A Londoners Guide To Notting Hill | Why You Need To Visit!

past the giant red tea pot oh it makes me happy  that they're still tourists you know what it   makes for a good picture like how pretty is that  that's so cute very Wes Anderson why is Notting   Hill so expensive to live in when not even 50  years ago no one really wanted to live here   what has happened what is the change of Heart so  in today's video I'm going to show you the sights   and all of the wonderful and interesting history  of Notting Hill so let's do this I'm gonna throw   up a map now so you know where we are in the world  and yes I'm going to take you around some of the   beautiful beautiful I mean look at this road side  streets along Portobello Road and yeah show you   some places that you may not have seen before  yes it used to be a pottery and pig farm area   in the early 1800s could you imagine but yes this  didn't get developed until well into the 1800s and   yeah the aerial was not great and as I roll  through the west side of Notting Hill look at   these houses we do have some hills hence the name  Notting Hill and this area was actually used as a   racecourse eyes I didn't even know this until I  was Googling and doing a bit of research but yes   there was a seven foot wall that got built all  the way around I think it was more of a fence to   be honest and yeah it was used for a racecourse  with all the kind of up and down Hills which   now are very difficult to cycle up to even on an  e-bike but yeah and it was a bit of a recreation   area but more on that in a moment look at these  beautiful homes oh my gosh I cycle through here   oh look at that car quite often on my way to  work and see my friends and I just love it it's   stunning there's a very famous garden down here  look at those guys I hate to make it to you but   even if you won the lottery you can't afford  these I think that one was for sale for like   18 million or something obscene like that and  we have Rose Mead Garden anyone recognize this   to get over the fence with thatcher Julia  Roberts yes this is the walled beautiful   garden that you see in the 1990 is it 99  movie uh Notting Hill which made this area   very very famous I don't know anybody I don't  trust anybody who doesn't like that film okay   it's definitely in my top five of romantic  comedies that I adore and I'm so glad it's   sunny today I've been trying to film this for a  long time if you're in the UK it's been raining   for about a month hasn't it well saying that the  weekend that I am uploading this is the Notting   Hill Carnival and I'll tell you a little bit  about the history of that because it's really   interesting and I didn't know this until recent  times but it's meant to be 23 24 degrees so I'm   hoping when you watch this it is sunny but  if you're watching this in the future future   bring a coat maybe and an umbrella if you're  coming to London because there's always raining   so I mentioned that racecourse it didn't last for  very long it was only a few years some say five   years some say eight years and it closed down  and there was a guy called James Ladbroke is in   labroke Grove obviously named after him and he was  like I want to develop the area and yeah it wasn't   until about 1900 that this area kind of became  nice and they started building actual buildings   for residents I have to show you Portland Road I  cycled through here very very often and the other   morning I think it was like 7 A.M and I thought  oh this is a Vibe I've got to show you in a video   but yes the houses were all very very nice it was  an absolute planning and residential development   failure I mean look at these buildings they're  gorgeous but yes it was just too expensive and   no one could afford it so the big houses they  had to be converted into multi households and   this was before they were planned to be flat so  a lot of the time people had some shared Living   Spaces and then you rented a room and it was for  Laborers and people who were working in the city   for different households it was an epic failure  yeah it was meant to be for people who just didn't   have high income it was all it was basically for  almost working class families and yeah it became a   little bit of a slum because the living conditions  were a little bit questionable and it just didn't   come the area that Ladbroke had hoped for did is  a Sunday morning I've come out I think it's like   just gone it's like nearly half past nine in the  morning but this is such a good way to see the   size if you're maybe staying in London for a long  time get up get on a bike and explore and then we   have Penzance place I love the architecture around  here but yes it is late 1800s into 1900s as I said   that's when this area got developed fun fact for  the pub quiz it was actually called Notting Dale   and then later got named to Notting Hill why when  you appoint Paladin cross is a personal favor   of mine look at these buildings I think I would  paint mine pastly but I love that Clarendon works   that's a cool building Notting Hill Notting very  steep hill and if you don't have a pastel colored   house you do have to have a very fresh white  looking house this is amazing looks similar to   Brighton actually but yes you have got these  huge huge houses a lot of them were as I say   converted into flats and then we're going to head  along to Portobello Road very shortly don't worry   guys but yes just wanted to show you kind of the  main Hill of Notting Hill it's very similar to   Brighton isn't it and Paddington Marylebone  a little bit like this Bayswater the sun is   shining Westbourne Grove which goes all the way  through almost to Paddington I will take you   along there at the end don't you worry you've  got the Paul Smith store on the corner do you   see what I mean everything's very bougie and you  would have noticed quite a lot of construction and   Scaffolding on the buildings because things are  still developing here as you may be aware things   definitely changed after the war so after the  second world war London was heavily hit by a lot   of bombings and so a lot of the buildings in this  area and all of London were destroyed which is why   you see a lot of like 50s 60s and 70s buildings  which have filled the gaps oh wow look at this   a church oh that's not the time it's going to say  I've been that long we can hear some music coming   from that church but yeah so you have got a little  bit of a mishmash it's a bit Patchwork in places   oh but every time I see this building I love it I  love anything symmetrical it's very Wes Anderson I think they should have called it Notting  Crescent there are so many crescents these   beautiful curved roads and these houses yes would  have been houses and converted into Flats now   some people are bougie enough and Rich enough and  they've converted them back into full households I   only got one of the little green taxi cabs where  people can go and get Refreshments if you're a   taxi driver black cabbie you can sit inside and  you know have your bacon sandwich and everything   oh but look at this cute little Street but now we  are Stones Throw from Notting Hill Gates station   and I'm going to take you along and let's see  can I cycle down Portobello road I don't know   I guess we'll find out in a few minutes Sunday  morning for the win I'm on Pembridge road if   you guys visited London have you been here you  would probably have experienced I can't believe   how quiet it is maybe part falling off the curb  here this is the little walkway down to Portobello   Road market and it has all these cute little shops  and you'll see lots of shops that have a musical   influence bricco-rack and lots of knickknacks  which brings me on to why is Portobello road   so famous like it's truly just another Market  but as I was saying post-second world war in   the late 40s it was just another Market in London  nothing really to shout about or call home about   um but basically it became kind of known for  knickknacks bricabrack the Rag and Bone man   was here selling his bits and Bobs and yeah  people just became known to go and get your   stuff from here and it was still had fruit and veg  and different food options and started to come in   when more things came in from overseas and like  I said where it was meant to be in theory a more   affordable area also needed kind of Cheaper  second-hand things so hence why oh nice car   it did really well yes supply and demand so this  area was a nice place to come and get your cheap   bits and Bobs and today you can still get some  really fantastic things I'm going to show you   antiques food knickknacks and I love seeing  other people's kind of proper tourist videos   and seeing what bits I got I watched with someone  the other day and they bought some door knobs and   went back to America and I thought that's kind of  fun everyone always loves getting little pics of   that first curve as you come around and we kind  of Hit the tourist area which I love it's so cute   and yes I'm gonna head down to the market this  is weird because it's pretty quite a long hair   as I said I think it's about 10 to 10 on a Sunday  morning if you want to get your Instagram shots   you need to come down early and yeah this is a  residential Road although to live this Central   to the market if you've been on here this is  usually chocker block George Orwell's going   to show you this blue plaque there we go we live  there quite some time ago I really wish I could   hold my phone and Vlog and cycle but I'm a little  bit shaky would be like this through it the whole   time but here we've got so many different colors  I think this dark one here by the Lamppost is   the one that gets Instagram a lot but I'm not  good enough at Photoshop to remove the cars I love the random tropical trees in this part  but I know you guys want to see some of the   little shops I can't do that from a bike and  there's actually five sections to Portobello   Road Market second hand antiques fashion food  and what's the other one household you should   always come to these Food Markets hungry or any  Market really in London were pretty good I mean   that's those hot dogs actually what have we got  four pound fifty but along the top of Portobello   Road Market you have all the little stores  below some of them you can go in they're like   proper antique stalls and others have also got big  tables in front of them so you can have a mooch at   street level now remember if you're coming on  a Sunday it will also be Sunday trading hours   so be mindful even if you're up early they will  not be open so the stores are literally setting   up now there we go door knobs get yourself some  doorknobs and take them home but this place Alice   is which I'm sure some of you may recognize from  the movie Paddington so yes you may recognize this   if you are of the Paddington movies it's a cool  little building and as you can see they're just   opening up probably good timing I think if  you wanted to see the hollow Portobello Road   Market this video it would be about an hour  and a half long but zabby is a popular one   it must be open already and I do say most places  take a card you don't have to have cash [Music] [Music] people out there Denby Terrace is one that  always gets filmed a lot look at these I think one   of the houses are getting redone a while ago but  yes the ice cream I always call them Neapolitan   minus the chocolate ice cream houses but do you  remember people these are people's homes I know   I'm being hypocrite filming them but don't be  standing too much on the stairs now this is a   perfect example so on the left all the kind of  late 1800s early 1900s homes beautiful buildings   the back of that church that we saw a while ago  and then you have this development here on the   right which yeah was done I guess what is that  50s 60s and why is it even called Portobello Road   Market um it basically came from a battle back  in the 1700s in Panama between the Spanish and   the Brits and guess what the Brits won we used to  win and we used to look after a lot of countries   we used to rule half of the world but that's a  long that's another story and yeah and it just   kind stuck and people use that name Portobello  Road past the giant Rarity for oh it makes me   happy that there's still tourists to even on a  Sunday morning oh a print and map shop I don't   think I've ever noticed that before I really  like the old shop front and how all of them are   yeah quite different so you do have that kind of  50 60s sprinkle every so often oh they're doing   the pop-up very nice yeah the Earl of Lonsdale  was it kind of like old man Pub open for usual   gosh that's a big sign but and then we're going to  cross at Westbourne Grove and head on further down   so where are we in the world I started the video  over here we looped up uh you probably are coming   from the station if you are looking to visit and  I've gone all the way down here we've had a mooch   we've had a moot and I am here and we're going  to head on further down and show you some of the   famous places from the film Notting Hill and maybe  Love Actually if I remember I always think that   little tea room on the side there Sally Clarke is  so nice like a little Bakery good place to grab   a coffee you've got some art shops a very very  expensive as the bus passes a very very expensive   fishmongers I think it's a a general store as  well and then the other side just some really   nice restaurants to be honest it's definitely  very fancy so second world war what changed   the city had been heavily bombed there was a  lot of Labor that was needed and there were   other countries who were really interested in  immigrating over to the UK in particular into   London and one area was actually the Caribbean  so a lot of people home from the Caribbean to   London for work and due to the potential of  a booming economy over here in the UK a lot   of families fully immigrated over and stayed here  and Notting Hill was where a lot of people stayed   it was relatively affordable dare I say with those  split housing situations in Notting Hill and then   up to Ladbroke Grove and yeah this became their  home but I do have to acknowledge where it is a   Sunday you would usually have Market stalls all  the way down this is actually quite nice to come   down here when the stores aren't here so if you  do struggle with crowds definitely do come on   a Sunday there's still lots of Little Stores on  the left I'm trying to give you tips because if   you've watched my Camden video remember I'm doing  all these free tours this is like a free thing to   come and do and whether you're going to come to  London or not do check out my free things to do in   London playlist I've got quite quite the selection  on there now I'm working my way through speaking   of which if you're enjoying this video please do  give it a thumbs up just click click click I would   really really appreciate it really helps the video  oh there's a Colombian coffee store there I've   never known is that Hermanos and yes you've got  quite the selection whether you want some tourist   knickknacks some hats and belts some leather goods  they've got it all and if it is raining which it   probably will be when you come here there also is  an indoor antiques area as you can see people are   setting up let me know do you want a whole video  of me showing you all of the stores there was one   stall in there it had a lot of Laudro I hate to  break it to you guys but Laudro was mass produced   I feel like my family back in the day my  grandparents and they thought the Laudro was   gonna pay the mortgage off yes so that is where  the indoor market is and as we go around we get   a little bit more kind of rough around the edges  it's not quite so pristine and actually there's   usually Market stores in front of this so if you  do come on a non-market day uh you get quite a   good view but I do have to mention even though  this is the Notting Hill Bookshop it was actually   filmed across two different locations I'll show  you the other one it's kind of under construction   at the moment but you know what it makes for  a good picture and in recent years Paddington   has definitely started to make appearance from a  merch perspective shall we say along this street   and you really can make a full afternoon of this  and you go to the pub go for a browse and you can   see here we've got some kind of regular shops  down here as well and then the row of really   Posh shops so then what happened so in 1950s  into the early 60s things like not fantastic   in this area as you can see the buildings they've  been renovated and updated now but they were all   kind of you know a bit shabby yet not Chic and not  to go into the political side of things you know   in my videos I like to keep them light-hearted  basically the Notting Hill Carnival was a bit of a   peaceful reply to a particular riot that happened  in the late 1950s and it wanted to be a really fun   celebration for the Caribbean culture and yeah  a big get-together with a whole street party a   literal parade celebrating different parts of  their history in their country and as you're   watching this I'm purposely trying to do this in  time so you know a little bit of like Notting Hill   if you do read about the carnival because it's  this weekend it is every August bank holiday most   people do get a bit annoyed about it because they  basically have to board everything up because it's   such a energetic Festival shall I say things do  get a little bit damaged so a lot of the houses   all of the streets you will probably see it on  the news this weekend unfortunately they do have   to board it up which is a shame and I know it is  controversial because of the cost I think it's   just a good laugh have a good time guys but yes  that brings us on to the electric Cinema grade 2   listed Cinema couldn't get it in shot there  we go 0.5 is absolutely beautiful very very   fancy there's always pictures of like famous  people coming out they do have the diner next   door which is meant to be lovely and a personal  favor of mine is The Distillery which is the   home of Portobello gin which I think you can buy  in Supermarkets because I feel like I've bought   it in Tesco or Sainsbury's well there we go the  Sainsbury's I am starting to get hungry look at   these goodies oh almond stick oh and that wasp  you can't quite see it as living life down the   side roads you have as well got these gorgeous  amuse houses which haven't been fully renovated   you will see as you go around the area some of  these houses have been completely renovated into   like multi-million pound homes and some of them  have still got those kind of stable doors which   are used as garages and speaking of doors do  you recognize this one yes so this outside was   filmed here but the main part was actually down by  Westbourne Grove because as you can see there is   not the house that Thacker lived in yes across  the way is where the bookstore technically is   and it had a blue plaque and this kind of thing  makes me really angry look they try to make it   really nice with different scenes and some losers  we've got nothing better to do have come along and   vandalized it so yes that was the scene that I was  trying to show you from the beginning of this film   that is a bit of a shame but hey some people  just need to get other Hobbies don't they [Music] now this far up the road a lot of tourists don't  really make it here you've got the Portobello   arcade which is like an Italian store it's a bit  more locals and there is a huge Italian influence   of this neck of the woods in Spanish as well I  would say why is it a bit different up here so   1960s onwards a lot of the fun creative culture  kind of came through underground music places lots   of artsy things and food restaurants from people  who'd come from overseas and quite a lot of it   has been kept obviously some of it naturally  has moved on to other parts of London but yes   you have got another Market which is a little  bit difficult to film I must confess but it's   been more like a traditional just a normal Market  really yes the colorful graffiti is embraced and   I guess to talk over it but yes there's quite a  lot of music stools down here still some jewelry   books and clothing this is called the Portobello  Green Market I've been in quite some time actually   right Sunday what is it I don't think it's 11  o'clock maybe about half ten now um food stalls   are setting up so if you are coming down here and  you're hungry just do a few more steps and come   down here it smells incredible down hair that Thai  stool I'm trying to show you some of the prices   you can see they're still setting up noodles  Falafel Indian Iraqi Turkish you name the country   there probably is a food stall that's Go funny not  happy hour not happy too you can see they've wiped   out happy three or is that part of the marketing  well I like that that looks really nice in there   and I wanted to show you all Saints Road this  Pelican Pub is so nice it recently got refurbished   look at the little like lamps that it has on very  cool and it has some cute little places in a good   coffee shop the Tin Shed I haven't been there in  a while I could do with the coffee actually I'm   gonna go for a run when I get home but yes this  is what I mean down the side streets you've got   obviously a lookbook more of a Local's life and  I love the old shop bronze look at tregs which   looks like it's a fancy Opticians or something  like that now but it's still got the grocery sign   and the old lights as well I absolutely love it  love these little streets and also the painting of   the houses has become a very big part of the area  anyone recognize this potentially The Pink House   anyone in fact the pink one that is featured in  the movie you know when he knocks on the door   and confesses his love to Keira Knightley is it  cute or a little bit creepy I feel like I could   actually do a whole video on this area maybe  I'm gonna say I'm Gonna Save the rest of this   because I could show you the shops Daylesford  organic and the whole other area and then maybe   into Paddington I think that's another whole video  actually guys so with that said I think I'm going   to love and leave you thank you for making it this  far in the video I don't know if that was a bit of   an Abrupt end but hopefully we go on a bike I  think allows me to show you a little bit more   of the side streets and now I'm gonna get home  and I'm going to be like oh I should have shown   you this Mews road but maybe I'll do an entire  music House Road video in the winter when it's   all a bit Grim to go out but yes I'm gonna cycle  home I'm gonna yeah I'm gonna get a coffee I might   go into a body as I'm actually and get some food  and I'm gonna go off and go for my run I'm trying   to run 5k five times a week I've done I did six  times in the last week and I could feel it today   I'm not feeling I'm feeling a bit achy I need to  try and get I want to try and get to 10K I know   that's not much guys but you know one one week at  a time anyway I'm waffling as per usual make sure   you give this video a thumbs up come and say hi  over on my Instagram and yes I will see you next   Friday remember I do videos every Friday at 6 PM  UK time take care of yourselves guys bye [Music]