Nestled between the affluent residential hotspot of Belsize Park and the tourist hub of Camden Town, the majority of this neighbourhood falls into Chalk Farm. Despite including London’s fourth-most popular tourist attraction, Camden Market, the area doesn’t feel nearly as crowded as below the canal. Yet, it still maintains the exciting buzz that draws so many people to Camden. Chalk Farm is notorious as a hub of musical creativity. It also has large venues such as the Roundhouse, offering cheap rehearsal space for young musicians alongside huge concert space for acts such as Radiohead, as well as smaller pub venues like The Lock Tavern and The Hawley Arms. To the west of the train tracks, towards Primrose Hill and north towards Kentish Town, the area does possess its fair share of pricey Victorian terraced streets and, surprisingly, quaint village-like squares, each with their own local pubs. There are also a number of more affordable flats which are popular with Camden’s famously diverse population. Camden Town tube station to the south is the focal point of much of Camden’s dense tourist population. However, to the north lies Chalk Farm Station, which is a much calmer, but equally well connected Northern Line station drawing many young professionals and families to the area.

The ‘chalk’ of Chalk Farm has nothing to do with the land it’s built on, but rather it derives from the word ‘Chalcot’, meaning “cold shelter”, and was a hamlet in the vast parish of Hornsey and a resting place for those making the journey into London. The farm itself was located in the middle of the fields which were once Henry VIII’s hunting grounds which incorporated Regent’s Park and Primrose Hill, and later became a tavern notorious for the duels that took place outside of it. The Regent’s Canal, completed in 1820, began the industrialisation of the southern part of the area and made Camden a hive of busy warehouses and small terraces which housed the canal workers. Spurred by this, Regent’s Park Road was developed into a residential and shopping street, carving up the original farm and defining the eastern border of Primrose Hill. However, the farmhouse, rebuilt in 1853, still exists today at 89 Regent’s Park Road. Chalk Farm Station was built as the north terminal of the North London Railway in 1850 and a quarter of a mile of coal sheds and warehouses were built around it. This brought a huge number of workers, and further developed the area into an industrial, residential suburb. When goods transport via canal and train declined after the Second World War, the industrial areas were left abandoned until they were developed into the markets we recognise them as today.

Since their conception, Primrose Hill’s picturesque terraces have always been an attractive destination for the political and artistic elite, boasting a number of the world’s most influential figures over the years. One such individual was Friedrich Engels (1820-1895), who lived at 122 Regent’s Park Road between 1870 and 1894. Engels contributed to some of the most noteworthy and divisive political writings in history, and, while living in Primrose Hill, edited Marx’s famous Capital.

Another hugely influential figure, this time in literature, who lived at two addresses in the area, was Sylvia Plath (1932-1963). Following her time at Cambridge University she moved to the attractive 3 Chalcot Square between 1960 and 1961, and later, attracted by the existing Blue Plaque marking the former home of W B Yeats, to 23 Fitzroy Road.

As mentioned above, Chalk Farm Tavern was once a notorious duelling location, the most notable of which involved the celebrated naval officer, James Macnamara who fought in the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. When riding in Hyde Park with Colonel Robert Montgomery, their dogs began to fight, and, unaware that the other dog was Macnamara’s, Montgomery suggested he should kill it. Harsh words were exchanged and, over this petty quarrel a duel was declared. Montgomery died in the duel and Macnamara was arrested for manslaughter, but acquitted after a number of his high ranking naval friends testified in his defence.

Camden Town tube station is one of only eight London Underground stations that has a deep-level air-raid shelter built beneath it. Originally built during the Second World War, the 370m long tunnel was used to house 8,000 people during air raids. It is one of the few tunnels that still exist and is often used as a film set today.

What is now the large music venue, Roundhouse, once served a very different function. Built in 1847 by the London and North Western Railway, it housed a railway turntable, which span round steam locomotives in the days when trains didn’t have reverse functions. The technology became quickly redundant, however, and was turned into a gin store, before reopening as a performing arts venue in 1966. It is Grade-II listed, and notable as a fine example of Victorian railway architecture.

Like much of the Camden area, there is a problem with noise and pollution from the busy main roads, and the increasing popularity of the area continues to drive up rent prices, making what was once a hotbed of multicultural students and artists into a homogenous area that is quickly losing its unique character, pandering to tourists to survive. For those who have remained through the area’s rapid gentrification, however, Chalk Farm continues to thrive as a creative hub, but only if you know where to look away from the main roads. “There is always something to do at all times of the day,” says one resident, “and when things get too busy and touristy, there’s really easy transport links to my other beloved parts of town.”

Plans have been approved for what’s been described as the biggest change Camden has seen in 30 years, the £600m Camden Goods Yard development scheme is scheduled for completion in 2025.The project will contain over 600 new homes, 300,000 sq ft of office space, and a small amount of office space in between Camden Market and Roundhouse. While the proposal is supported by the Greater London Authority, there are worries that the scheme will cause problems with overcrowding. Others complain that this project, as well as similar nearby projects such as the large Camden Lock Village scheme, are incongruous with existing architecture and contribute to the gentrification of the area. Nearby, the Verdica scheme on Belmont Street is set to be completed in 2024 and will comprise 115 flats across 3 buildings.