One of London's unloved streets is getting a glow-up

FOR as long as most Londoners can remember, Queensway has been the ugly duckling to the otherwise rarefied "swan" neighbourhoods surrounding Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park.

- Jonathan Prynn

It remained a defiantly scruffy strip of luggage and souvenir shops, mobile phone repairers, bookies and fast-food outlets, with property values a fraction of those in some neighbouring quarters.

The remarkable west London gentrification tide that turned Notting Hill into one of the world's most famous and desirable addresses simply passed by the W2 location best known for its ice - rink and the venerable Mandarin Kitchen Chinese restaurant. But

Queensway is finally having a moment - a £3 billion moment to be exact.

Last week, the first residents were handed the keys of their swish apartments created out of the shell of the former building towards the north end of Queensway. In May, one of London's most respected restaurateurs, Jeremy King, the man who co-founded Piccadilly dining institution The Wolseley, is opening his latest venture, called The Park, at the southern end on the corner of Bayswater Road.