London Destinations:
Notting Hill
Notting Hill is a vibrant, trendy area. Casual cafes line bohemian
Portobello Road, famed for its busy market selling antiques and vintage
fashion. Filmgoers relax in posh armchairs at the Electric Cinema.
High-end restaurants, brunch spots and upscale boutiques cluster around
Westbourne Grove. Huge crowds celebrate the annual Notting Hill
Carnival, whose parades and calypso music reflect the area's Caribbean
roots.
Notting Hill provides the setting for novels by G.K. Chesterton (The
Napoleon of Notting Hill), Colin MacInnes (Absolute Beginners), Michael
Moorcock (the Jerry Cornelius quartet), R. C. Sherriff (The Hopkins
Manuscript), and Alan Hollinghurst (The Line of Beauty). Dan Waddel's
The Blood Detective is a murder novel set in the past and present -
featuring Notting Dale. The area's newer, wealthy residents are
satirised in Rachel Johnson's novel Notting Hell (2006) set in grand
houses surrounding a fictional communal garden.
The area is also the setting of the films The Knack …and How to
Get It (1965), Performance (1970) featuring Mick Jagger, Lava (2001),
and Paddington (2014). Notting Hill also serves as the locale for the
1999 romantic comedy Notting Hill, starring Julia Roberts and Hugh
Grant.
Online Walks
Notting Hill: See and Do
Portobello Road runs almost the entire length of Notting Hill from
north to south. It runs parallel to Ladbroke Grove. It contains
Portobello Road Market, one of London's best known markets, containing
an antique section and second-hand, fruit and veg and clothing stalls.
The road was originally a lane leading to Portobello Farm in the north
of Notting Hil.
Westbourne Grove is a retail road running across Notting Hill from
Kensington Park Road in the west to Queensway in the east, crossing
over Portobello Road. It was noted as "fashionable" and "up-and-coming"
from the 1990s since then it has attracted many designer label outlets
as well as independent and chain retailers. The Notting Hill Carnival
passes along the central part of Westbourne Grove.
Notting Hill Carnival is an annual event in August, over two days
(Sunday and the following bank holiday). It has continuously taken
place since 1965. It is led by members of the Caribbean population,
many of whom have lived in the area since the 1950s. The carnival has
attracted up to 1.5 million people in the past, putting it among the
largest street festivals in Europe.
North Kensington is the key neighbourhood of Notting Hill. It is where
most of the violence of the race riots occurred, where the Notting Hill
Carnival started and where most of the scenes in the film, Notting Hill
were shot.
The Notting Hill race riots occurred in late August and early September
1958. The series of disturbances are thought to have started on 30
August when a gang of white youths attacked a Swedish woman, Majbritt
Morrison, who was married to a West Indian man (Raymond Morrison),
following a previous incident in Latimer Road tube station. Later that
night a mob of 300 to 400 white people, including many "Teddy Boys",
were seen on Bramley Road attacking the houses of West Indian
residents. The disturbances, racially-motivated rioting and attacks
continued every night until they petered out by 5 September. The slums
were cleared during redevelopment in the 1960s and 1970s when the
Westway Flyover and Trellick Tower were built. It is now home to a
vibrant Mediterranean community, mainly Portuguese, Spanish and
Moroccan.
By the 1980s, single-occupation houses began to return to favour with
families who could afford to occupy them, and because of the open
spaces and stylish architecture Notting Hill is today one of London's
most desirable areas. Several parts of Notting Hill are characterised
by handsome stucco-fronted pillar-porched houses, often with private
gardens, notably around Pembridge Place and Dawson Place and streets
radiating from the southern part of Ladbroke Grove, many of which lead
onto substantial communal gardens. There are grand terraces, such as
Kensington Park Gardens, and large villas as in Pembridge Square and
around Holland Park.
The North Kensington area's main transport hub, Ladbroke Grove tube
station, was called Notting Hill from its opening in 1864 until 1919.
The name was changed then to avoid confusion with the new Notting Hill
Gate station. Ladbroke Grove is the area's main thoroughfare.
Movie Locations: 'Notting Hill"
142 Portobello Road
Hugh Grant plays William Thacker, the owner of a travel bookshop who
unexpectedly meets Anna Scott (Julia Roberts), a famous movie star,
when she visits his store one day. In the opening scene of the movie,
William (Hugh Grant) is seen walking down Portobello Road Market on his
way to his bookshop, The Travel Book Co. 142 Portobello Road was the
location used for William Thacker's (Hugh Grant's) Travel Book Co. in
the movie. There has never been a bookshop here as it was Nicholls
Antique Arcade, then a furniture store called Gong, and, when last
checked, it was a gift shop. The fictional book store was based on the
real Travel Bookshop nearby. At 13-15 Blenheim Crescent, the real
Travel Bookshop traded for over 30 years but ceased trading in 2011.
Another bookshop has opened in its place.
Saint's Tattoo Parlour at 201 Portobello Road where in the movie a
drunken/confused man comes out with an "I Love Ken" tattoo and no
recollection why.
The blue door at 280 Westbourne Park Road was the
door to William's flat. The house was once owned by the movie's
screenplay writer, Richard Curtis. The original blue door was removed
and was sold at auction at Christie's as it was incredibly popular and
many people came to write their name on it. It was replaced with a
black door to not attract so much attention, but time has moved on and
the current owners have kindly painted the door blue again.
There a chain coffee shop on the corner of Westbourne Park Road and
Portobello Road, but in the movie there was a small cafe next to it
with tables and chairs outside. This is where William (Hugh Grant) buys
an orange juice and then literally bumps into Anna (Julia Roberts) on
the corner with Portobello Road spilling the juice over her. He then
explains he lives just across the road and suggests they go there to
get cleaned up.
At 105 Golborne Road, on the junction with Bevington Road, is
Portfolio, an arts and gift shop. William Thacker's (Hugh Grant's)
friend Tony (Richard McCabe) owned the restaurant here that was deemed
a failure. Tony and Bernie played "Blue Moon" on the piano on the night
it closed.
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