Living in Hammersmith & Fulham

Hammersmith and Fulham is a long, narrow borough running from Wormwood Scrubs and White City in the north to the Thames at Fulham in the south. It combines busy transport hubs, riverside neighbourhoods, large regeneration areas and some of west London's most popular streets for young professionals and families.

The borough is home to three professional football clubs — Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, Fulham at Craven Cottage and Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road — which is unusual even by London standards. It also contains the BBC's former Television Centre, now homes, offices and studios, Imperial College's White City campus, Westfield London and part of the Old Oak Common area being redeveloped around a major new rail interchange.

Hammersmith is the main commercial centre, with four tube lines and the Eventim Apollo, while Shepherd's Bush has Westfield, the Shepherd's Bush Empire and the Bush Theatre. Fulham, in the south, is almost entirely residential, with long streets of Victorian and Edwardian terraces, riverside parks and a strong pub culture. The Thames Path runs along much of the borough's southern and western edges.

Transport is generally good in the north and centre of the borough, with the Central, District, Piccadilly, Hammersmith & City and Circle lines and the Overground, but parts of Fulham rely on the slower District line and buses. Band D council tax here is one of the three lowest in London, a real saving over a year compared with neighbouring Ealing or Hounslow. Match days are the main local disruption: three clubs in one borough means that on some weekends the pubs, pavements and District line fill with fans.