This suburban neighbourhood is at the heart of Battersea, occupying half of St. John’s Hill, Battersea’s high street, as well as a portion of Northcote Road, which runs perpendicular to St. John’s Hill. Both these streets are lined with stores, including some offshoots on Battersea Rise. The businesses are predominantly eateries, with a considerable amount of department stores and groceries on St. John’s Hill, including Debenhams, Whole Foods Market and TK Maxx. The residential area around these businesses are comprised of straight and regular streets (apart from Lavender Sweep and Parma Crescent, which are arcs), filled with Victorian terrace houses. These houses blend in towards the east with the Clapham area, and to the south with the Wandsworth area, but is blocked to the north and south by the railway lines emanating from nearby Clapham Junction.

St. Mary’s Cemetery is located by one of these railway lines, and is the only green space in the area itself, though Wandsworth Common and Clapham Common are close by to the west and east. Overall the area is bustling with life – both commercial and entertainment activity, and is well connected with the nearby Clapham Junction railway station.

Battersea’s name (called Batricheseie, Batricesege, amongst other variants in the past) likely referred to the gravel ‘island’ by the River Thames where a church, manor house and arable field was located. The manor belonged to the monarchy up to 1066, when William the Conqueror gave it to Westminster Abbey; it would become amongst the main manors which supported the Abbey. The area would continue to be held by the church until the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII, when the estate was sold to the St. John family (whose legacy still exists in the form of the high street’s name).

The Latchmere’s first floor is home to the Olivier award-winning Theatre 503, which hosts over 300 shows a year, with a particular focus on radical new writers. Besides plays, the pub also hosts comedy gigs as well as good old pub quizzes.

George Alfred Henty (1832-1902) lived at 33 Lavender Gardens, and was an English novelist and war correspondent. He was a prolific writer, and many of his books incorporated his experiences from the wars he bore witness to. Some of his writings today are controversial, alleging xenophobia as well as overt praise for British imperialism.

Battersea is highly connected via Clapham Junction, which sees several railway lines as well as the Overground converge. However, the proliferation of railways does also mean a considerable amount of noise pollution even at night. The traffic in the area is also heavy, adding to the noise and pollution of the area.

The power station recently finished a £9bn residential, retail and leisure development, much of which was designed by Foster + Partners and apartments by Frank Gehry architects. The initial proposal included 50% affordable homes, but only 9% of the properties ended up falling into this category. Both the Netherlands and Chinese embassies are looking to follow the U.S. and relocate to the area. However, more relevant to the area is the Northern line extension, which became operational in 2022 and brings the tube line from Kennington to Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station (station), bringing the tube line within a half an hour walk, or couple of minutes’ bus ride, or a single train stop, down the road.