Area Guide: Borough of Richmond upon Thames

The Communities

With bustling shopping centres, a wide variety of outdoor spaces and the River Thames passing through the middle of it, the Borough is a highly sought-after place to live. Home to the National Physical Laboratory and The National Archives, it also has an impressive list of attractions, including internationally recognised ones such as Kew Gardens, Twickenham Stadium and Hampton Court Palace.

Richmond

Richmond is an affluent residential district bordering the River Thames. The Quadrant main street and nearby roads feature an eclectic mix of shops and designer boutiques, restaurants and bars (the most popular of which sit along the riverside) as well as cultural attractions such as Richmond Theatre. Richmond Green, which is a large square of open grassland framed on one side by trees and Georgian buildings and the River Thames on the other side, is home to bars and restaurants and is particularly popular on sunny days or public holidays. It has a long history of hosting sporting events and has been described as ‘one of the most beautiful urban greens surviving anywhere in England’.

Teddington

Teddington is mostly made up of residential properties, bisected by an almost continuous road of shops, offices and other facilities running from the river to Bushy Park. It has no dual carriageways and no high rise residential buildings. Teddington today is a fantastic place to live. Every year millions of Londoners and tourists visit Bushy Park, the second largest of the capital’s eight Royal Parks. Bushy Park’s mixture of woods, gardens, ponds and grassland makes it a great place to enjoy wildlife with roaming herds of Red and Fallow Deer. There are some excellent state and independent schools in the area, both in Teddington and the surrounding areas of Hampton, Twickenham and Kingston. The wide open spaces and good schooling make it a really popular area for young families.

Hampton

Hampton, Hampton Wick and Hampton Hill are the three communities known collectively as The Hamptons. They are clustered around the edge of Bushy Park and each has its own distinguishing character. The area attracts an eclectic mix of people, but mainly families and young couples looking to make a home for their future. All are drawn to the large open green spaces and the excellent local schools. Many historical figures have called Hampton home over the years and it still attracts a hip, fashionable crowd and the perfect place to spot celebrities.

Twickenham

Twickenham is most famous for being the home of rugby union in England, with hundreds of thousands of spectators visiting Twickenham Stadium, the world’s largest rugby stadium, each year on match days. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965 withe the historic riverside area famous for its network of 18th-century buildings including three grand period mansions – York House, Marble Hill and Strawberry Hill House, all of which are open to the public. Twickenham is an affluent area and with good links into London it is very popular with young families and commuters.

Ham and Petersham

Ham, along with Petersham, is just one mile south of Richmond and is surrounded almost entirely on three sides by the River Thames and Richmond Park to the east. It has a small selection of convenience shops and amenities as well as several pubs with its closest neighbour, Kingston upon Thames providing a more varied, cosmopolitan selection of shops, restaurants and bars.  The area is most famous for Ham House, a historic house with formal gardens that the National Trust claims to be ‘the most complete survival of 17th century fashion and power in Europe’, as well as Ham Lands – a 72 hectare nature reserve and Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation.

House Prices

Last year most property sales in Richmond upon Thames involved flats which sold for on average £483,896. Terraced properties sold for an average price of £855,904, while semi-detached properties fetched £1,052,148. Richmond upon Thames, with an overall average price of £812,514, was similar in terms of sold prices to nearby Wandsworth (£778,614), but was more expensive than Kingston upon Thames (£570,132). During 2018, sold prices in Richmond upon Thames were similar to the previous year (2017) and 5% up on 2016 when the average house price was £774,872.

*House price data produced by the Land Registry on 6th March 2019 for Rightmove.