West London
West London is home to 3 disctinct locations all with their own apartment developements; Hammersmith, Chiswick and Ealing.
Set on the banks of the River Thames, Hammersmith is bordered by Shepherds Bush to the north, Kensington to the east, Fulham to the south and Chiswick to the west, and is linked by Hammersmith Bridge to Barnes in the southwest. Hammersmith is a natural centre of activity, the focal point of which is the Broadway Centre. Located at this confluence, it houses a shopping centre, bus station, an Underground station and an office complex. Hammersmith is home to the offices of the offices of Bechtel, Coca-Cola, Disney, Pokémon, L'Oréal, NHS Hammersmith and Fulham, Sony Ericsson, Universal Music Group, World Wrestling Entertainment, AOL UK, Accor UK, Next Fifteen Communications, and US Airways. Hammermsith has a rich cultural attraction with it being home to both the Lyric Theatre and Hammersmith Apollo. Both venues regularaly host live entertainment including music gigs, plays, and performances from comedians. The area is also home to Riverside Studios is a cinema, performance space, bar and cafe. Riverside Studios was formerly BBC studios used for TV productions.
Chiswick contains a mix of retail, restaurants, food outlets and expanding office. The wide streets encourage cafes and restaurants to provide pavement seating. Being situated between the offices at the Golden Mile Great West Road and Hammersmith, office developments and warehouse conversions to offices began from the 1960s. The Chiswick reach of the Thames is heavily used for competitive and recreational rowing, and Chiswick itself is home to several clubs. The University of London Boat Club is based in its boathouse off Hartington Road (the boathouse also houses the clubs of many of the University's constituent colleges and teaching hospitals).
Ealing is best known for its film studios, which are the oldest in the world and are known especially for the Ealing comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets, Passport to Pimlico, The Ladykillers and The Lavender Hill Mob. The studios were taken over by the BBC in 1955 so Ealing locations appeared in television programmes ranging from Doctor Who to Monty Python's Flying Circus. Most recently, these studios have again been used for making films, including Notting Hill and The Importance of Being Earnest. Most recently, St Trinian's, a remake of the classic film, was produced by Ealing Studios; some locations in Ealing can be seen in this film. Ealing has a rich music history; Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones famously first met Brian Jones in 1962 at the Ealing Jazz Club, opposite Ealing Broadway station. Other artists who performed at the club include Rod Stewart and Manfred Mann. The Jazz Club is now a nightclub called The Red Room. Ealing is the host to several annual festivals. The first festival to be regularly staged was the Jazz Festival which is held in Walpole Park. An annual Beer Festival was then started and organized by the Campaign for Real Ale and originally held in the Ealing Town Hall. Due to its popularity, it had outgrown the space available at the Town Hall after a few years, so it too then transferred to the park, where they now have room to offer over 200 real ales.
