Before every celebrity in England decided to decamp to the Cotswolds, there was an age-old tactic: move to Hampstead, where the expansive Heath and chocolate box village feel could meet A-listers’ bucolic countryside needs while still keeping them within a 20-minute drive of Central London and an hour from Heathrow.
Even if Chipping Norton seems to have inherited the gravitational force previously held by Hampstead, there are still plenty of celebrities who know what’s good for them (and by that I mean living in London). Just this week it was revealed that Barbie star Ryan Gosling has sent the Hampstead yummy mummies swooning at the school gates as he and partner Eva Mendes settle into the north London suburb.
Parliament Hill in Hampstead Heath
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“Yes, he’s here and so delightful chatting to everyone at the school gate — such a lovely man,” a local told the Daily Mail of her Ryan Gosling sighting. “And everyone can’t stop talking about how good-looking he is, the mums are practically drooling over him.”
You’d think the Hampstead residents would be used to celebrity spotting by now. They even had Taylor Swift in their midst for a sizeable chunk of the late 2010s and early 2020s (thanks to ex-boyfriend, the actor and infamous “London Boy” Joe Alwyn).
Hampstead Station
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So yes, the NW3 postcode is plenty starry. Between the celebrities, the expansive houses that line so-called Billionaire’s Row (Bishops Avenue, next to Hampstead Heath) and the topography, dare we say Hampstead could be London’s answer to Beverly Hills?
Here’s a guide to the A-listers who call it home.
Harry Styles (Ian West/PA)
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Perhaps Hampstead’s most famous resident, pop star Harry Styles, has lived in Hampstead since his One Direction days, back in 2012. It was then that he bought his first property in the area, before progressively buying more and more houses on the same street, forming a sort of secluded complex.
That’s not to say that Styles is much of a shut-in: when in London, he’s often spotted cycling around the area on a Lime bike, or swimming at the Hampstead Heath men’s ponds. One lucky fan who bumped into Styles revealed that the Fine Line singer is currently on a “croissant hunt” across London to find the city’s best bakery, so one can only assume he has tested the delights of Karma Bread Bakehouse.
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Dua Lipa is a Hampstead girl through and through (aside from being born in Albania, of course), having attended the local Parliament Hill School for girls, which backs onto Hampstead Heath.
She reportedly owns a Victorian Mansion in West Hampstead and recently received planning permission to add an underground swimming pool and a library. This checks out — Lipa is a true bibliophile, using her Service 95 platform to share book recommendations and interview authors (most recently: Margaret Atwood!).
Rita Ora and Taika Waititi
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I Will Never Let You Down singer Rita Ora recently uprooted her West London life to move to Hampstead, which she told the Standard was “so bougie”. She lives there with her husband, the director Taika Waititi, following the pair’s move to London in 2022.
The couple recently applied for planning permission for a garden gym, to the annoyance of some neighbours who argued they “should not be forced to live with artificial lighting, amplified sound, or loss of privacy.”
Ora is still getting to grips with Hampstead, and she still spends a lot of her time in Notting Hill, with the singer being a regular at hotspots like Dorian and The Cow.
Alastair Campbell
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Anyone who goes on regular walks on Hampstead Heath will know that Tony Blair’s former strategist (and current host of The Rest is Politics) is a fixture of the sprawling park, often walking there with his dog and family. Campbell and his family have lived in Hampstead for over 30 years. He’s also a committed Parliament Hill Lido swimmer, and swims there throughout the year, even when the unheated pool dips into minus temps.
“The idea of moving house fills me with terror,” he told My London in 2021. “We have only lived here and in one other house, in Oak Village […] I’d never live in South but then I’d never live anywhere else in London.”
Helena Bonham Carter has hailed the donation, describing it as a ‘wonderful gift’ (Ian West/PA)
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As you can tell, Hampstead is a swimmer’s paradise, and Helena Bonham Carter is another user of its plentiful aquatic facilities. The actress is a fan of the Kenwood Ladies Pond and can be seen swimming there at times. She also enjoys tucking into ice cream cones from local shops (even in January, rogue) while walking around the area and pub lunches with her boyfriend Rye Dag Holmboe at The Wells Tavern. Other good pubs for celebrity spotting include The Flask, in the nearby village of Highgate, and The Spaniard’s Inn, which is located off the Heath near Kenwood House.
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It doesn’t get more North London than this. The football pundit and living Arsenal legend has lived in Hampstead since 2021, telling The Times: “I’m proud of being French, but I call myself a Londoner.”
Back in 2012, Londoners got an idea of what his Hampstead home might look like when he submitted plans to demolish his £10 million mansion and build a new one with a 40ft, four-storey fish tank at its heart. A dazzling centrepiece for a dazzling centre-forward.
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Ever been confused by Claudia Schiffer’s presence in the film Love Actually? You shouldn’t be, the German model has lived in London since the early 2000s, following her wedding to Kickass and Kingsman filmmaker Matthew Vaughn. The couple first lived in Notting Hill before settling in Hampstead, with a second property in Sussex.
By this point, Schiffer says she feels very English. Speaking to Grazia this April about her love of Marmite, she said: “I became obsessed and it’s since become my favourite treat, followed by a traditional English eggs, bacon and sausage breakfast. I’ve happily embraced the English tradition of drinking tea since settling here.”
