King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the 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 through

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

and Fulham, both in west London. It is associated with 1960s style and with fashion figures such as

Mary Quant Dame Barbara Mary Quant, Mrs Plunket Greene, (born 11 February 1930)The Mary Quant exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2019-20 stated her year of birth as 1930, and that she became a student at Goldsmiths College around 1950. is a ...

and Vivienne Westwood. Sir Oswald Mosley's Blackshirt movement had a barracks on the street in the 1930s.

Location

King's Road runs for just under through Chelsea, in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, from Sloane Square in the east (on the border with Belgravia and

Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End. Toponymy Knightsbridge is an ancien ...

) 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 to Fulham High Street and

Putney Bridge Putney Bridge is a Grade II listed bridge over the River Thames in west London, linking Putney on the south side with Fulham to the north. The bridge has medieval parish churches beside its abutments: St Mary's Church, Putney is built on the so ...

; its western end is in the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham.

History

King's Road derives its name from its function as a private road used by King Charles II to travel to

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

. 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 a blue plaque to film director Sir

Carol Reed Sir Carol Reed (30 December 1906 – 25 April 1976) was an English film director and producer, best known for '' Odd Man Out'' (1947), '' The Fallen Idol'' (1948), ''The Third Man'' (1949), and ''Oliver!'' (1968), for which he was awarded the ...

, who lived there from 1948 until his death in 1976. Thomas Arne lived at No. 215 and is believed to have composed "

Rule Britannia "Rule, Britannia!" is a British patriotic song, originating from the 1740 poem "Rule, Britannia" by James Thomson and set to music by Thomas Arne in the same year. It is most strongly associated with the Royal Navy, but is also used by the ...

" there.

Ellen Terry Dame Alice Ellen Terry, (27 February 184721 July 1928), was a leading English actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born into a family of actors, Terry began performing as a child, acting in Shakespeare plays in London, and tour ...

lived in the same house from 1904 to 1920, and also Peter Ustinov; the house is commemorated by a blue plaque also. Photographer

Christina Broom Christina Broom (''née'' Livingston; 28 December 1862 – 5 June 1939) was a Scottish photographer, credited as "the UK's first female press photographer". History Broom's parents were Scottish though she was born at 8 King's Road, Chelsea, Lo ...

was born in 1862 at No. 8. The world's first artificial ice rink, the

Glaciarium The Glaciarium was the world's first mechanically frozen ice rinkMartin C. Harris, ''Homes of British Ice Hockey'' and was located in London, England. An item in the 8 June 1844 issue of Littell's Living Age headed "The Glaciarium" reported: ...

, opened just off King's Road in 1876, and later that year it relocated to a building on the street. During the 1960s the street became a symbol of mod culture, evoking "an endless frieze of mini-skirted, booted, fair-haired angular angels", one magazine later wrote. Mary Quant opened her boutique BAZAAR at 138a King's Road in 1955. King's Road was home in that decade to the

Chelsea Drugstore The Chelsea Drugstore was a sleek, modern travertine and brushed steel building on the corner of Royal Avenue and King's Road, Chelsea, London. It opened in 1968. Designed by architect Antony Cloughley and designer Colin Golding of GCB Associates, ...

(originally a chemist with a stylised chrome-and-neon

soda fountain A soda fountain is a device that dispenses carbonated soft drinks, called fountain drinks. They can be found in restaurants, concession stands and other locations such as convenience stores. The device combines flavored syrup or syrup concentra ...

upstairs, later a public house, and more recently a McDonald's), and in the 1970s to Malcolm McLaren's boutique Let It Rock, which was renamed SEX in 1974, and then Seditionaries in 1977. During the hippie and

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

eras it was a centre for counterculture, but has since been gentrified. It serves as Chelsea's

high street High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...

and has a reputation for being one of London's most fashionable shopping streets. Other celebrated boutiques included Granny Takes a Trip. 484 King's Road was the headquarters of Swan Song Records, owned by

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ci ...

. The company was closed and the building vacated in 1983. King's Road was the site of the first UK branch of Starbucks, 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 including

Roy Wood Roy Wood (born 8 November 1946) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the Move, Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard. As a songwriter, he contributed a ...

The Move The Move were a British rock band of the late 1960s and the early 1970s. They scored nine top 20 UK singles in five years, but were among the most popular British bands not to find any real success in the United States. For most of their car ...

, Cat Stevens,

The Walker Brothers The Walker Brothers were an American pop group of the 1960s and 1970s which included Noel Scott Engel (eventually known professionally as Scott Walker), John Walker (born John Joseph Maus, but using the name Walker since his teens) and Gary Le ...

and Elton John, opened the salon "Smile", at 434 King's Road. 535 King's Road was the headquarters of Cube Records, an independent record label of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The label folded in the mid-1970s, becoming part of Elektra Records. The building has since been demolished but the new building on the same site still houses a record company.

In popular culture

The road has been represented in popular culture on various occasions: "King's Road" is the title of a song by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers from the 1981 album ''

Hard Promises ''Hard Promises'' is the fourth studio album by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released on May 5, 1981 on Backstreet Records. History Its original working title was ''Benmont's Revenge'', referring to the band's keyboard player, Benmont Tench. ...

'' and is name-checked in the song "Dick a Dum Dum (King's Road)" which was a hit for

Des O'Connor Desmond Bernard O'Connor (12 January 1932 – 14 November 2020) was an English comedian, singer and television presenter. He was a long-time TV chat-show host, beginning with '' The Des O'Connor Show'' in 1963, which ran for ten years. He ...

in 1969. In Ian Fleming's novels,

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

lives in an unspecified fashionable square just off King's Road. In the 1960s radio series ''

Round the Horne ''Round the Horne'' is a BBC Radio comedy programme starring Kenneth Horne, first transmitted in four series of weekly episodes from 1965 until 1968. The show was created by Barry Took and Marty Feldman, who wrote the first three series. The ...

'', 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). Pet Shop Boys met in an electronics shop on King's Road in August 1981.

Planning and transport

;Planning The eastern part of King's Road is identified in the

London Plan The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Greater London area in the United Kingdom that is written by the Mayor of London and published by the Greater London Authority. The regional planning document was first pu ...

as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. King's Road is part of A3217. ;Bus Buses 11, 19, 22, 49,

211 Year 211 ( CCXI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, in the Roman Empire it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Terentius and Bassus (or, less frequently, year 964 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomin ...

, 319, 328, and C3 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. ;Rail and tube The western end of King's Road is close to Imperial Wharf railway station on the

London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, (via archive.org). it now serves a large part of Greater London as w ...

network, with connections to Willesden Junction and

Clapham Junction Clapham Junction is an urban locality around Clapham Junction railway station in London, England. Despite its name, it is not located in Clapham, but forms the commercial centre of Battersea. Clapham Junction was a scene of disturbances during ...

. Southern also run direct rail services to and from this station. At the eastern end of the street is Sloane Square, and Fulham 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 the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...

. Due to this, the route of

Crossrail 2 Crossrail 2 is a proposed hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit route in South East England, running from nine stations in Surrey to three in Hertfordshire, providing a new North–South rail link across Greater London. It would connect the ...

is proposed to have an underground station in this area, called King's Road Chelsea. ;River Chelsea Harbour Pier is also within easy reach of the western end of King's Road, with river bus services provided by London River Services and Thames Executive Charters to

Putney Putney () is a district of southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ancient paris ...

and Blackfriars. Further east, the same services are also provided at Cadogan Pier, only a few blocks south of King's Road near the Albert Bridge.

References

External links