Exploring Kensington, London, England
Note: This post has been updated on September 30, 2023.
There are no shortage of things to do and see in London. Every time we come back, we find new areas to explore and new things to learn. Because of this, we have broken out our London post into several.
The below information is a complete guide of the best places to stay, the top rated places to dine and drink, and all there is to see and do in Kensington. For transportation tips, as well as a summary of the history of this amazing city, please refer back to the London post.
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Where to Stay
While there are many areas to stay in, we have chosen the most popular to consider:
Where to Dine & Drink
Cempaka
Serving homemade Pan-Asian food and western cuisine.
Chenestons
Upscale dining and over 300 wines in a grand Victorian hotel dining room with wooden panels.
Churchill Arms
Known has London’s most colorful and floral pub. Check out Blackbeard’s video short for a peek in side.
Dishoom
An upscale Indian restaurant in the heart of Kensington.
Grato
Streamlined restaurant offering handmade pasta & regional Italian fare, plus a curated wine list.
Il Portico
This stalwart Italian restaurant still lures locals with homemade pasta and Emilia Romagna cuisine.
Jacuzzi
Per their site, “Introducing our first palazzo to pleasure, a bedecked and bountiful 4 floors spread across 4,000 sq ft and 170 seats, crammed with Italian treasures from Roman statues to Murano glass. “ They offer lesser-known dishes in regions across Italy
La Fortuna
Cosy restaurant offering handmade pasta, antipasti platters & pizzas in a brick-walled dining area.
La Palombe
Per their site, “A large wood burning grill and rotisserie takes centre stage where the majority of the dishes are cooked over live embers. The short menu changes often and concentrates on plates with a sense of history and provenance, including our speciality of wild and foraged foods.”
Launceston Place
Fine dining restaurant in an 1839 townhouse, with a notable wine list and Modern British menu.
Louza
Health-conscious Mediterranean dishes & pastries offered in an unpretentious locale.
Ognisko
Opulent white dining room and a hotel-style bar for a menu of upscale Polish and Baltic dishes.
Pravaas
Serving Indian cuisine.
Stables Bar
Elegant, traditional bar serving cocktails and elevated pub fare at the Milestone Hotel.
The Sushi Co
Serving sushi.
Zaika
An upscale Indian restaurant in the heart of Kensington.
Things to See & Do
Alfred Hitchcock’s London Flat
In 1926, Hitchcock married screenwriter Alma Reville in South Kensington. After a romantic honeymoon in Paris, the newlyweds settled in a new flat at 153 Cromwell Road in Kensington. The couple leased the top two floors of the building with the top floor used as private bedrooms and the lower floor used for entertaining and lounging.
In 1928, the Hitchcocks welcomed their daughter, Patricia, who was born in July. The trio lived at the Cromwell Road address well into the 1930s until they left for America in 1939. In 1999, Patricia returned to the London flat for the centenary of Alfred Hitchcock’s birthday, which was commemorated with a blue heritage plaque still visible on the property today.
Once owned by the local council and used as space for asylum seekers and refugees, the former Hitchcock home is now a private residence that was sold for £799,000.
TIP: This is a private residence so people can only view the plaque out front.
Freddie Mercury's Former Home and Studio
Mercury moved into the Garden Lodge Mansion in 1985. In the beginning, it was host to raucous parties and late night recording sessions in the attached studio. However, as Mercury’s health deteriorated, he retreated from the public eye. Despite the fact that he denied his HIV positive diagnosis, he began to spend less and less time performing. He grew increasingly frail and in the final weeks of his life, he was tended to by his former lover and best friend, Mary Austin. Mercury died on November 24, 1991. He left the home and much of his estate to Austin, wanting to secure a place for her and her sons.
Mercury was cremated and his ashes were interred in a secret location that Mary Austin states she will never disclose. Without a gravesite at which to pay their respects, fans flocked to 1 Logan Place to mourn. The stone walls were soon covered in letters and memorabilia, and on the green doors marked “Studio Gate” and “Garden Lodge”, mourners etched their condolences.
Mary Austin and her family still reside in Garden Lodge, where the decor is apparently much the same as Freddie Mercury left it. Outside on the street, though it has been more than two decades since Mercury’s death, Queen fans still leave letters, flowers, gifts, and graffiti to remember the singer.
Kyoto Garden in Holland Park
Among the many features of west London’s Holland Park, is a beautiful Japanese garden, gifted to the British capital, by the city of Kyoto in 1991, to commemorate the longstanding friendship between England and Japan.
The garden was designed by renowned Japanese landscape architects, who created a stunning green space, marked by a large and beautiful pond, fed by a tiered waterfall. The pond is surrounded by stone lanterns and lush plants native to Japan. A small bridge crosses over the water, while shoals of colorful koi carp swim below. Lurking around the vegetation, in search of insects, is a beautiful flock of peacocks.
The garden’s Japanese maple trees are particularly visually striking during the autumn months, when their leaves turn a rich golden red color, casting the garden in crimson hues. And in springtime, the Sakura trees’ cherry blossoms bloom exuberantly with thousands of pink petals.
National History Museum
The Natural History Museum in London is a museum that exhibits a vast range of specimens, from various segments of natural history. It is one of three major museums on Exhibition Road in South Kensington - the others being the Science Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
The museum is home to life and earth science specimens, comprising some 80 million items within five main collections: botany, entomology, mineralogy, paleontology, and zoology. The museum is a center of research specializing in taxonomy, identification, and conservation. Given the age of the institution, many of the collections have great historical as well as scientific value, such as specimens collected by Charles Darwin.
The museum is also famous for its exhibition of dinosaur skeletons and ornate architecture. The Natural History Museum Library contains an extensive collection of books, journals, manuscripts, and artwork linked to the work and research of the scientific departments (it’s by appointment only).
Although commonly referred to as the Natural History Museum, it was officially known as “British Museum” (Natural History) until 1992. Originating from collections within the British Museum, the landmark Alfred Waterhouse building was built and opened by 1881 and later incorporated the Geological Museum.
Like other publicly funded national museums in the United Kingdom, the Natural History Museum does not charge an admission fee.
Royal Albert Hall
In 1851, the Great Exhibition, organized by Prince Albert, the Prince Consort, was held in Hyde Park. The Exhibition was a success and led Prince Albert to propose the creation of a group of permanent facilities for the public benefit, which came to be known as “Albertopolis”. The Exhibition's Royal Commission bought Gore House, but it was slow to act, and in 1861, Prince Albert died without having seen his ideas come to fruition. However, a memorial was proposed for Hyde Park, with a Great Hall opposite.
The proposal was approved, and the site was purchased with some of the profits from the Exhibition. The Hall was scheduled to be completed by Christmas Day 1870, and the Queen visited a few weeks beforehand to inspect.
The official opening ceremony of the Hall was on March 29, 1871. This had originally been scheduled for May 1st - the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Great Exhibition, but was brought forward at the request of Queen Victoria. A welcoming speech was given by Edward, the Prince of Wales, because the Queen was too overcome to speak; "her only recorded comment on the Hall was that it reminded her of the British constitution".
Initially lit by gas, the Hall contained a special system by which thousands of gas jets were lit within ten seconds. Though it was demonstrated as early as 1873 in the Hall, full electric lighting was not installed until 1888.
In 1906, Elsie Fogerty founded the Central School of Speech and Drama at the Hall, using its West Theatre, now the Elgar Room, as the school's theatre. While the school was based at the Royal Albert Hall, students who graduated from its classes included, Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave, Lynn Redgrave, Harold Pinter, Laurence Olivier, and Peggy Ashcroft.
In 1911, Russian pianist and composer Sergei Rachmaninoff performed as a part of the London Ballad Concert. In 1933, German physicist, Albert Einstein, led the 'Einstein Meeting' at the hall for the Council for Assisting Refugee Academics, a British charity.
In 1936, the Hall was the scene of a giant rally celebrating the British Empire on the occasion of the centenary of Joseph Chamberlain's birth. In October 1942, the Hall suffered minor damage during World War II bombing, but in general, was left mostly untouched as German pilots used the distinctive structure as a landmark.
For decades, the hall hosted many celebrities and well-known entertainment programming. Then, in 1996 - 2004, the Hall underwent renovations. Thirty "discreet projects" were designed and supervised without disrupting events. These projects included improved ventilation to the auditorium, more bars and restaurants, improved seating, better technical facilities, and improved backstage areas. Internally, the Circle seating was rebuilt during June 1996 to provide more legroom, better access, and improved sightlines. More renovations were done in 2017.
The Thin House
Built between 1885 and 1887 by William Douglas, on an area of land leftover after the construction of South Kensington tube station, the building was initially used as artist studios. It’s 6 ft. wide at its narrowest and is a private home.
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum has its origins in the Great Exhibition of 1851, with which Henry Cole, the museum's first director, was involved in planning. Initially, it was known as the “Museum of Manufactures”, first opening in May 1852 at Marlborough House, but by September, had been transferred to Somerset House. At this stage, the collections covered both applied art and science.
By February 1854, discussions were underway to transfer the museum to the current site, and it was renamed South Kensington Museum. The site was occupied by Brompton Park House, which was extended in 1857, including the first refreshment rooms opened—the museum being the first in the world to provide such a facility. The official opening by Queen Victoria was on June 20, 1857.
In the following year, late-night openings were introduced, made possible by the use of gas lighting. In these early years, the practical use of the collection was very much emphasised as opposed to that of "High Art" at the National Gallery and scholarship at the British Museum. George Wallis, the first Keeper of Fine Art Collection, passionately promoted the idea of wide art education through the museum collections. This led to the School of Design (founded in 1837) being transferred to the museum (until 1949 it became the Royal College of Art).
Queen Victoria returned to lay the foundation stone of the Aston Webb building on May 17, 1899. It was during this ceremony that the museum name changed from 'South Kensington Museum' to 'Victoria and Albert Museum'. During the ceremony, Queen Victoria's address, as recorded in The London Gazette, ended: "I trust that it will remain for ages a Monument of discerning Liberality and a Source of Refinement and Progress."
The opening ceremony for the Aston Webb building, by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, took place on June 26, 1909. In 1914, the construction commenced of the Science Museum, signaling the final split of the science and art collections.
In 1939, on the outbreak of WWII, most of the collection was sent to a quarry in Wiltshire, to Montacute House in Somerset, or to a tunnel near Aldwych tube station, with larger items remaining in situ, sand-bagged and bricked in. Between 1941 and 1944, some galleries were used as a school for children evacuated from Gibraltar. The South Court became a canteen, first for the Royal Air Force and later for Bomb Damage Repair Squads.
Before the return of the collections after the war, the “Britain Can Make It” exhibition was held between September and November 1946, attracting nearly 1.5 million visitors. The success of this exhibition led to the planning of the Festival of Britain (1951). By 1948, most of the collections had been returned to the museum.
In July 1973, as part of its outreach program to young people, the V&A became the first museum in Britain to present a rock concert.
In 2001, the museum embarked on a major £150m renovation program, and since then, more renovations have been conducted.