The best of Chelsea by the people who know - Cadogan

16 | STREETS & SIGHTS |
said to have detested. Much of his work
was experimental.
• The Pheasantry at 152 King’s Road is
a Chelsea landmark with a long history
as a hub for creative artists – including
dancers, actors, writers and musicians.
The building’s name comes from its
earlier use as a site to breed pheasants.
Ballet dancer Princess Seraphine
Astafieva (1876-1934) lived and taught
there from 1916-1934. She was a relative
of Tolstoy and her pupils included
Margot Fonteyn and Alicia Markova.
The basement housed a club and
restaurant from the 1930s up until the
mid-1960s and it counted Dylan
Thomas, Francis Bacon, Lucian
Freud, Gregory Peck and Peter
Ustinov among its members.
Eric Clapton lived on the top floor in
the late 1960s, and the Pheasantry also
hosted early UK gigs by Lou Reed,
Queen and Hawkwind. The building
now houses a Pizza Express, which
carries on the tradition by continuing to
host live music.
• The Markham Arms pub at 138 King’s
Road was frequented by East End crime
figures the Kray twins in the 1950s. The
bow-fronted building is now a bank.
• The Chelsea Drugstore – mentioned
in the Rolling Stones’ You Can’t Always
Get What You Want and featured in
Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange
as the Musik Bootick – opened in 1968.
It was a trendy, American-style complex
based on Le Drugstore in Paris, with
spaces to eat, drink, dance and shop,
and had a very modern glass and aluminium
look.
It was open 16 hours a day, seven
days a week, and even offered a ‘flying
squad’ delivery service, where girls on
motorcycles would deliver purchases. It
closed in 1971 after pressure from local
residents, and although a pale imitation
opened later, it failed to revive the glory
days. The site is now a McDonald’s.
• Christian the Lion was a real lion
that lived in a basement flat on the
King’s Road. He was bought as a cub
from Harrods’ pet department by John
Rendall and Ace Bourke in 1969, and
visited restaurants and exercised in the
grounds of the Moravian church on
the King’s Road. But he was growing
fast, and Rendall and Bourke worked
with Born Free stars Bill Travers and
Virginia McKenna and conservationist
George Adamson to return Christian to
the wild. He was released in Kenya in
1971 and the footage of the emotional
reunion with his former owners when
they visited a year later has since
become a YouTube hit.
• Ian Fleming’s iconic fictional spy
James Bond lived in a unnamed square
off the King’s Road.
Lawrence Street
Porcelain was manufactured in Chelsea
in a house in Lawrence Street, established
around 1745. It was known for
high-quality tableware and figures, and
was run by craftsmen including former
silversmith Nicholas Sprimont and later
Chelsea Methodist Church
With its striking blue and gold front,
Chelsea Methodist Church might catch
your eye amid the shops on the King’s
Road. The church and pastoral centre
run a variety of different activities for
young and old throughout the week and
the building is also the hub of West
London Churches Homeless Concern, a
separate charity.
Methodists started meeting in Chelsea
in a local woman’s house in the 18th
century, where the movement's founder,
John Wesley, preached to them several
times. As the movement grew, they first
rented rooms in Ranelagh Gardens, then
leased and converted a slaughterhouse
in the Sloane Street area and had a
purpose-built chapel in Sloane Square
(now the site of the Royal Court Theatre)
in the early 19th century.
Their second chapel was in Sloane
Terrace, on the present site of Cadogan
Hall. They built here on the King’s Road
in 1903, but a bomb destroyed the
sanctuary in 1941, and the whole site was
redeveloped in 1983.
The new design created 21 flats for the
elderly and sanctuaries designed by
Bernard Lamb, including the narthex
(welcoming area) in front of the church’s
main sanctuary.
Today, the upstairs hall is used by community
groups, play sessions and classes,
and office space on the top floors is rented
out to charities. The narthex welcomes
everyone, from the homeless to people who
just need to see a friendly face (9-4pm on
Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays). The
church also takes part in the winter night
shelter for the homeless run by West
London Churches Homeless Concern.
It is open every day for prayer and there
are services from 11am on Sundays, with a
diverse congregation.
155a King’s Road, SW3 5TX. T: 020
7352 9305. www.chelseamethodist.org.uk