Portobello Road is a street in the Notting Hill district of the Royal
Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in west London. It runs almost the length
of Notting Hill from south to north, roughly parallel with Ladbroke Grove. On
Saturdays it is home to Portobello Road Market, one of London's notable street
markets, known for its second-hand clothes and antiques. Every August since
1996, the Portobello Film Festival has been held in locations around Portobello
Road. History
= Origins = Portobello Road was known prior to 1740
as Green's Lane - a winding country path leading from Kensington Gravel Pits, in
what is now Notting Hill Gate, up to Kensal Green in the north.
= 18th century = In 1740, Portobello Farm was built in
the area near what is now Golborne Road. The farm got its name from a popular
victory during the War of Jenkins' Ear, when Admiral Edward Vernon captured the
Spanish-ruled town of Puerto Bello. Vernon Yard, which runs off Portobello
Road, still honours the Admiral's name to this day. The Portobello farming area
covered the land which is now St. Charles Hospital.
= 19th century = Portobello Farm was sold to an order of
nuns after the railways came in 1864. They built St Joseph's Convent for the
Dominican Order - or the "Black Friars" as they were known in England.
Portobello Road is a construction of the Victorian era. Before about 1850, it was
little more than a country lane connecting Portobello Farm with Kensal
Green in the north and what is today Notting Hill in the south. Much of it
consisted of hayfields, orchards and other open land. The road ultimately
took form piecemeal in the second half of the 19th century, nestling between
the large new residential developments of Paddington and Notting Hill. Its
shops and markets thrived on serving the wealthy inhabitants of the elegant
crescents and terraces that sprang up around it, and its working class
residents found employment in the immediate vicinity as construction
workers, domestic servants, coachmen, messengers, tradesmen and costermongers.
After the Hammersmith and City Railway line was completed in 1864, and Ladbroke
Grove station opened, the northern end of Portobello Road was also developed,
and the last of the open fields disappeared under brick and concrete.
Portobello Road today Portobello Road's distinctiveness does
not just rely on its market. A range of communities inhabiting the street and
the district contributes to a cosmopolitan and energetic atmosphere,
as do the many restaurants and pubs. The architecture plays a part, too, as the
road meanders and curves gracefully along most of its length, unlike the
more formally planned layout of most of the nearby area. Mid- to late-Victorian
terrace houses and shops predominate, squeezed tightly into the available
space, adding intimacy and a pleasing scale to the streetscape. The Friends of
Portobello campaign seeks to preserve the street's unique dynamic, as the
potential arrival of big-brand chain stores threatens the locals. Portobello
Road is also home to the Grade II* Electric Cinema, one of Britain's oldest
cinemas. Geography
The road descends from 84 feet above sea level at the northern end, the highest
point, to a lowest point of 65 feet, just south of the overpasses, after
which the road rises and falls before reaching a high point of 78 feet at the
southern end. The average grade of ascent or descent between the northern
end and the lowest point is about 1.77 percent.
Portobello Road Market Portobello Road Market draws tourists.
The main market day for antiques is Saturday. However, there are also fruit
and vegetable stalls in the market, which trade throughout the week and are
located further north than the antiques, near the Westway Flyover.
The market began as a fresh-food market in the 19th century; antiques dealers
arrived in the late 1940s and '50s, and now have a substantial number of them
trading mainly on Saturday mornings. It is the largest antiques market in the
UK. The market section of Portobello road
runs in a direction generally between the north-northwest and the
south-south-east. The northern terminus is at Golborne Road; the southern end is
at Westbourne Grove, to the east. The market area is about 1,028 yards long.
About one third of the way from its north end, the market runs beneath
adjacent bridges of the A40 road and the Hammersmith & City line of the London
Underground. Here the market focuses on second hand clothes as well as trendy
couture. Portobello Road & Market in the media
The 1950 Ealing Studios police thriller, The Blue Lamp, starring Dirk Bogarde and
Jack Warner, as P.C. George Dixon, a character later revived in the long
running TV drama, Dixon of Dock Green, featured location filming in the
Paddington / Notting Hill / Portobello area. It features good shots these
locations in pre-Westway days, and includes a thrilling car chase along
largely traffic-free roads, including Portobello Road.
In the short story The Portobello Road, Muriel Spark narrates the story of a
murderer who, visited by the ghost of his victim, Macbeth-style, tends to
constantly go to the Portobello Road market to meet her. The Portobello Road
was included in the 1958 collection of stories The Go-away Bird and Other
Stories. in 1966, singer Donovan recorded the
song "Sunny South Kensington" containing the lyrics, "in the Portobella I met a
fella with a cane umbrella." In the 1970 novel The Chinese Agent by
author Michael Moorcock, a world-renowned jewel-thief more than
meets his match when he attempts to swipe a brooch from a Portobello Road
market stall, and is hunted down through the streets like a dog by the sharp-eyed
market traders. The market was featured in the 1971
musical film, Bedknobs and Broomsticks in a scene involving a song and dance in
and around the market staged on sets built at Disney's Burbank studios. The
lyrics refer to the market and the people who live and work there.
In 1978, the rock band Dire Straits sang about the road in the song "Portobello
Belle" on their second album Communiqué. The cult British children's book
character Paddington Bear, featured in the books written by Michael Bond,
enjoys visiting Portobello Market on a daily basis. His friend Mr. Gruber owns
an antique shop on the Portobello Road, with whom Paddington has his elevenses
every day. The street and its name also appeared
regularly on the hit TV series Minder. The board game Portobello Market is
named after this market. BBC One's daytime antiques-based
gameshow Bargain Hunt regularly features contestants buying items at the market
to later sell at auction. It is also referenced in the song "Blue
Jeans" by alternative rock band Blur, from the 1993 album Modern Life Is
Rubbish, in which the opening lyrics are "Air cushioned soles, I bought them on
the Portobello Road on a Saturday." It was the setting for the 1999 film
Notting Hill, with much of the filming taking place on the street. The famed
blue door, however, no longer exists, having been sold.
In 2006, the 20 minute documentary Portobello: Attack of the Clones won
London awards and was screened a number of times at the infamous Electric
Cinema. The film showed how Portobello Road is threatened by high street stores
changing the street's independent spirit. It featured a large number of
local stallholders and influencers, and was made by local filmmakers Paul
McCrudden and Alex Thomas for TAG Films. It is the setting for Paulo Coelho's
2007 novel, The Witch of Portobello. In 2008, Ruth Rendell published a novel
set in the area entitled, Portobello. The B-side of British Singer-Songwriter
Cat Stevens' 1966 single "I Love My Dog" is titled "Portobello Road" and
discusses a walk through the famous street and market. The track also
appears on Cat Stevens' 1967 debut album Matthew and Son.
One of the most famous TV show, from 1977 to 1983, in Italian television
broadcast RAI was named Portobello after Portobello Road. The programme was
suspended after the arrest of the anchorman Enzo Tortora for drug selling.
Afterwards in 1987 Tortora was declared innocent and became a symbol, in Italian
popular culture, of the victim of miscarriages of justice. In 1987,
Tortora come back in television with Portobello.
In Caetano Veloso's "Nine Out Of Ten" song from the 1972 album Transa, he
sings "walk down Portobello Road to the sound of reggae". The Brazilian artist
lived in London in the late 1960s and early 1970s because of his exile from
Brazil. In the Only Fools and Horses episode
Cash and Curry, Conmen who con Del Boy and Rodney Trotter using a statue of
Kubera bought it from Portobello Road. The idea for the episode is as the
writer, the late John Sullivan visited the street and it gave him an idea for a
new episode. Gallery
See also Camden Market
Markets in London Museum of Brands, Packaging and
Advertising Notes
External links Photos of Portobello Road in the 1950s
Retrieved December 2011 See More Portobello Market Images
Portobello Antiques Dealers free website Friends of Portobello website
Portobello History website Portobello Road: Antiques Dealers
Association Guide to the Road, and a documentary
film