida Vale
• Little Venice
• Kilburn

Nearest tube stations

The nearest London Underground stations are Bayswater, Queensway, Royal Oak an Lancaster Gate.

Places o interest

• Whiteleys Shopping Centre
• Marble Arch
• Hyde Park
• St Sophia's Cathedral
• Opus Dei UK heidquairters

Hotels in Bayswater

• umi Hotel London
• Hempel Hotel
• Queens Park Hotel

References in fiction

• In John le Carré's The Spy who Came in from the Cold, Liz is a member o the Bayswater South Branch o the Communist Party.
• In le Carré's Smiley's People, the retired Roushie major lives in a dingy flat on Westbourne Grove.
• Mony o the chairacters in Samuel Selvon's novel The Lonely Londoners live in Bayswater.
• The Alfred Hitchcock film Frenzy wis filmed in the aurie.
• In Martin Amis's Success, the twa main chairacters live thegither in a flat in Bayswater, which he calls 'the destrict of transients.'
• In Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Bracknell indicates that the perambulator (carrying Jack, as a baby) wis foond "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 wad hae preferred "smarter surroundings."
• In Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited, Charles Ryder's faither lives in Bayswater.
• Whiteleys is frequently seen in film, e.g. Love Actually, Closer, and wis referred to in My Fair Lady as Eliza Dolittle is sent "to Whiteleys to be attired" in Pygmalion. It an aa haes recording studios on the tap floor.
• Scenes in Alfie (1966) war filmed aroond Chepstow Road.
• The main chairacter in Iris Murdoch's novel A Word Child, Hilary Burde, haes a "flatlet" near Bayswater Tube Station.
• Scenes in The Black Windmill refer to, an war filmed aroond, the aurie.
• In the Italian comics series Dylan Dog the main chairacter 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 bi Anthony Powell.
• The Poisonous Seed a novel bi Linda Stratmann is set awmaist entirely in Victorian Bayswater.
• In Lauren Willig;s Pink Carnation Series, her chairacter Eloise Kelly lives in Bayswater while writing her doctoral thesis.

See an aw

• In reference tae the Bayswater river, refer tae 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