Swiss Cottage is an area of north London as you come into the city from M1, along the Finchley Road, and just before you get to St John’s Wood; it’s close to the West End and is very well connected given it has the Jubilee line at Swiss Cottage tube station and at Finchley Road station, where there is also the Metropolitan line (and where this is also, directly opposite, a café called ‘Perky Blenders’!).
At this point you may be wondering why it’s called Swiss Cottage, particularly given that there Alpine scenes with meadows and cow bells are noticeably absent from its gyratory system. Well, there’s a Samuel Smith’s pub, The Swiss Cottage, or rather Ye Olde Swiss Cottage, on the main traffic island; it must be one of the most well known pubs in London because of the quantity of traffic that pass it daily; but because everyone is usually in a hurry and besides, there’s not many places to park round there, people in cars don’t really use the place… it’s more for locals and pedestrian commuters and perhaps office parties. It’s designed to look like a Swiss Cottage, albeit rather a large one, and is worth popping into should you be passing by.
Just to the north east is Hampstead Village so it’s ten minutes by car to get to Hampstead Heath; it’s also a similar distance to Primrose Hill and Regents Park.
Finchley Road is the main thoroughfare and has plenty of shops and restaurants including a large Waitrose. There’s an old fashioned sport shop, Euro Sports, ie a real sports shop selling cricket bats, badminton racquets and all manner of sporting equipment. Such shops are rare these days because they were generally taken over by online shopping and Sports Direct outlets.
Famous people… apparently Lillie Langtry (used to step out with Edward VII) and Amy Winehouse, who lived in Eton Avenue.
There’s an excellent sports centre with 25m, 8-lane swimming pool, the Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre, highly recommended… there’s a gym, spa, outdoor football pitch, squash court, climbing wall, sports hall, soft play area and creche. It really is a stunning facility.
Farmer’s market, 10am to 3pm every Wednesday, is located behind the Leisure Centre, and is growing in popularity.
Hampstead Theatre, in Eton Avenue, has a reputation for new and interesting creative productions, and supporting and developing the careers of new writers.
Camden Art Centre, on the corner of Arkwright Road and Finchley Road, has contemporary exhibitions, courses and facilities for artists and is supported by the Arts Council.
The 02 Centre is a well designed and good quality shopping centre with plenty of parking and is home to a number of brands including Gymboree, which has interactive classes for newborns to five year olds, Argos, BoConcept, Sainsbury’s, Homebase, Nando’s, Waterstones, and others. There’s also a Vue Cinema, so the 02 is ideal for a winter’s day meetups with friends.
