The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. The borough was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan Boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham. The borough borders Brent to the north, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to the east, Wandsworth to the south, Richmond upon Thames to the south west, and Hounslow and Ealing to the west.
Traversed by the east–west main roads of the A4 Great West Road and the A40 Westway, many international corporations have offices in the borough.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.
The borough is unique in London in having three professional football clubs: Chelsea, Fulham and Queens Park Rangers.
In 1960, the BBC opened the BBC Television Centre. In 2008, Westfield London, a large development with new transport links and a shopping centre was opened in White City.
Districts
The borough includes the areas:
Brook Green
Chelsea Harbour
College Park
East Acton
Fulham
Hammersmith
Old Oak Common
Parsons Green
Sands End
Shepherd’s Bush
Walham Green
West Kensington
White City
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.
Sport
The borough is home to a number of sports teams and athletes:
Football
Chelsea Football Club is based in the borough and plays Premier League football having won the English national championship on six occasions. London’s oldest professional football club, Fulham F.C. playing in the Premier League and Queens Park Rangers (playing in the Championship) are also based in the borough.
Tennis
Public and private courts are available throughout the borough.
Rowing
Lower Mall hosted several rowing clubs at the end of the 19th century, of which there are two survivors and one founded slightly later.
The first half of the Boat Race course is on the borough’s most obvious boundary, the upper estuary of the Thames.
Transport
The numerous London Overground and London Underground stations in the borough are:
Barons Court tube station
East Acton tube station
Fulham Broadway tube station
Goldhawk Road tube station
Hammersmith tube station (Circle and Hammersmith & City lines)
Hammersmith tube station (District and Piccadilly lines)
Imperial Wharf railway station
Kensington Olympia railway station
Parsons Green tube station
Putney Bridge tube station
Ravenscourt Park tube station
Shepherd’s Bush tube station
Shepherd’s Bush Market tube station
West Kensington tube station
White City tube station
Wood Lane tube station
The London Overground line now connects the borough with the North London Line via Willesden Junction station and direct services to Watford station to the north and services to East Croydon station to the south, via Clapham Junction railway station.
Hammersmith bus station at Hammersmith Broadway, above the District and Piccadilly lines tube station, is an important bus hub to most parts of London.
Culture
Fulham Palace courtyard 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.
The borough has four theatres (Riverside Studios, Bush Theatre, the Lyric Hammersmith and Curtains Up) ad several cinema complexes.
The Lyric Hammersmith, on Lyric Square off King Street, is considered one of the most notable theatres outside the West End in London.
The borough is also home to the Hammersmith Apollo and O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, which play hosts to major concerts and stand-up comedy performances.