is a town in the
London Borough Of Hammersmith And Fulham in west
London . It is situated to the south of
Shepherd's Bush , on the north side of the
River Thames .
A bustling commercial and transport centre, Hammersmith is home to two shopping malls, as well as the offices of
Coca-Cola ,
Disney ,
EMI ,
L'Oreal ,
Sony Ericsson and
AOL UK , among others. Hammersmith's pedestrianised riverside is popular for its many pubs, and excellent views of the river and its annual
Boat Race .
Hammersmith is home to two NHS hospitals: Charing Cross Hospital, which is located on Charing Cross Road, and Ravenscourt Park Hospital, which is located to the west of Ravenscourt Park. Queen Charlotte's maternity hospital, named after Queen Charlotte, wife of
King George III . Queen Charlotte's has existed since
1739 making it the oldest maternity hospital in the
UK . It used to be located in Hammersmith, but has now be relocted to Du Cane Road W12, making it 10 minutes walk from East Acton or Shepherd's Bush tube station.
Hammersmith has a number of attractions;
- "The Dove" riverside Pub , the oldest surviving riverside pub in London with, reputedly, the smallest bar in the world, frequented in the past by Ernest Hemingway and Graham Greene The narrow alley in which it stands is the only remnant of the riverside village of Hammersmith, the bulk of which was demolished in the 1930s . Furnival Gardens, which lies to the east, covers the site of Hammersmith Creek and the High Bridge. The site of the creek can be ascertained by a mound near the Great West Road .
- studios.
Hammersmith has provided a location for several TV programmes, including the
BBC comedy series "
Bottom ",
Channel 4 's
TFI Friday , and the vampire drama "
Ultraviolet ". The opening credits of Bottom show the Hammersmith Broadway (also mentioned in
The Pogues ' song "Dark Streets of London") development, then called Centre West, when it was under construction. In addition, the
Flying Squad were Hammersmith-based in the
1970s TV series "
The Sweeney ".
In
1930 ,
Gustav Holst composed a work for military band (later rewritten for orchestra) entitled ''Hammersmith'' to reflect his impressions of the town, having lived across the river in nearby
Barnes for nearly forty years. It begins with a haunting musical depiction of the River Thames flowing underneath Hammersmith Bridge. Holst was a music teacher at
St Paul's Girls' School , where he composed many of his most famous works, including
The Planets suite. The music wing of the school is named after him.
Architecturally, Hammersmith is notable for
US Broadcasters
NBC and
ABC both have their London News Bureau in Hammersmith.
The area is on the main
A4 Trunk Road heading west from central London towards the
M4 Motorway and
Heathrow Airport . The A4, a busy commuter route, passes over the area's main road junction, Hammersmith Gyratory System, on a long viaduct, the
Hammersmith Flyover .
Hammersmith Bridge , the first
Suspension Bridge over the
River Thames , carries traffic to and from
Barnes and South-West London.
Hammersmith is served by two tube stations,
One is the western terminus of the
Hammersmith & City Line ,
The Other by the
Piccadilly and
District Line s . The latter tube station is part of a larger office, retail and transport development, locally known as "The Broadway". Hammersmith Broadway, itself, stretches from the junction of Queen Caroline Street and King Street in the west to the juncion of Hammersmith Road and Butterwick in the east. It forms the north side of the gyratory system also known as Hammersmith Roundabout. The Broadway Shopping Centre includes a large modern bus station, which is open 24 hours a day and served by a large number of buses, night buses, airport transfer buses and some long distance coaches.
Hammersmith has a large municipal park called Ravenscourt Park located to the west of Hammersmith town centre. It is accessible by the
Tube Station on the District Line of the same name. It has facilities including: ponds, tennis courts, basket ball court and creche. The whole area is covered by the same W6 postcode as Hammersmith town centre.
