
The World’s End is a public house and restaurant located at 459
King’s Road in Chelsea
The World’s End is a Grade II listed building and lends its name to the su
rrounding area situated at the western end of the
King’s Road.
Constructed in 1897, the identity of the architect responsible for its design remains unknown. Historic England describes the building as an exemplary representation of a public house in the style of a grand gin palace.
The present structure replaced earlier buildings, one of which is depicted on the 1795 map known as Cary’s New And Accurate Plan Of London And Westminster, situated on the north side of
Kings Road. The former tavern was renowned as a popular entertainment venue during the reign of Charles II. It boasted extensive grounds and tea gardens and was elegantly furnished. The name "The World’s End" likely derived from its significant distance from London at the time, coupled with the treacherous and poorly maintained roads leading to the establishment. Due to its proximity to the River Thames, many visitors would travel to the venue by boat.
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CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE LOCALITY |
 
Peter H Davies Added: 17 Jun 2021 09:33 GMT | Ethelburga Estate The Ethelburga Estate - named after Ethelburga Road - was an LCC development dating between 1963�’65. According to the Wikipedia, it has a "pleasant knitting together of a series of internal squares". I have to add that it’s extremely dull :)
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Added: 1 May 2021 16:46 GMT | Cheyne Place, SW3 Frances Faviell, author of the Blitz memoir, "A Chelsea Concerto", lived at 33, Cheyne Place, which was destroyed by a bomb. She survived, with her husband and unborn baby.
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Joyce Taylor Added: 5 Apr 2021 21:05 GMT | Lavender Road, SW11 MyFather and Grand father lived at 100 Lavender Road many years .I was born here.
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Added: 22 Aug 2023 12:42 GMT | Spicer Street My grandfather was born in Spicer Street in 1910 and his family lived there for many years from the early 1900s to WWII. He remembered Zeppelin raids as a child during WW1. He left school at 12 and was apprenticed at the Army & Navy stores where he worked to become a silversmith following in his father’s footsteps. As an adult, with a wife and two infant children, he was placed on essential war work and moved at the height of the Blitz to be relocated in Worcestershire where he worked at a newly-founded aircraft factory.
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Sue L Added: 13 Oct 2023 17:21 GMT | Duffield Street, Battersea I’ve been looking for ages for a photo of Duffield Street without any luck.
My mother and grandfather lived there during the war. It was the first property he was able to buy but sadly after only a few months they were bombed out. My mother told the story that one night they were aware of a train stopping above them in the embankment. It was full of soldiers who threw out cigarettes and sweets at about four in the morning. They were returning from Dunkirk though of course my mother had no idea at the time. I have heard the same story from a different source too.
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Added: 26 Mar 2023 14:50 GMT | Albert Mews It is not a gargoyle over the entrance arch to Albert Mews, it is a likeness of Prince Albert himself.
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Sue Added: 24 Sep 2023 19:09 GMT | Meyrick Rd My family - Roe - lived in poverty at 158 Meyrick Rd in the 1920s, moving to 18 Lavender Terrace in 1935. They also lived in York Rd at one point. Alf, Nell (Ellen), plus children John, Ellen (Did), Gladys, Joyce & various lodgers. Alf worked for the railway (LMS).
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LATEST LONDON-WIDE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROJECT |
 
Matthew Proctor Added: 7 Dec 2023 17:36 GMT | Blackheath Grove, SE3 Road was originally known as The Avenue, then became "The Grove" in 1942.
From 1864 there was Blackheath Wesleyan Methodist Chapel on this street until it was destroyed by a V2 in 1944
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Peter Added: 4 Dec 2023 07:05 GMT | Gambia Street, SE1 Gambia Street was previously known as William Street.
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Eileen Added: 10 Nov 2023 09:42 GMT | Brecknock Road Pleating Company My great grandparents ran the Brecknock Road pleating Company around 1910 to 1920 and my Grandmother worked there as a pleater until she was 16. I should like to know more about this. I know they had a beautiful Victorian house in Islington as I have photos of it & of them in their garden.
Source: Family history
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Added: 6 Nov 2023 16:59 GMT | 061123 Why do Thames Water not collect the 15 . Three meter lengths of blue plastic fencing, and old pipes etc. They left here for the last TWO Years, these cause an obstruction,as they halfway lying in the road,as no footpath down this road, and the cars going and exiting the park are getting damaged, also the public are in Grave Danger when trying to avoid your rubbish and the danger of your fences.
Source: Squirrels Lane. Buckhurst Hill, Essex. IG9. I want some action ,now, not Excuses.MK.
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Christian Added: 31 Oct 2023 10:34 GMT | Cornwall Road, W11 Photo shows William Richard Hoare’s chemist shop at 121 Cornwall Road.
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Vik Added: 30 Oct 2023 18:48 GMT | Old pub sign from the Rising Sun Hi I have no connection to the area except that for the last 30+ years we’ve had an old pub sign hanging on our kitchen wall from the Rising Sun, Stanwell, which I believe was / is on the Oaks Rd. Happy to upload a photo if anyone can tell me how or where to do that!
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Phillip Martin Added: 16 Oct 2023 06:25 GMT | 16 Ashburnham Road On 15 October 1874 George Frederick Martin was born in 16 Ashburnham Road Greenwich to George Henry Martin, a painter, and Mary Martin, formerly Southern.
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Christine Bithrey Added: 15 Oct 2023 15:20 GMT | The Hollies (1860 - 1900) I lived in Holly Park Estate from 1969 I was 8 years old when we moved in until I left to get married, my mother still lives there now 84. I am wondering if there was ever a cemetery within The Hollies? And if so where? Was it near to the Blythwood Road end or much nearer to the old Methodist Church which is still standing although rather old looking. We spent most of our childhood playing along the old dis-used railway that run directly along Blythwood Road and opposite Holly Park Estate - top end which is where we live/ed. We now walk my mothers dog there twice a day. An elderly gentleman once told me when I was a child that there used to be a cemetery but I am not sure if he was trying to scare us children! I only thought about this recently when walking past the old Methodist Church and seeing the flag stone in the side of the wall with the inscription of when it was built late 1880
If anyone has any answers please email me [email protected]
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Chelsea Farm Chelsea Farm was established on the northern banks of the Thames on land previously open to common pasturage after the annual harvest. Cremorne Gardens Cremorne Gardens, with a vestige existing today, was in its prime between 1846 and 1877. Battersea Bridge, SW11 Battersea Bridge connects Battersea and Chelsea with the first bridge dating from 1771. Battersea Bridge, SW3 Battersea Bridge, a five-span arch bridge with cast-iron girders and granite piers links Battersea south of the River Thames with Chelsea to the north. Cheyne Walk, SW10 Cheyne Walk is one of the streets of London in the SW10 postal area. Danvers Street, SW3 Sir John Danvers (died 1655) introduced Italian gardens to England in his mansion Danvers House whose grounds spread from the river to the Kings Road. Edith Grove, SW10 Edith Grove was named after local developer Captain Robert Gunter’s daughter, Edith. Fulham Road, SW10 Fulham Road is one of the streets of London in the SW10 postal area. Gunter Grove, SW10 Gunter Grove is named for the famous West End confectioners, the Gunter Brothers. Kings Road, SW10 Kings Road stretches from the fashionable SW3 end into the SW10 area. Lamont Road, SW10 Lamont Road is one of the streets of London in the SW10 postal area. Lots Road, SW10 Lots Road, older than the surrounding streets, was once Pooles Lane which was a track leading to Chelsea Farm. Park Walk, SW10 Park Walk is one of the streets of London in the SW10 postal area. Paultons Square, SW3 Paultons Square, a garden square, was built in 1836–40 on the site of a former market garden. Redcliffe Place, SW10 Redcliffe Place is named after its architect’s recent brief to design a church in the Redcliffe area of Bristol. The Plaza, SW10 The Plaza is one of the streets of London in the SW10 postal area. The Vale, SW3 The Vale is one of the streets of London in the SW3 postal area. World’s End Passage, SW10 World’s End Passage formerly run to a notable King’s Road junction - the junction has now disappeared.
Chelsea is an affluent area, bounded to the south by the River Thames.Its eastern boundary was once defined by the River Westbourne, which is now in a pipe above Sloane Square tube station. The modern eastern boundary is Chelsea Bridge Road and the lower half of Sloane Street, including Sloane Square, along with parts of Belgravia. To the north and northwest, the area fades into Knightsbridge and South Kensington, but it is safe to say that the area north of
King’s Road as far northwest as
Fulham Road is part of Chelsea.
The word Chelsea originates from the Old English term for
chalk and
landing place on the river. The first record of the Manor of Chelsea precedes the Domesday Book and records the fact that Thurstan, governor of the King’s Palace during the reign of Edward the Confessor (1042–1066), gave the land to the Abbot and Convent of Westminster. Abbot Gervace subsequently assigned the manor to his mother, and it passed into private ownership. The modern-day Chelsea hosted the Synod of Chelsea in 787 AD.
Chelsea once had a reputation for the manufacture of Chelsea buns (made from a long strip of sweet dough tightly coiled, with currants trapped between the layers, and topped with sugar).
King Henry VIII acquired the manor of Chelsea from Lord Sandys in 1536; Chelsea Manor Street is still extant. Two of King Henry’s wives, Catherine Parr and Anne of Cleves, lived in the Manor House; Princess Elizabeth – the future Queen Elizabeth I – resided there; and Thomas More lived more or less next door at Beaufort House. In 1609 James I established a theological college on the site of the future Chelsea Royal Hospital, which Charles II founded in 1682.
By 1694, Chelsea – always a popular location for the wealthy, and once described as ’a village of palaces’ – had a population of 3000. Even so, Chelsea remained rural and served London to the east as a market garden, a trade that continued until the 19th-century development boom which caused the final absorption of the district into the metropolis.
Chelsea shone, brightly but briefly, in the 1960s Swinging London period and the early 1970s. The Swinging Sixties was defined on
King’s Road, which runs the length of the area. The Western end of Chelsea featured boutiques Granny Takes a Trip and The Sweet Shop, the latter of which sold medieval silk velvet caftans, tabards and floor cushions, with many of the cultural cognoscenti of the time being customers, including Keith Richards, Twiggy and many others.
The exclusivity of Chelsea as a result of its high property prices has historically resulted in the term Sloane Ranger to be used to describe its residents. From 2011, Channel 4 broadcast a reality television show called
Made in Chelsea, documenting the ’glitzy’ lives of several young people living in Chelsea. Moreover, Chelsea is home to one of the largest communities of Americans living outside of the United States, with 6.53% of Chelsea-residents being born in the United States.
 |  The Dancing Platform at Cremorne Gardens (1864)
In the 17th century, Chelsea Farm was formed and the area was used for market gardening plots, supplying central London.
In 1778, Lord Cremorne bought Chelsea Farm and Cremorne House was built.
In 1830 Charles Random de Berenger, a colourful character implicated in financial fraud during the Napoleonic War, purchased Cremorne House. He was a keen sportsman and opened a sports club know as Cremorne Stadium for ‘skilful and manly exercise’ including shooting, sailing, archery and fencing.
In 1846, De Berenger’s Cremorne Stadium was transformed into a pleasure garden which became a popular and noisy place of entertainment. The entertainment included a diverse range of activities including concerts, fireworks, balloon ascents, galas and theatre.
Credit: Phoebus LevinTUM image id: 1526047056Licence: |  |  |  |
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In the neighbourhood...
Click an image below for a better view...

The Dancing Platform at Cremorne Gardens (1864)
In the 17th century, Chelsea Farm was formed and the area was used for market gardening plots, supplying central London.
In 1778, Lord Cremorne bought Chelsea Farm and Cremorne House was built.
In 1830 Charles Random de Berenger, a colourful character implicated in financial fraud during the Napoleonic War, purchased Cremorne House. He was a keen sportsman and opened a sports club know as Cremorne Stadium for ‘skilful and manly exercise’ including shooting, sailing, archery and fencing.
In 1846, De Berenger’s Cremorne Stadium was transformed into a pleasure garden which became a popular and noisy place of entertainment. The entertainment included a diverse range of activities including concerts, fireworks, balloon ascents, galas and theatre.
Credit: Phoebus LevinLicence: 





