London

So, we’ve long been fans of NW6, not least because of its tendancy to give rise to rather wonderful locals who love their postcode so much they feel compelled to start blogs about just how great West Hampstead is. And it is. Encompassing everything from the down and dirty kilburn high road to more refined pockets of grown up cool, it’s got something for everyone. And it’s totally, and utterly ‘London’. Brilliant.

A piece on NW6 has been a long time coming, and who better to ask than two of NW6’s finest bloggers: Whampstead blogger and new kid on the block NW6 blogger. They’ve gone head to head in our 10 questions ’series’. We separated them, fired out the same questions and this is what we got back. No conferring, nothing. So what’s great about NW6? Let’s find out shall we…

What’s the best thing to eat in your postcode?

Whampstead:As you’re casually passing through, then a Moroccan pancake from Café Bon on West End Lane. Oh, you have time to linger? Perhaps check out Vijays on Willesden Lane for some of the best South Indian food in London, and certainly in NW6.

NW6blog: That would have to be some sort of tea-time treat from Bake-a-boo. Don’t be fooled by its pink exterior and smile-wearing staff; the cakes are lean, mean, gluten-free wrecking machines.

What’s the best smell in your postcode?

Whampstead:If you’re that way inclined, perhaps the smell of the police horses from West Hampstead station as they do their daily exercise. If that’s too much, then the coffee aromas in The Wet Fish Café are hard to beat.

NW6blog: Diversity – no, not the dance troupe, that other thing. Also food. For late night olfactory stimulation, you can’t beat the kebab shop Woody Grill, aka Woody’s, which I discovered much to my delight is an ever-growing franchise, with grills in Camden Town and Shepherd’s Bush, as well as two on Kilburn High Road (its spiritual home). While you’re there, pleasing your nosebuds, you may as well buy a lamb donner shish. Alternatively, if you like the smell of fresh air, Kilburn Grange Park is a great green space, with some tennis courts and a basketball court thrown in for good measure.

I have 3 hours in your postcode. What do I do?

Whampstead:Wander around the misnamed Hampstead Cemetery with its dash of neogothic. It’s a far cry from its more illustrious counterpart in Highgate, but it has a quiet beauty (and the odd famous name dotted in and among). Stroll down to Davids Deli for an epic salt beef sandwich before zipping over to Kilburn and seeing a film or a play at the Tricycle Theatre. If you’re lucky you’ll just have time on a Sunday to scoot over to Queens Park farmers market to buy some gorgeously fresh ingredients for dinner.

NW6blog: Get creative: paint a plate. Decorate some ceramics at Art4fun in West Hampstead, whilst enjoying a nice cup of tea. Celebrate your achievement with a tipple down at the North London Tavern. A warm little pub with a couple of cosy sofas, an eclectic (and not too loud) selection of background music, decent rotation of Real Ales, and some delicious food & snacks. Once you’ve warmed your mitts, pop down to the Tricycle Theatre, if you’re short on time, maybe just sneak a peek at their gallery, but if you can, catch a film or see a play. At certain times you can see the latest flicks for under a fiver, and there’s all sorts of theatre-related offers, including the ocassional ‘pay-what-you-can’ nights.

If your postcode wasn’t in London, where would it be?

Whampstead:Somewhere with a friendly community and the occasional grubby corner. A sort of more ethnically diverse Seattle perhaps with its cafés and live music aplenty.

NW6blog: Probably New York or Barcelona, but that’s what everyone says, right? It has its scummy bits, its edgey/trendy bits, and its swanky bits. Like most places in zone 2.

What’s the best thing in your postcode?

Whampstead:The independent shops and restaurants that cling on in the face of the chains, but also the fact that there’s a massive Sainsburys.

NW6blog: It has live music coming out of its (imaginary, Will Smith-esque) ears. On Kilburn High Road alone, on any night of the week, you’ve got unsigned bands playing at Power’s Bar and at the Good Ship, with bigger names at the deservedly London-renowned venue, the Luminaire. The Westbury often mixes it up nicely with DJ sets from the likes of Hot Chip and DJ Format.

Talk dirty to your postcode. Go on… what would you say?

Whampstead:With so many train lines, the answer to “Your place or mine?” is self-evident

NW6blog: I respect NW6 far too much for that. Plus, a gentleman never tells… But, West End Lane’s got some killer curves, and there’s more than one Brazilian on the High Road, if you catch my drift…

Best bus route in your postcode. Where does it start and where does it take you?

Whampstead:If you’re a tourist and you want a bit of London glamour then sure, hop on the 139. Won’t take you through much of NW6 though. If you want a real NW6 bus then it’s the 328. One of London’s finest routes and never passes through Oxford St. Board at Golders Green station and sail majestically into the postcode at Fortune Green Road. Enjoy the shicanes of West End Lane and see how many celebs you can spot donating clothes to charity shops. Hang a right at Quex Road and brace yourself for the full-on Kilburn experience. If the traffic’s bad the next quarter of a mile might take a few minutes, but just sit back and soak up the buzz of Kilburn. You’ll see the pirate DVD sellers, the market traders, the poundshoppers, but also the coffee drinkers, the.. er… drinkers, and the mobile phone cover stallholders. Swing past the tiled exterior of the often overlooked Kilburn Park tube station before exploring some of the large council estates around Carlton Vale. Sadly the NW6 portion of the trip is over, but the delights of Westbourne Park, Notting Hill, Kensington High Street and Earls Court all await before finishing (aptly enough) at World’s End. This isn’t a bus in a rush, but it’s one that captures everything about London living – and NW6 life.

NW6blog: The glorious 139 is the finest in the fleet, and the perfect bus for a hop-on/hop-off sightseeing tour of London. Starting in our very own West Hampstead, it drifts along Abbey Road, ocassionally held-up briefly by the tourists trying to capture their own zebra-crossing moments opposite the iconic studios. Past Lord’s Cricket Ground, it then meanders down to the south-western corner of Regent’s park, stopping at Baker Street – ideal for those wanting to visit the Sherlock Holmes museum, or seeking to leave their wallets at the door of Madame Tussauds. If shopping is on the cards, then where better – rhetorical question, mind – than Oxford Circus? Down Regent Street to Picadilly Circus, and on to Trafalgar Square, it’s one touristy photo-op after another, or perfect for a trip into Theatreland. Finally, it’s time for the best river-crossing views in town as it heads over Waterloo Bridge. Alight at Waterloo for a walk along the South Bank, taking in its many pleasures. As if that wasn’t enough already, it runs all 24 hours of the day. Forget the best route in my postcode – the 139 is the best route in London!

Has anyone written a book about/set in your postcode? Have you seen your postcode in a film or on tv?

Whampstead:There are writers and actors galore in the area, but generally they seem to understand that it’s better to send the geeky location seekers away from your own front door. Let them bother people in Hampstead or Notting Hill.

NW6blog: I can barely read, so you’re asking the wrong person. The lovely folks at local, independent bookshops West End Lane Books and Kilburn Books would be happy to enlighten you though, I’m sure. As for films, the only one I know of is the DVD – now available on Blu-Ray – of The Who: Live at Kilburn. It’s a recording of their 1977 show which was, by most accounts, bloody awful. They played at the Gaumont State, which later became a bingo hall, and is now lined up to be a church. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Trading up or trading down?

Whampstead:Up up and away.

NW6blog: Undeniably trading up. All the scummy old pound shops on Kilburn High Road are being replaced by new, fresher pound shops. Restaurants, bars and hip-hop-happening night spots are popping up left, right and centre. Even celebrity types like them ones off of Peep Show have taken up residence here. Unfortunately, trading up means pricing out, and it’s becoming increasingly expensive for young’uns like me to keep enjoying the area’s many delights.

Phew! Thanks for that amazing roundup of NW6 life… if that wasn’t enough to make you want to pop over and have a ganders, then really, check your pulse.

Beg to differ? Do let us know what other NW6 highlights you’d recommend and we can post those up too.

Don’t forget to check out the blogs and the twitter feeds. Details below.

West Hampstead Life blog:http://westhampsteadlife.blogspot.com/
And Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/WHampstead
In Whampstead’s own words: news, views and venues (plus loads of marvellous things like get togethers, hyper local twitter newsfeeds and much more)

NW6 blog: http://nwsix.wordpress.com/And Twitter feed: http://www.twitter.com/NWSixDan
In Daniel’s own words: NW6 the blog is news, reviews and interviews, it’s tips, pics and tiddly-bits, and best of all, it’s, like, well good.

Today’s post is about getting something out there, and kind of off our chests. When we started i love my postcode, the topic of postcode wars was one we considered very carefully. The reported ‘phenomenon’ of postcode wars in London in several media reports, which involves gangs or individuals using postal districts to decide who and who does not ‘get it’, seems here to stay. Were we really going to start a company that promotes wearing postcode t-shirts when, as the media would have us believe, kids are getting stabbed or beaten up based on being on the wrong side of the tracks?

Whichever way you look at it, postcode wars are ugly, unecessary and stupid. They are also nothing to do with i love my postcode.

ILMP is all about loving your postcode, your community, and the place where you live. It is emphatically not about hating other people’s postcodes, other people generally or behaving in a way that destroys communities, families or lives. We’re way too fluffy for any of that. I genuinely hope it’s pretty clear from our site, blog and products that ILMP is a positive company with good vibes about all of Londons postcodes – and we’re a million miles away from staking out territories, violence or gang mentality. In fact, I think we should claim postcodes and community pride back from gangs and violence. We should be proud to be proud of them, not skulk off full of fear.

Our brand is hopefully a positive one – we do not market to, try to reach or speak to those groups who would use postcodes in a violent or negative way.

But what do you think? Do you think what we’re doing is encouraging postcode violence? If so, what could we do to change that, or have a positive impact on London? Let us know what you think.

Looking to the future we’d love to use our profits to do good things for London’s communities and proactively help put an end to any talk of postcode wars. But for now, we’re about spreading the postcode love. Not hate.

Rachel

Ah, E1… the smell of curry, the banter of market traders… what a fine, fine postcode it is. The honour of answering our postcode questions for this glorious ‘code falls to Alex Crawford, radio journalist, cycling enthusiast and general girl about London town.

What’s the best thing to eat in your postcode?

Every kind of curry on Brick Lane and some gret Turkish offerings too.

What’s the best smell in your postcode?

That of sweet spices wafting out of nearby restaurants. (That of wee on a Sunday morning is considerably less pleasant.)

I have 3 hours in your postcode. What do I do?

Visit Whitechapel Art Gallery and its fabulous book shop. If it’s the weekend, mooch around the top of Brick Lane where you can buy everything from bikes to mango smoothies. Go on a Jack the Ripper history tour. Have a curry – but chose wisely! Tayyabs, Lahore, Chillies and Aladins are really good. Go for some drinks in Vibe Bar or 93 Feet East and maybe see a band at the Rhythm Factory.

If your postcode wasn’t in London, where would it be?

Bronte Beach, Sydney, Australia – quite a leap!

What’s the best thing in your postcode?

The unusual old street names: Petticoat Lane, Fashion Street, Chicksand Street, Portsoken Street and my White Church Passage.

Talk dirty to your postcode. Go on… what would you say?

‘How you confound me, tease me, amuse and disgust me, with your many faces – rugged and bejweled – with your mysterious alleyways, exotic smells, shouting, thronging arteries. I love you but I some day soon will leave you.’ (Blush – Ed)

Best bus route in your postcode. Where does it start and where does it take you?

Bus? Pah! I cycle everywhere. Though should I ever find myself without my bike, I think the # 40 would take me all the way down to Camberwell to see mum.

What’s the best cycle route in/out of your postcode!!

If you go directly north past Spitalfields and on to the Kingsland Road you’ll get to Finsbury Park and Haringay in 20 mins.
Go west of here and you’re in the winding streets and cobbled passages of the city in five minutes. 30 St. Mary Axe (The Gherkin) is breathtaking close-up.

Or, follow the canal path from Limehouse and you can wile aways hours pootling along the water, observing all the life and activity the waterways imbibe. Depending which way you go, you’ll end up in Woolwich or Little Venice.

Has anyone written a book about/set in your postcode?

Yes, many: Monica Ali’s contentious ‘Brick Lane’ of course, and a plethora of books about Jack the Ripper.

Have you seen your postcode in a film or on tv?

Er, only films of the above!

Trading up or trading down?

Depends what you can get your hands on – there are some very swanky properties, riverside penthouses and lush warehouse conversions round here as well as some really rough ‘studenty’ dens. Where I am isn’t bad and all my friends seem to think this area is ‘very beat’ but I reckon I’d have to have a bit of garden to say I’d traded up!

Thanks Alex, you’ve covered a lot of the glories of E1 but I suspect there’s yet more to say. Want to step in and do Part II? Just email in and tell us what else you love about E1. Columbia road flower market? A specific stall at Spitalfields?

You can see Alex modelling our garb here and read about her beloved Southwark Cyclists here.

The lovely people at the London Word site gave us a mention, for which we are very grateful. Nice write up too, and we appreciate their mention of the word ‘bum’.

We do indeed have tricks up our sleeve… watch this space, she says, coyly (before giggling).

Adios!

Up next is Hape Mueller, who lives in and loves SE14, otherwise known as New Cross. Not a postcode to mess with, here’s what he has to say about life in SE14:

What’s the best thing to eat in your postcode?

SE14 and culinary delights? I don’t think so! However, rumour has it that Paul McCartney used to stop by at the Family Fish Bar in New Cross Road for his fill of cod in greasy batter and soggy chips. Probably just a cunning marketing ploy by the owners to lure in the local punters. I mean, why on earth would McCartney drive through SE14, or has he got a mansion in Kent somewhere?

What’s the best smell in your postcode?
Nothing springs to nose, really.

I have 3 hours in your postcode. What do I do?
Don’t come during the day, it’s all happening at night. Discover the hippest bands in London at the Amersham Arms

If your postcode wasn’t in London, where would it be?
Jamaica

What’s the best thing in your postcode?
The view from Telegraph Hill over virtually all of central London with its iconic landmarks, from the Battersea Power Station in the west to Canary Wharf in the east.

Talk dirty to your postcode. Go on… what would you say?
I wouldn’t dare, she’s got attitude, you know!

Best bus route in your postcode. Where does it start and where does it take you?
The 21. It starts in Lewisham and ends in Newington Green and conveniently, with bus stops just a few yards away from each front door, connects Pen Pusher’s editorial department with its design department.

Has anyone written a book about/set in your postcode?
Not sure about a book, but Carter USM wrote a song about it called ‘The Only Living Boy in New Cross’ - a top ten hit in 1992. (We remember it fondly! – Ed)
Also, according to the London Gazetteer (Chambers, 2006), Charles Dickens kept a secret apartment in New Cross where he wrote Bleak House and later finished Great Expectations. The lodgings also provided him with convenient access to his mistress in Nunhead (SE15).

Have you seen your postcode in a film or on tv?
Indeed, SE14 was home for zombies during the filming of Shaun of The Dead. Most of the five days filming took place at The Duke of Albany public house, now converted into flats and known in the film as The Winchester Arms, in Monson Road; and Lily Allen filmed the video for her cover of the Kaiser Chiefs’ song ‘Oh My God’ at the Hatcham Social Club.

Trading up or trading down?
Only come here if you’re ready for the real London experience.

Hape Mueller is one of the three founding members of Pen Pusher Magazine and the operation’s graphic designer, webmaster and all-round business manager. Originally from a tiny village in rural Switzerland, Hape is mesmerised by London’s endless urban sprawl and its rich history and can’t think of any other place he would want to live right now. Oh and, just in case you wondered, the distinctive Pen Pusher logo was not designed by Hape but by the Kaiser Chiefs’ front man Ricky Wilson.