This South London gem hides in plain sight. We all know it, we’ve all been there or been through it, but it's the very savvy people who’ve decided to call it home. Vauxhall is too often considered something to pass through when it should be the end destination. Where else in London can you sit in a city farm and pet a goat while looking up at the vast riverside home of MI6?

Grab a coffee and pastry in sleepy, bohemian Bonnington Square but don’t hold your breath to buy a property there, the squares residents rarely move, and for good reason. Another oasis and institution is Brunswick House Cafe at Vauxhall Cross, an elegant bolt hole for lunch and dinner. In for a big night? The Royal Vauxhall Tavern has long been an icon of the LGBTQI+ community and hosts regular cabaret, comedy, and club nights.

Property-wise, Vauxhall is part of the same development changing the face of the South Bank. Vauxhall is in the middle of central London’s largest regeneration project. From Lambeth Bridge to Chelsea Bridge, 560 acres of former office and industrial buildings are being swept away for at least 20,000 new homes, a rebuilt Covent Garden Market, and a linear park running from Lambeth Palace to Battersea Power Station. Property firm JLL has identified 25 major developments in the Vauxhall, Nine Elms, and Battersea area with 4,884 homes under construction and another 9,129 in the planning. So there is and will be a large number of new-build apartments of varying sizes available.

For period properties, it will be back towards the squares and crescents of Oval and Stockwell, with some lovely quiet streets with full houses and mansion flats available. If you want river views, Vauxhall has you covered. Money no object? four-bedroom off-plan sales at 50-storey Aykon London One in Bondway with Versace interiors for upwards of £10m?

There is a lot to do in Vauxhall, from the farm to the Newport Street Gallery, climbing in the arches under the station, or just a stroll across the bridge to the Tate Britain. 

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