General Information
Notting Hill is an area close to the north-western corner of Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is a cosmopolitan district known as the location for the annual Notting Hill Carnival, and for being home to the Portobello Road Market. Notting Hill has a contemporary reputation as an affluent and fashionable area.
Additional Information
The place is known for attractive terraces of large Victorian townhouses, and high-end shopping and restaurants (particularly around Westbourne Grove and Clarendon Cross).
By the 1980s, single-occupation houses began to return to favour with families who could afford 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 district offers access to three major public parks, Holland Park, Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, and many shops. Even streets which were down at heel in the 1980s are now top-end retail avenues, including parts of Westbourne Grove and Ledbury Road, while Portobello Road has become one of London’s prime tourist attractions. The area is well served with restaurants.
History: Highlights
The area remained rural until the westward expansion of London reached Bayswater in the early 19th century. The main landowner in Notting Hill was the Ladbroke family, and from the 1820s James Weller Ladbroke began to undertake the development of the Ladbroke Estate.
History: Explained
Working with the architect and surveyor Thomas Allason, Ladbroke began to lay out streets and houses, with a view to turning the area into a fashionable suburb of the capital (although the development did not get seriously under way until the 1840s). The original idea was to call the district Kensington Park, and other roads (notably Kensington Park Road and Kensington Park Gardens) are reminders of this.
Ladbroke left the actual business of developing his land to the firm of City solicitors, Smith, Bayley (known as Bayley and Janson after 1836), who worked with Allason to develop the property. In 1823 Allason completed a plan for the layout of the main portion of the estate. This marks the genesis of his most enduring idea – the creation of large private communal gardens, originally known as ‘pleasure grounds’, or ‘paddocks’, enclosed by terraces and/or crescents of houses.
Instead of houses being set around a garden square, separated from it by a road, Allason’s houses would have direct access to a secluded communal garden in the rear, to which people on the street did not have access and generally could not see. To this day these communal garden squares continue to provide the area with much of its attraction for the wealthiest householders.
As middle class households ceased to employ servants, the large Notting Hill houses lost their market and were increasingly split into multiple flats. During the Blitz a number of buildings were damaged or destroyed by the Luftwaffe, including All Saints’ church, which was hit in 1940 and again in 1944. In the post-war period the name Notting Hill evoked a down-at-heel area of cheap lodgings, epitomised by the racketeering landlord Peter Rachman and the murders committed by John Christie in 10 Rillington Place, since demolished.
The dire housing conditions in Notting Hill led Bruce Kenrick to establish the Notting Hill Housing Trust in 1963, helping to drive through new housing legislation in the 1960s and found the national housing organisation Shelter in 1966.
The slums were cleared during redevelopment in the 1960s and 1970s when the Westway Flyover and Trellick Tower were built. Notting Hill is now home to a vibrant Mediterranean community, mainly Portuguese, Spanish and Moroccan.
The Hippodrome: Highlights
In 1837 the Hippodrome racecourse was laid out. The racecourse ran around the hill, and bystanders were expected to watch from the summit of the hill. However, the venture was not a success, in part due to a public right of way which traversed the course, and in part due to the heavy clay of the neighbourhood which caused it to become waterlogged.
The Hippodrome: Explained
The Hippodrome closed in 1841, after which development resumed and houses were built on the site. The crescent-shaped roads that circumvent the hill, such as Blenheim Crescent, Elgin Crescent, Stanley Crescent, Cornwall Crescent, and Landsdowne Crescent, were built over the circular racecourse tracks. At the summit of hill stands the elegant St John’s church, built in 1845 in the early English style.
Race Riots: Highlights
Caribbean immigrants were drawn to the area in the 1950s, partly because of the dubious practices followed by the landlord Peter Rachman, and became the target of white Teddy Boys in the 1958 Notting Hill race riots. The area has its fair share of council and social housing as is common across large parts of London.
Race Riots: Explained
In late August and early September 1958, the Notting Hill race riots occurred. The series of disturbances are thought to have started on 20 August when a gang of white youths attacked a Swedish woman, Majbritt Morrison, who was married to a West Indian man. 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.
In 1976 clashes with the police occurred at the conclusion of the Notting Hill Carnival after arresting a pickpocket, when a group of black youths came to his defence. The disturbance escalated and over 100 police officers were injured. Two notable participants in this riot were Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon, who later formed the seminal London punk band The Clash. Their song ‘White Riot’ was inspired by their participation in this event. Further incidents continued for a few years, but receded for several decades, until 2008 when approximately 500 youths clashed with police on the Monday of the Notting Hill Carnival.
Notting Hill Carnival: Highlights
Notting Hill Carnival is an annual event in August that takes place over two days (Sunday and the following bank holiday), led by members of the Caribbean population. It has been organised continuously since 1965. The carnival has attracted up to 1.5 million people in the past, putting it among the largest street festivals in Europe.
Notting Hill Carnival: Explained
As the event grew, concerns about its size prompted Ken Livingstone to set up a Carnival Review Group to look into ‘formulating guidelines to safeguard the future of the Carnival’. An interim report by the review resulted in a change to the route in 2002. When the full report was published in 2004, it was recommended that Hyde Park be used as a ‘savannah’; though this move has attracted some concern that the Hyde Park event may overshadow the original street carnival.
In 2003 Carnival was run by a limited company, the Notting Hill Carnival Trust Ltd. A report by the London Development Agency on the 2002 Carnival estimated that the event contributes around £93 million to the London and UK economy.
Film location
The place was featured in a few quite popular films, including the original “Italian Job” with Michael Caine, but it is mostly known as the main set for Richard Curtis’s hit named after the area. “Notting Hill” not only stars Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant, but also many interesting places in the neighbourhood play an important part.