Chiswick by Car: High Road, Mall and River Approaches

Two Chiswicks separated by a main road

The A4 Great West Road cuts straight through Chiswick, and everything about local movement follows from that. North of it lies Chiswick High Road, Turnham Green and the Bedford Park conservation area. South of it lies the older riverside village around Chiswick Mall, Church Street and Strand-on-the-Green. Crossing between the two is done at specific points rather than anywhere, which is why a short journey here can involve a considerable detour.

The High Road and the side turnings

Chiswick High Road is a long, busy shopping street with bus lanes, loading bays and a steady flow of turning traffic. It is not somewhere to wait. Turnham Green Terrace, Devonshire Road, Chiswick Lane and Duke Road all run off it and give a driver a legitimate place to pause a short walk from the shops and restaurants. Devonshire Road in particular carries a run of restaurants and fills in the evening.

Hogarth Roundabout and the corridor pinch

Hogarth Roundabout is where the A4, the A316 towards Richmond and the local road network all meet, and it is the single most reliable source of delay in the district. The flyover carries the through movement while local traffic circulates beneath, and when either level slows the other follows. Journeys planned through it in the morning or evening peak need a wider margin than the distance suggests, and a route via Chiswick Bridge or the High Road is sometimes quicker despite being longer.

The riverside lanes and the tide

Chiswick Mall is a genuine curiosity: a riverside lane where the road floods at the highest spring tides, leaving standing water across the carriageway for a period around high water. It is well known locally and entirely predictable from the tide tables, but it does mean an arrival there is planned with the tide in mind. Strand-on-the-Green, further west near Kew Bridge, is narrow, part-pedestrian and equally tidal in places.

For addresses on either, a set-down on the nearest ordinary street with a short walk is often the sensible plan, and it is always worth mentioning a riverside address when you enquire.

• Chiswick Mall floods around the highest tides and clears again within the hour
• Strand-on-the-Green is narrow, cobbled in places and partly pedestrian
• Church Street connects the Mall to the High Road but is narrow and one-way in part

Bridges, the A316 and journeys west

Chiswick has Kew Bridge to the west, Chiswick Bridge and Barnes Bridge to the south, and Hammersmith Bridge to the east, though the latter has been subject to a long-running closure to motor traffic and its status should be checked rather than assumed. The A316 south of Hogarth Roundabout is the main route towards Richmond, Twickenham and the M3, which makes Chiswick a natural staging point for journeys to the south-west.

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