This unusual suburb encompasses the area directly north of Clapham Junction railway station as well as the station itself, and in between York Road to the north, Latchmere Road to the east, and the Wandsworth Bridge roundabout to the west, forming an irregular trapezoid. The area is also known as the Winstanley Estate, which reveals the area’s characteristics as a council estate. Indeed, most of the buildings here are post-war, utilitarian, blocky council flats, which range from low-rises to tall blocky, Soviet-style towers. These blocks, however, do not make up all of the area, and smaller Victorian terrace houses do exist to the east, where Battersea Park Road is located, along with most of the area’s businesses and eateries. Apart from that, the area is highly residential. The area is home to a few green spaces, including the sprawling York Gardens, Falcon and Shillington Park and a small green square surrounded by long council flat blocks in the middle of the postcode sector. The River Thames is a short walk away, with views of Parsons Green and Fulham.

This area was predominantly comprised of Victorian slums, though the eastern part was built as a more ‘proper’ neighbourhood, and still retains the conventional Victorian terrace houses today. An undertaker stated that he remembered “chicken wire where the windows were supposed to be”. The area, already earmarked for clearing due to its overcrowded nature, was redeveloped into Winstanley Estate between 1956 and 1972 following the war, in which it was badly bombed. The Estate, however, both in Winstanley and York Road, gradually regained (or never lost) its reputation as a poor, crime-ridden area, but in recent years the nearby regeneration of the Battersea area has transformed the neighbourhood, with a regeneration scheme in the pipeline.

The neighbourhood is home to a few interestingly named roads, including Afghan Road, Khyber Road, Candahar Road and Cabul Road. This small pocket, known as Little India (even though Afghanistan is not in India), was named to commemorate the feats of the Second Afghan War by Alfred Heaver, a Victorian carpenter-turned property developer. The war saw the Khyber Pass controlled, Kabul occupied and victory won at Kandahar.

The area, while having improved, is still known for its crime, and the post-war architecture can look very grim and foreboding. The railway line forming the border between the area and the rest of Battersea also adds to the dark architecture while separating the area from the more upbeat town centre.

The Winstanley and York Road Joint Venture partnership are implementing a masterplan for the area in order to provide more social and affordable housing (more than 2200 homes overall), as well as a new park, while regenerating the area to alleviate its current problems. The 32-acre regeneration area will secure housing for all 530 council tenants, and a new leisure centre and community space is to be built. Phase 1 was completed in 2016 and the project was heavily criticised for the stagnation that followed; it took two years before works for the next phase were initiated! Thankfully, phase 2 seems to be nearing completion and the third phase is expected to end in 2025. All in all the project encompasses 5 phases and is projected to be fully completed in the mid-2030s.