Portobello Road
Will you be in London on a Saturday? A good idea is to visit Portobello Road Market in the famous Notting Hill area, one of London’s many street markets. If you don’t like crowds, get there early, because from 10am onwards, hordes of tourists and locals start arriving and the place gets crowded. But don’t be put off, this is the most beautiful market in the city.
In fact, there are three in one: at the beginning of the street they sell antiques, in the middle food and at the end clothes and other second-hand items.
When you get out of Notting Hill Gate tube station, turn right and follow the flow: everyone goes to the same place!
Antiques
The first few blocks of Portobello Road are taken up by those rows of townhouses, some of them colourful, the face of Notting Hill. From the junction with Chepstow Villas, the most interesting part of the market begins: the Antiques Fair.
Collectors go to the shops, but those who really just want to browse and photograph, wander through the stalls.
Old London prints, 1960s buttons, brooches and rings, a typewriter, teapots and mugs, brass plates, leather footballs, cricket equipment, wooden stamps, old books, stamps and coins are among the items – known as bric-a-brac – sold at Portobello Road Market.
Food
Continue down the street and you’ll see food stalls, with fruit and vegetables as well as bread, sweets, preserves and ready meals. Unlike the Antiques Roadshow, this section operates from Monday to Saturday and serves the local residents.
Textile
Further on, almost under the viaduct (Westway), is the area of clothing, jewellery and trinkets in general. In addition to second-hand clothes, this is where some of the new generation of designers sell their collections. This is where the market ends.
Getting to the end of the market can be tiring. But there is no need to walk back to Notting Hill Gate station. Take the tube to nearby Ladbroke Grove station.
How to get to Portobello
Saturday 8am to 4pm (official time is 5.30am to 6.30pm)
Nearest tube stations: Notting Hill Gate (Central, Circle and District lines)
Ladbroke Grove (Hammersmith & City Line)
