Hampstead Town (ward)

Hampstead Town is a ward in the London Borough of Camden, in the United Kingdom. It covers most of Hampstead Village, the western half of Hampstead Heath, North End and the Vale of Health. The more residential Frognal ward covers much of the rest of Hampstead.

Hampstead Town
Electoral ward for the Camden London Borough Council
Hampstead Town ward boundaries since 2022
Borough	Camden
County	Greater London
Population	12,430 (1966) 8,016 (2021)[a]
Electorate	8,630 (1964) 4,791 (1978) 7,438 (2002) 5,964 (2022)
Area	2.819 square kilometres (1.088 sq mi) (1968) 2.181 square kilometres (0.842 sq mi) (2022)
Current electoral ward
Created	1965
Councillors	1965–1971: 3 1971–1978: 4 1978–2002: 2 2002–2022: 3 2022–present: 2
ONS code	00AGGL (2002–2022)
GSS code	E05000135 (2002–2022) E05013659 (2022–present)

The ward has existed since the creation of the borough on 1 April 1965 and was first used in the 1964 elections. The boundaries were redrawn in May 1971, May 1978, May 2002 and May 2022. In the most recent set of changes, the southernmost area of the ward was transferred to Belsize and Gospel Oak wards, and the number of councillors was reduced from three to two.^[1][2] The ward's current boundaries have been in effect since the 2022 election, and the ward's three polling stations are at Burgh House, Fitzjohn's Primary School and Keats Community Library.^[3] In 2018, the ward had an electorate of 6,214.^[4] The Boundary Commission projects the electorate to rise to 6,328 in 2025.^[4]

The ward has historically been represented by either Conservative or Liberal Democrat councillors. The first Liberal Democrat councillors, Margaret Little and John Dickie, were elected in May 1994. Dickie, however, had taken the Labour whip by December 1995, to the surprise of the Liberal Democrat group leader, Flick Rea, who called for him to stand down.^[5] He continued as a councillor for the ward until the 1998 election, when he was elected as a Labour councillor in Grafton.^[6] In May 2022, Adrian Cohen became the ward's first elected Labour councillor. However, Cohen announced 21 days after the election that he would not be taking up his seat on the council, forcing a by-election to be held on 7 July 2022.^[7] Former Liberal Democrat councillor Linda Chung was elected in Cohen's place.^[8]

The ward's notable councillors have included two Conservative leaders of the opposition, Alan Greengross (1974–1978) and Oliver Cooper (2015–2022), Archie Macdonald, former Liberal MP for Roxburgh and Selkirk and Labour councillor Adrian Cohen, who founded the London Jewish Forum.^[9]

List of councillors

The ward was initially represented by three councillors. This increased to four between 1971 and 1978, before being reduced to two between 1978 and 2002. From 2002 to 2022, the ward was represented by three councillors. This reverted to two councillor representation from 2022, as a result of boundary changes.

Term	Councillor	Party
1964–1971	Elizabeth Knight		Conservative
1964–1974	Arthur Roome		Conservative
1964–1968	Luigi Denza		Conservative
1968–1971	Peter Smith		Conservative
1974–1976	Archie Macdonald		Conservative
1974–1978	Alan Greengross		Conservative
1974–1982	Gwyneth Williams		Conservative
1974–1978	John Ratzer		Conservative
1976–1978	Stephen Rowlinson		Conservative
1976–1982	Ian Tommison		Conservative
1982–1986	Julian Harrison		Conservative
1982–1986	Anthony Robinson		Conservative
1986–1990	Jacqueline Jones		Conservative
1986–1989	Selina Gee		Conservative
1989–1994	Rita Pomfret		Conservative
1990–1994	Maureen Braun		Conservative
1994–2006	Margaret Little		Liberal Democrats
1994–1998	John Dickie[b]		Liberal Democrats
			Labour
1998–2002	Sidney Malin		Liberal Democrats
2002–2008	Mike Greene		Conservative
2002–2006	Brian Cattell		Conservative
2006–2012	Kirsty Roberts		Conservative
2006–2014	Chris Knight		Conservative
2008–2014	Linda Chung		Liberal Democrats
2022–present			Liberal Democrats
2012–2015	Simon Marcus		Conservative
2014–present	Stephen Stark		Conservative
2014–2018	Tom Currie		Conservative
2015–2022	Oliver Cooper		Conservative
2018–2022	Maria Higson		Conservative
2022–2022	Adrian Cohen		Labour

Camden council elections since 2022

Location of the Hampstead Town ward in Camden since 2022

There was a revision of ward boundaries in Camden in 2022. Hampstead Town lost territory to the south to Belsize and Gospel Oak wards. Councillors representing Hampstead Town decreased from three to two.

2022 by-election

The by-election took place on 7 July 2022, following the resignation of Adrian Cohen.^[3]

2022 Hampstead Town by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Linda Chung	919	41.0	+20.8
	Conservative	Alex Andrews	620	27.6	−10.7
	Labour Co-op	Alex Sufit	559	24.9	−13.9
	Green	Peter John McGinty	104	4.6	+4.6
	Independent	Jonathan Livingstone	44	2.0	+2.0
	National Housing Party No More Refugees	Patrick McGinnis	1	0.0	0
Turnout			2,247	37.6
	Liberal Democrats gain from Labour

2022 election

The election took place on 5 May 2022.^[10]

2022 Camden London Borough Council election: Hampstead Town

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stephen Stark	1,089	42.2
	Labour Co-op	Adrian Cohen	1,030	39.9
	Labour Co-op	Alexandra Sufit	971	37.6
	Conservative	Deborah Dor	887	34.4
	Liberal Democrats	Anne Ward	609	23.6
	Liberal Democrats	Nicholas Russell	435	16.9
Turnout			2,581	43.3
	Conservative win (new boundaries)
	Labour win (new boundaries)

2002–2022 Camden council elections

Hampstead Town ward boundaries from 2002 to 2022

There was a revision of ward boundaries in Camden in 2002. Councillors representing Hampstead Town increased from two to three.

2018 election

The election took place on 3 May 2018.^[11]

2018 Camden London Borough Council election: Hampstead Town

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stephen Stark	1,522	14.6%	0.7%
	Conservative	Oliver Cooper	1,455	14.0%	0.4%
	Conservative	Maria Higson	1,400	13.6%	0.3%
	Liberal Democrats	Linda Chung	1,247	12.0%
	Labour	Sue Cullinan	898	8.6%	1.0%
	Liberal Democrats	Andrew Haslam Jones	879	8.5%	2.5%
	Liberal Democrats	Will Coles	826	7.9%	2.3%
	Labour	Sunny Mandich	811	7.8%	0.4%
	Labour	James Slater	799	7.7%	1.4%
	Green	Richard Dunham Bourne	243	2.3%	3.0%
	Green	Michael Wulff Pawlyn	175	1.7%	2.1%
	Green	Ramsay Short	135	1.3%	1.7%
Majority			153	1.5%	0.2%
Turnout			10,390	46.5%	2.8%
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

2015 by-election

The by-election took place on 7 May 2015, following the resignation of Simon Marcus.^[11]

2015 Hampstead Town by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Oliver Cooper	2,693	50.9	8.0
	Labour	Maddy Raman	1,381	26.1	4.8
	Green	Sophie Dix	597	11.3	0.9
	Liberal Democrats	Yannick Bultingaire	543	10.3	13.3
	Independent	Nigel Rumble	73	1.4	N/A
Majority			1,312	24.8
Turnout			5,287	67
	Conservative hold		Swing

2014 election

The election took place on 22 May 2014.^[12]

2014 Camden London Borough Council election: Hampstead Town

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Simon Marcus	1,465	15.3%
	Conservative	Stephen Stark	1,380	14.4%
	Conservative	Tom Currie	1,272	13.3%
	Liberal Democrats	Linda Chung	1,148	12.0%
	Labour	Rachel Agnew	726	7.6%
	Labour	Maddy Raman	711	7.4%
	Labour	Luca Salice	609	6.3%
	Liberal Democrats	James Newsome	575	6.0%
	Liberal Democrats	Robert Carruthers	542	5.6%
	Green	Sophie Dix	512	5.3%
	Green	Maisie King	365	3.8%
	Green	Prashant Bhaskar Vaze	288	3.0%
Majority			124	1.3%
Turnout			9,593	43.7%
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing

2012 by-election

The by-election took place on 27 September 2012, following the resignation of Kirsty Roberts.^[12]

2012 Hampstead Town by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Simon Marcus	1,040	42.4%	1.9
	Liberal Democrats	Jeffrey Fine	695	28.3%	7.3
	Labour	Maddy Raman	512	20.9%	4.5
	Green	Sophie Dix	207	8.4%	1.0
Majority			345	14.1%
Turnout			2,454	29.6%
	Conservative hold		Swing

2010 election

The election on 6 May 2010 took place on the same day as the United Kingdom general election.^[13]

2010 Camden London Borough Council election: Hampstead Town

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Chris Knight	2,261	40.9	−3.4
	Liberal Democrats	Linda Chung	2,198	39.7	+6.5
	Conservative	Kirsty Roberts	2,159	39.0	−6.3
	Conservative	Stephen Stark	2,006	36.3	−14.5
	Liberal Democrats	David Bouchier	1,775	32.1	−3.6
	Liberal Democrats	Ian Harrison	1,681	30.4	+3.4
	Labour	Janet Guthrie	1,113	20.1	+7.8
	Labour	Tom Tabori	757	13.7	+2.2
	Labour	Suhel Islam	728	13.2	+2.6
	Green	Stuart Houghton	528	9.5	+0.4
	Green	Ian Patton	349	6.3	−1.6
	Green	Prashant Vaze	303	5.5	−0.4
Turnout			5,533	69.4	+20.2
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

2008 by-election

The by-election was held on 25 September 2008, following the resignation of Mike Greene.^[13]

2008 Hampstead Town by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Linda Chung	1,242	44.1	+11.5
	Conservative	Stephen Phillips	1,114	39.6	−6.9
	Labour	Larraine Revah	289	10.3	−1.0
	Green	Anya Reeve	140	5.0	−3.3
	BNP	Stephen Dorman	30	1.0	+1.0
Majority			128	4.5
Turnout			2,814	36.7
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

2006 election

The election took place on 4 May 2006.^[14]

2006 Camden London Borough Council election: Hampstead Town

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mike Greene	1,842	50.8	+5.1
	Conservative	Kirsty Roberts	1,641	45.3	+7.5
	Conservative	Christopher Knight	1,605	44.3	+7.3
	Liberal Democrats	Ed Fordham	1,293	35.7	−2.7
	Liberal Democrats	Linda Chung	1,204	33.2	−0.6
	Liberal Democrats	Jonathan Fryer	980	27.0	−0.8
	Labour	Hugh Gracey	446	12.3	−2.6
	Labour	Myra Carr	418	11.5	−1.4
	Labour	Paul Tomlinson	384	10.6	−1.4
	Green	Brian Gascoigne	328	9.1	−3.0
	Green	Charlotte Collins	287	7.9	−3.2
	Green	Una Sapietis	214	5.9	−5.1
	Independent	Brian Kettell	52	1.4	−36.4
Turnout			10,694	49.2
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

2002 election

The election took place on 2 May 2002.^[15]

2002 Camden London Borough Council election: Hampstead Town

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mike Greene	1,316	45.7
	Liberal Democrats	Margaret Little	1,106	38.4
	Conservative	Brian Cattell	1,089	37.8
	Conservative	Katharine Steel	1,064	37.0
	Liberal Democrats	Louise Malin	974	33.8
	Liberal Democrats	Martin Wright	800	27.8
	Labour	Neil Crundwell	430	14.9
	Labour	Harunur Rashid	372	12.9
	Green	Brian Gascoigne	349	12.1
	Labour	Mohammed Islam	345	12.0
	Green	Frances Mortimer	321	11.1
	Green	Dorothy Forsyth	316	11.0
Turnout			8,482
	Conservative win (new boundaries)
	Liberal Democrats win (new boundaries)
	Conservative win (new boundaries)

1978–2002 Camden council elections

Location of the Hampstead Town ward in Camden from 1978 to 2002

There was a revision of ward boundaries in Camden in 1978. Councillors representing Hampstead Town decreased from four to two.

1998 election

The election took place on 7 May 1998.^[16]

1998 Camden London Borough Council election: Hampstead Town

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Margaret Little	1,028
	Liberal Democrats	Sidney Malin	912
	Conservative	Roderick Anderson	368
	Conservative	Michael Bottom	354
	Labour	Mark Leonard	301
	Labour	Rudolph Champagne	259
Turnout			3,222	40.8
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

1994 election

The election took place on 5 May 1994.^[17]

1994 Lambeth London Borough Council election: Hampstead Town

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Margaret Little	1,005
	Liberal Democrats	John Dickie	969
	Conservative	Helen Sinclair	471
	Conservative	Maureen Braun	466
	Labour	Janet Guthrie	97
	Labour	Simon Fitzpatrick	97
	Green	Katharina Wolfe	97
Turnout				51.0%
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing
	Liberal Democrats gain from Conservative		Swing

1990 election

The election took place on 3 May 1990.^[18]

1990 Camden London Borough Council election: Hampstead Town

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Maureen Braun	643
	Conservative	Rita Pomfret	620
	Liberal Democrats	David Brierley	619
	Liberal Democrats	John Dickie	549
	Labour	John Saynor	432
	Labour	Anna Wernher	397
	Green	John Penney	219
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

1989 by-election

The by-election took place on 26 January 1989, following the resignation of Selina Gee.^[18]

1989 Hampstead Town by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Rita Pomfret	533
	Liberal Democrats	David Brierley	373
	Labour	Myra Polya	239
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

1986 election

The election took place on 8 May 1986.^[19]

1986 Camden London Borough Council election: Hampstead Town

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Jacqueline Jones	788
	Conservative	Selina Gee	787
	Alliance	David Brierley	695
	Alliance	David Aarons	672
	Labour	David Bookless	564
	Labour	Heather Kenmure	517
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

1982 election

The election took place on 6 May 1982.^[20]

1982 Camden London Borough Council election: Hampstead Town

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Julian Harrison	992
	Conservative	Anthony Robinson	962
	Alliance	David Birkett	676
	Alliance	Brian Sugden	627
	Labour	Eric Mitchell	463
	Labour	James Murphy	445
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

1978 election

The election took place on 4 May 1978.^[21]

1978 Camden London Borough Council election: Hampstead Town

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Ian Tommison	1,251
	Conservative	Gwyneth Williams	1,234
	Labour	Philip Grenall	647
	Labour	David Bookless	628
	Liberal	Nigel Barnes	297
	Save London Alliance	Anthony Diamond	61
Turnout
	Conservative win (new boundaries)
	Conservative win (new boundaries)

1971–1978 Camden council elections

There was a revision of ward boundaries in Camden in 1971. Councillors representing Hampstead Town increased from three to four.

1976 by-election

The by-election took place on 15 July 1976, following the resignation of Archie Macdonald.^[21]

1976 Hampstead Town by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Stephen Rowlinson	1,743
	Labour	James Parish	548
	Liberal	Nigel Barnes	376
Turnout				28.4
	Conservative hold		Swing

1974 election

The election took place on 2 May 1974.^[22]

1974 Camden London Borough Council election: Hampstead Town

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Archie Macdonald	1,980
	Conservative	Alan Greengross	1,956
	Conservative	Gwyneth Williams	1,924
	Conservative	John Ratzer	1,902
	Labour	John Darlington	1,141
	Labour	Lord George Archibald	1,137
	Labour	James Parish	1,132
	Labour	John Rigby	1,087
	Liberal	Sarah Khuner	557
	Liberal	Nicholas Salmon	548
	Liberal	Marion Friedmann	523
	Liberal	Raymond Benad	494
	Communist	Elizabeth Tate	152
	Save London Action Group	Andrew Urquhart	73
	Save London Action Group	Charles Carey	57
	Save London Action Group	Robert Fysh	53
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

1971 election

The election took place on 13 May 1971.^[23]

1971 Camden London Borough Council election: Hampstead Town

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	James Lemkin	2,073
	Conservative	Archie Macdonald	2,071
	Conservative	Harriet Greenaway	2,064
	Conservative	Arthur Roome	1,996
	Labour	Alix Maxwell	1,574
	Labour	Roger Robinson	1,537
	Labour	Edwin Rhodes	1,511
	Labour	Keith Atkins	1,501
	Liberal	David Sacker	360
	Liberal	Bonamy Bradby	337
	Communist	Elizabeth Tate	258
Turnout
	Conservative win (new boundaries)
	Conservative win (new boundaries)
	Conservative win (new boundaries)
	Conservative win (new boundaries)

1964–1971 Camden council elections

1968 election

The election took place on 9 May 1968.^[24]

1968 Camden London Borough Council election: Hampstead Town

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Elizabeth Knight	2,191	57.9
	Conservative	Arthur Roome	2,162
	Conservative	Peter Smith	2,119
	Labour	Anthony Clarke	987	25.9
	Labour	Jennifer Keohane	958
	Labour	Phyllis Hymans	946
	Liberal	Archie Macdonald	587	14.4
	Liberal	George Willett	532
	Liberal	Sarah Khuner	491
	Communist	Elizabeth Tate	200	1.8
Turnout				40.6
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing
	Conservative hold		Swing

1964 election

The election took place on 7 May 1964.^[25]

1964 Camden London Borough Council election: Hampstead Town

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Elizabeth Knight	1,961
	Conservative	Arthur Roome	1,955
	Conservative	Luigi Denza	1,947
	Labour	P. Hymans	1,146
	Labour	Thomas Mahoney	1,127
	Labour	Janek Langer	1,121
	Liberal	Pamela Frankau	694
	Liberal	Sarah Khuner	668
	Liberal	Archie Macdonald	656
Turnout			3,783	43.8
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)
	Conservative win (new seat)

Notes

1. 2021 census data reported for 2022 ward boundaries
2. John Dickie changed parties in 1995