Portobello Road

   

Portobello Road

General information

– runs almost the length of Notting Hill from south to north

– every Saturday there is the Portobello Road Market, which one of London’s famous street markets, known for its second-hand clothes and antiques (from Monday to Friday there is also this market, but only for food/groceries)

– Every August since 1996 the Portobello Film Festival takes place in locations around Portobello Road

The Portobello Road Market

– The market began as a fresh-food market in the nineteenth century; antiques dealers arrived in the 1960s.

– The market section of Portobello road runs in a direction generally between the north-northwest and the south-south-east

– the market area is about 940 metres long

->But Portobello Road is not just special because of its market. There is always a cosmopolitan and energetic atmosphere, mostly due to the variety of people, the many restaurants and pubs. Also the architecture in Portobello Road is quite interesting, because there are lots of Victorian terrace houses and shops.

History

Before 1740, Portobello Road was a country path leading from Kensington Gravel Pits (now there is Nottinghill Gate) upto Kensal Green in the north, known as Green’s Lane or Turnpike Lane. In 1740, a farm called ‘Portobello farm’  was built there. The farm was named after a popular victory during the War of Jenkins’ Ear (colonial war between England and Spain from 1739-1742) when Admiral Edward Vernon conquered the Spanish town of Puerto Bello (today: Portobelo) in Panama. Bit by bit, the Green’s Lane was known as Portobello Lane, and in 1841 it already was its official name.

 

Actually, Portobello Road is a construct of the Victorian era: In the second half if the nineteenth century, the road took shape between Paddington and Notting Hill, where new residential areas especially for rich people and their attendants had been built.  After the Hammersmith and City Railway line was completed in 1864, and Ladbroke Grove station opened, the northern end of Portobello Road was also finished.

 

Other interesting facts

– much of the film Notting Hill has taken place on the street (but the famous blue door does not really exist)

– it is the setting for Paulo Coelho’s novel ‘The Witch of Portobello’, published in 2007

– the British cult figur Paddington Bear, invented by the author Michael Bond, likes visiting Portobello Market every day, since his friend Mr. Gruber owns an antique shop there.    

              

                                                                  

1. 

   donath@ulricianum Said:

   on December 10, 2008 at 3:50 pm

   Hope you enjoyed having a look at Portobello Road and hopefully you were not too disappointed when not meeting Paddington Bear there 🙂
   dt

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