 Swiss Cottage is a landmark of North-West London in the London Borough of Camden. The area is commonly referred to after a Swiss Cottage which in the mid-20th Century was a restaurant called the Cottage Grill. It was originally the dairy of a farmhouse when the area was countryside but was demolished in mid-1960s. Today the name is associated with a Public House built between 1803 and 1804. This opened as "The Swiss Tavern" and is now called "Ye Olde Swiss Cottage" (a pub). However, the pub may have been named after a contemporary opera. The building was reconstructed in 1965 in the style of a Swiss chalet or cottage. The road to Finchley in Barnet is north of here and the area is usually referred to as Finchley Road and has also given that name to the nearby tube station, about a mile north of 'Swiss Cottage'.
Local amenities include an Odeon Cinema, Swiss Cottage Central Library, The Hampstead Theatre and assorted shops the length of the Finchley Road. The large Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre reopened in early 2006; after complete redevelopment; and now houses two swimming pools, a gym and a climbing wall.
As far as properties in the vicinity are concerned, Swiss Cottage would be deemed incorrect as an address: it is more a road junction. Properties would be addressed mostly either Hampstead, or St. John's Wood. It is common for properties west of the Finchley Road to be addressed West Hampstead and those east of the Finchley Road, but west of Merton Rise, and south of Eton Avenue as St. John's Wood. Properties between Haverstock Hill, Eton Avenue and Prince Albert Road are technically in Primrose Hill (which again is not an area that is proper when writing an address, as far as postal addresses are concerned, this is Belsize Park).
St. John's Wood, Belsize Park, South Hampstead, West Hampstead, Swiss Cottage, Hampstead Village, Hampstead Garden Suburb, Child's Hill, Highgate West, and Fortune Green are all considered as Greater Hampstead.
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