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]