Suburb Guide

Paddington

Just 3km from the CBD, quaint and charming Paddington is one of Sydney's best-known suburbs. It's renowned primarily for Oxford Street, the vast boulevard which runs north to south through the entire suburb and is one of Sydney's premier shopping destinations.Lined with interesting boutiques, high-street shops and eclectic specialty stores, it's also the home of the Paddington Markets, held every Saturday in Paddington Primary School. Glenmore Road (The Intersection with Oxford Street), William Street and Five Ways have also emerged as world-class shopping strips, and it's here that you'll find some of the city's most fashionable boutiques.Paddington is famous for the ornate Victorian terraces which dominate almost every one of its meandering streets. Still quite working class up until the late '80s, Paddington's rapid gentrification saw these formerly rundown residences snapped up and renovated at a rate of knots, with the high demand sending prices skyrocketing into the million dollar stratosphere.

Paddington plays host to a vast array of revered galleries, including the famed Sherman Galleries, which congregate primarily around Glenmore Road and the prestigious tree-lined boulevard of Paddington Street.

It's well-known for its pub culture, with traditional hotels such as The Royal, Bellevue, The London and The Paddington Inn offering great pub food at reasonable prices. A firm favourite among trendy inner city types and executives, Paddington's increasingly high prices mean that the affluent have a firm foothold on the suburb.