Area Guide to London – St John’s Wood

Are you looking to discover some of London’s top neighbourhoods? Well, in this article I will be highlighting one of the best – St. John’s Wood in Northwest London! As a London-based property agent, I help my clients achieve their real estate goals and enjoy living in this fabulous city, including the best neighbourhoods for their new location needs. One of these neighbourhoods is the fantastic upscale neighbourhood of St John’s Wood, in Northwest London. St. John’s Wood is a lovely affluent neighbourhood, it is located in the borough of Westminster with an NW postcode, it has Regents park to the west and Edgware Road to the east and its neighbours include Swiss Cottage, Maida Vale, Hampstead, and Lisson Grove.

St. John’s Wood is a very affluent community and is highly sought after for its village feel yet close proximity to central London. It has gorgeous stately homes, a charming high street with boutique shops, and is on the edge of Regents park with Primrose Hill nearby. It’s highly popular with corporate and banking executives who can easily commute to the financial hub of Canary Wharf and South East London via the Jubilee Line with direct stops including Mayfair, Oxford Street, and Westminster along the way and it’s highly desirable for expats because it’s home to the American school in London.

St. John’s Wood High Street is buzzing and chic and a really lovely place to hang out. There’s Panzers deli and grocery store that sells American food products and seasonal items for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Independence Day – make sure to watch my video on where to find your favourite American foods, here. For fantastic dining there’s Ivy’s cafe, Oslo Court, and popular pubs include Duke of York, and Lord’s Tavern, there’s also Harry Morgan’s which was once a tiny deli restaurant that is now the largest and most famous New York deli style restaurant in London.

While St. John’s Wood has a fantastic village vibe it actually has some world-renowned tourist spots as well and none more notable than Abbey Road Studios where the Beatles recorded much of their music, the zebra crossing, which is the cover of the Abbey Road album, is actually one of the most photographed streets in all of London and tourists are going by there all the time. Also, there’s Lord’s Cricket Ground, home of cricket, where they pay a lot of international tournaments and events, as well as the National Zoo in Regents Park. Speaking of Regents park, it is one of the rural parks and has acres of beautiful parkland, Queen Mary’s garden with 2,000 roses, boating lakes, and the largest outdoor sports centre. Primrose Hill is nearby and offers some of the most dramatic and best views of all of London.

As I mentioned, St. John’s Wood is a fabulous community, it is very pricey, but it’s a great area for families as well as professionals. The American school in London is located there and it has an American curriculum, offering children schooling from kindergarten up through high school. Other excellent private schools in the area include Arnold’s house, Abercorn Place, Saint Christina’s school and Francis Holland.

State school, or public school options as we say in America, include Barrow junior high school, St. John’s Wood prep, and Robinsfields infant school.

If you want to know more about school options, make sure to watch my video on top schools in London for expats.

St. John’s Wood is also very inclusive and diverse neighbourhood with multiple places to worship including the Church of Our Lady, St. John’s Wood United synagogue, and the London Central Mosque. For health care options St. John’s Wood also has Wellington Hospital, which is the UK’s largest independent Hospital and really is world renowned, where you have people coming and travelling from all over the world to get care and treatment. It’s most notable for its cardiovascular, neuro-surgery and orthopaedic specialties, which are world-renowned.

So now that we know some of the things that are so fabulous about St. John’s with let’s talk about housing options. St. John’s Wood has less of the white stucco fronted or terrace town homes that you see in some of the other affluent areas of London such as South Kensington, Kensington, or Chelsea, instead the housing has these wonderful Italianate Villa style homes set a bit further back from the street, offering its residents a bit more privacy. One of London’s most expensive streets is Hamilton Terrace with its semi-detached and detached private homes that cost on average in the multi millions of pounds and it is one of London’s most exclusive streets. Other housing options include high-end porter or concierge properties – some as mansion blocks or some as new builds, purpose-built properties. Here are some pictures of one of my listings, which is a gorgeous bedroom semi-detached home in St. John’s Wood.

Average home prices are approximately £2.6 million for sales and £6,000 for rental options.

I hope I’ve given you some ideas as to what makes St. John’s Wood so special, with this wonderful village vibe, fantastic high street with lovely village shops, great restaurants and pubs, and access to some of London’s most beautiful green spaces, St. John’s Wood is an area that’s highly desirable for not just expats but locals as well. Let me know what appeals to you about St. John’s Wood or other areas that you might want to know more about in the comments below.

If you do want to know more about St. John’s wood or other areas that are worth considering in London, then make sure to download my London Relocation guide it’s got some fabulous tips and areas that we cover and also talking about some incredible things you can do to enjoy London and make the most of your experience here in town.