Chalk Farm

For other uses, see Chalk Farm (disambiguation).

Chalk Farm
Chalk Farm  Chalk Farm shown within Greater London
Population	24,977 Informal tube-named district: maximal two-ward definition based on 2011 census
OS grid reference	TQ2884
London borough	Camden
Ceremonial county	Greater London
Region	London
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	LONDON
Postcode district	NW1, NW3, NW5
Dialling code	020
Police	Metropolitan
Fire	London
Ambulance	London
EU Parliament	London
UK Parliament	Holborn and St Pancras
London Assembly	Barnet and Camden
List of places UK England London

Chalk Farm is a small urban district of northwest London, England immediately north of Camden Town and currently split equally between the electoral wards of Camden Town and Primrose Hill in the south and Haverstock in the north.

Geography

The land slopes upwards more steeply to the north-west and abruptly to form a knoll to the south-west which is Primrose Hill. Chalk Farm tube station is the closest underground network station to all parts, the defining criterion. This is true of much of the therefore loosely more Chalk Farm-associated upmarket western residential definition and green (Regents Park definition) of Primrose Hill. The south of the area has regular residents on its broadest definition, capable therefore, of including Jude Law, Sadie Frost and Sienna Miller among the highest-grossing early 21st century 'Camden set' of writers, artists and actors, but equally parts of both wards have some stubborn poverty and a significant minority of their housing is social housing.

History

Main articles: Camden Town and Hornsey

Its name was formerly Chalcot when it was a hamlet of the once vast Hornsey parish (centred on a village of the same name). Before the post-1791 development of Camden Town the residents of Primrose Hill, who do not live on the green hill were divided between Hornsey and St Pancras villages. It is in this vein that many residents of Primrose Hill seek alternatives to being considered part of Camden, however under the London Government Act 1963 Camden became the overall name for the borough and a convenient, neutrally loaded term for all inchoate and non-historic districts by being of carefully planned late Georgian, 1791, origin rather than named after the London Underground network which has seen various changes to station names and debatable associations with stations.

Economy

Chalk Farm equates to the northern neighbourhood of Camden Town and joins in its many lively pubs, live music venues, and restaurants.

Within immediate reach of its station is The Roundhouse, a former circular railway engine turntable shed converted to 360° arts and performance use.

Chalk Farm contains Haverstock School Business & Enterprise College (formerly Haverstock Comprehensive School).

Camden College of English was within the usual definition.

For over 70 years major bus routes were operated from Chalk Farm bus garage, in Harmood Street, the trace vestige of which is the 27 and 393 are the buses to terminate at Chalk Farm. These buses reach to nearby radial points outside of central London: Chiswick Business Park and Clapton respectively.

Demography

Being a convenient division ('district') with no formal definition, the maximal definition of Chalk Farm takes in the bulk of two current electoral wards which are set out below, with relevant land use and home ownership statistics from the 2011 census.

2011 Published Statistics: Population, home ownership and extracts from Physical Environment, surveyed in 2005

Output area	Homes owned outright	Owned with a loan	Socially rented	Privately rented	Other	km² green spaces	km² roads	km² water	km² domestic gardens	km² domestic buildings	km² non-domestic buildings	Usual residents	km²
Haverstock ward	677	727	2583	1156	111	0.10	0.01	0.00	0.15	0.10	0.08	12364	0.73
Camden Town with Primrose Hill ward	1122	882	1802	1974	125	0.16	0.02	0.02	0.18	0.15	0.17	12613	1.17

Transport

Neighbouring places

• Primrose Hill (sometimes considered part)
• Camden Town (indistinct south-eastern boundary)
• Regent's Park
• Kentish Town
• Maitland Park (to a great extent considered part, where not associated with Gospel Oak)
• St John's Wood (across the green part of Primrose Hill)
• Swiss Cottage, South Hampstead

Nearest stations

• Chalk Farm on the north-south Northern line, Edgware branch.

The nearest London Overground station (east-west) is centred 0.5 miles (0.80 km) east:

• Kentish Town West