In November 2008, I was fortunate (?) enough to move to the heart of Chelsea from Kilburn. Now, after 15 years in Kilburn I’ve seen some changes and no doubt, any spiky haired bulging tie knot young punk from Foxtons will happily chronicle its ascendancy. ‘The Hampstead Borders’ or ‘Queens Park’ (depending on which side you live) is now a bone fide residence of the overspill upper and middle classes who get more for their money than in St Johns Wood or Notting Hill. I’d got quite used to bumping into Jade Jagger and David Tennant – perfect examples of this new influx. Nothing, however, prepared me for the massive culture change I experienced in the weeks following my move.
SW3 is perhaps London’s most glamorous postcode with a history of abundance and excess dating from the Henry VIII’s days through the swinging sixties, rock star seventies, Sloaney eighties and more recently the resurgence due to ‘The New Sloanes’ which of course include our very own Prince Harry. What lies beneath the glam facade though makes for interesting observation and commentary. I often laugh out loud at what I see when out and about however this is also countered with shock and sometimes downright amazement at the shenanigans of my new neighbours. It’s somewhere where absolutely anything can happen at any time, as I discover on a daily basis.
I remember when I first spent time in LA back in ’92, I saw so many obscure sights that I noticed I was talking out loud to myself on a sanity challenging regular basis, “Only in America? Only in LA more like!” It was with a flashback to those same feelings that I felt a desire to put pen to paper to share my nuggets of insight into this fascinating area.
This commentary is a celebration of the comings and goings, changes and developments, people and personalities, even ‘insider information’ – as seen from the street. It drills down through Chelsea’s public persona, leaving the exposed parts for the reader to delight and disfavour.
It is not a rant or an extension of somebody’s class war. It is my regular blog, as accurate as I can get it and shares the views of one honest bloke, a Londoner, a nouveau Chelsea Boy.
Only in America, they say. Only in Chelsea, more like.
This is a blog about living in the real Chelsea.
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